University of Sydney Staff for Palestine, Monday 26 May 2025

The University of Sydney’s decision to award an honorary doctorate to Vic Alhadeff and allow him to address the May 20 graduation ceremony represents a new low in the institution’s pandering to Israel and its defenders.

At a time when much of the Western establishment is reluctantly, and all-too-belatedly, waking up to Israel’s genocidal violence against the Palestinians, the morally bankrupt administrators of the University of Sydney have rolled out the red carpet for one of Israel’s most zealous public apologists.

In the eyes of the University of Sydney, Alhadeff’s track record is one of “lifelong contributions to civil society.” The truth is, Alhadeff’s lifelong dedication to the apartheid state of Israel has had a destructive impact on public life in Australia.

Far from “championing human rights,” Alhadeff has long opposed bodies such as Human Rights Watch for their criticisms of Israel. He has described the charge of apartheid, now levied against Israel by (among others) Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and multiple UN Special Rapporteurs, as a “baseless slur”.

Alhadeff’s public writings consistently avoid mention of Israel’s occupation, the siege of Gaza, or the human suffering that Palestinians have endured. He has made it his mission to downplay Palestinian grievances and whitewash Israel’s crimes. Typical was his response to the 2008 war, in which more than 1,000 Palestinian civilians died. He claimed, nevertheless, that Israel’s intentions were “clearly to avoid harming civilians.”

University of Sydney Chancellor David Thodey claims that Alhadeff has spent his life “fostering community cohesion.” But the fact is, Alhadeff’s lobbying efforts have done serious damage to relations between the Muslim community and the NSW government. 

During Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, as chair of the NSW Community Relations Commission, Alhadeff justified Israel’s actions in an email circular which said, chillingly, that “all options are on the table.” He also circulated IDF propaganda claiming that Hamas were hiding in hospitals and ambulances—an all-too-familiar lie that now serves to justify the complete obliteration of Gaza’s hospitals and the assassination of paramedics.

In response to these divisive actions, Muslim representatives boycotted events with the NSW Premier. Alhadeff’s chairmanship of the Community Relations Commission was untenable and he had to resign.

Thodey also lauds Alhadeff’s dedication to “combatting hate speech.” Is the Chancellor not aware that in 2014, Alhadeff welcomed to NSW the notorious anti-Palestinian racist Benny Morris, well known for bemoaning Israel’s failure to fully expel the Palestinians in 1948, and describing Palestinians as wild animals who need to be caged?

Vic Alhadeff’s lobbying has extended to attacks on our own colleagues who have spoken up for the Palestinians. In 2015 the Jewish Board of Deputies, of which Alhadeff was CEO, participated in pressuring the university to fire Professor Jake Lynch. By awarding Alhadeff this degree, the University of Sydney has confirmed, yet again, that it has no desire to defend its staff from the specious attacks of pro-Israel lobbyists.

Given the timing, we cannot see this award as anything other than a deliberate gesture of support for the horrific genocide unfolding in Palestine today. 

History will record that in the week when Israel’s determination to eradicate Palestinian life in Gaza became too much even for wilfully blind Western governments to ignore, the University of Sydney’s senior officers chose to double down on their solidarity with Jewish supremacism. Their dedication to this racist cause has come at the expense of all credibility on questions of human rights – for them, but sadly for our institution too. Rescinding this doctorate would only be the first step in a long path to claw that credibility back. Nevertheless, we call on them to take it.