April 1 2026
Sydney University Staff for Palestine expresses its firm opposition to Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott’s decision to appoint a ‘special advisor’ on antisemitism. Antiracists, including Jewish anti-Zionists, have frequently criticised the exceptionalisation of antisemitism as ineffective and counterproductive — indeed, an expression of racist thinking itself. The creation of this advisory role is a clear instance of such exceptionalisation. The recent Australian Human Rights Commission report identified widespread racism in Australian universities, with the highest rates reported among those who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Jewish and Palestinian, and very high rates among people of Asian, African, Māori, Pasifika and Muslim backgrounds. In creating a unique special advisor role for antisemitism, the University has signalled that racism against Jewish people is being uniquely prioritised above other forms of discrimination.
But exceptionalism is not the only problem. Mark Scott is willing to allow the necessary fight against antisemitism to be hijacked by supporters of Israel. One of the special advisor’s main responsibilities will be to design and implement ‘antisemitism training’ that will be mandatory for ‘frontline’ staff at the university. This is an initiative of the federal government’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, a dogged critic of genocide opponents, whose family’s substantial donations to the far-right, anti-immigrant ‘Advance’ organisation are on the public record. Segal has made it clear that this training will present Zionism as intrinsic to Jewish identity, a framing which immediately casts anti-Zionists, including Jewish ones, as antisemitic.
Our concern is heightened by the fact that the Vice-Chancellor has hand-picked Dr Michael Abrahams-Sprod for this position. Dr Abrahams-Sprod is a leading member of the pro-Israel Australian Academic Alliance against Antisemitism (‘5A’) network, which considers Palestine activism as antisemitic, and coordinates vexatious attacks on Palestine-supporting staff. It would have been impossible for Scott to appoint a more divisive or partisan figure, or to signal more clearly the depth of his opposition to the Palestine solidarity movement on campus.
The 5A network was established in the wake of October 7, 2023 as a mechanism to quash opposition on campus to Israel’s genocide. In lobbying for restrictions on pro-Palestine slogans, it has argued that the phrase ‘free Palestine’ is ‘inherently racist’. It has characterised the National Tertiary Education Union as a ‘driver’ of antisemitism, ‘actively contributing to the spreading of hate against Jewish people.’ It has been directly involved in attacks on Palestinian-Australian academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah.
In Dr Abrahams-Sprod, Jillian Segal will have a willing ally for the implementation of her extraordinary attack on universities as sites of critique and free debate. In his capacity as 5A’s University of Sydney coordinator, Dr Abrahams-Sprod has claimed that most pro-Palestine activity at the University of Sydney in 2024 was antisemitic. It beggars belief that someone who holds such a view will now be elevated as an official arbiter of antisemitism at the university.
As Vice-Chancellor, Mark Scott has had ample opportunity to listen to, and consider, the arguments put forward by Palestinians and their supporters on campus: that criticism of Israel or Zionism is not antisemitic; that campaigning for the respect of international law and human rights is not antisemitic; that claims of ‘offence’ or ‘intimidation’ cannot override the freedom to oppose Israel’s genocide; that ‘safety’ must not be used as an excuse to curtail academic freedom or protest rights. He has heard these arguments so often that his persistent refusal to heed them means that only one conclusion is possible: Scott is indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians and more than willing to subordinate the integrity of the University of Sydney to a lobby for a state responsible for apartheid and genocide.
Sydney University Staff for Palestine has repeatedly asserted its unconditional opposition to racism in all its guises, antisemitism included. For this reason, we unambiguously oppose any ‘training’ that exceptionalises antisemitism or presents anti-Zionism as antisemitic. There is a crisis of racism in universities. Dr Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment, and the antisemitism training he will oversee, will do nothing to alleviate this crisis and will only inflame divisions on campus. We call on Mark Scott to reverse this appointment, and to abolish the special advisor role.
