{"id":2650,"date":"2025-05-26T08:51:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T22:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2025-05-26T08:51:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T22:51:38","slug":"statement-on-the-honorary-doctorate-conferred-on-leading-pro-israel-lobbyist-vic-alhadeff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/?p=2650","title":{"rendered":"Statement on the honorary doctorate conferred on leading pro-Israel lobbyist Vic Alhadeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

University of Sydney Staff for Palestine, Monday 26 May 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.sydney.edu.au\/news-opinion\/news\/2025\/05\/21\/human-rights-advocate-vic-alhadeff-awarded-honorary-doctor-of-letters.html<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The University of Sydney\u2019s 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\u2019s pandering to Israel and its defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a time when much of the Western establishment is reluctantly, and all-too-belatedly, waking up to Israel\u2019s genocidal violence against the Palestinians, the morally bankrupt administrators of the University of Sydney have rolled out the red carpet for one of Israel\u2019s most zealous public apologists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the eyes of the University of Sydney, Alhadeff\u2019s track record is one of \u201clifelong contributions to civil society.\u201d The truth is, Alhadeff\u2019s lifelong dedication to the apartheid state of Israel has had a destructive impact on public life in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from \u201cchampioning human rights,\u201d Alhadeff has long opposed bodies such as Human Rights Watch for their criticisms of Israel. He has described the charge of apartheid<\/a>, now levied against Israel by (among others) Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B\u2019Tselem, and multiple UN Special Rapporteurs, as a \u201cbaseless slur\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alhadeff\u2019s public writings consistently avoid mention of Israel\u2019s 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\u2019s crimes. Typical was his response to the 2008 war<\/a>, in which more than 1,000 Palestinian civilians died. He claimed, nevertheless, that Israel\u2019s intentions were \u201cclearly to avoid harming civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of Sydney Chancellor David Thodey claims that Alhadeff has spent his life \u201cfostering community cohesion.\u201d But the fact is, Alhadeff\u2019s lobbying efforts have done serious damage to relations between the Muslim community and the NSW government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Israel\u2019s 2014 war on Gaza, as chair of the NSW Community Relations Commission, Alhadeff justified Israel\u2019s actions in an email circular which said, chillingly, that \u201call options are on the table.\u201d He also circulated IDF propaganda<\/a> claiming that Hamas were hiding in hospitals and ambulances\u2014an all-too-familiar lie that now serves to justify the complete obliteration of Gaza\u2019s hospitals and the assassination of paramedics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to these divisive actions, Muslim representatives boycotted events with the NSW Premier. Alhadeff\u2019s chairmanship of the Community Relations Commission was untenable and he had to resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thodey also lauds Alhadeff\u2019s dedication to \u201ccombatting hate speech.\u201d Is the Chancellor not aware that in 2014, Alhadeff welcomed to NSW the notorious anti-Palestinian racist Benny Morris<\/a>, well known for bemoaning Israel\u2019s failure to fully expel the Palestinians in 1948, and describing Palestinians as wild animals who need to be caged<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic Alhadeff\u2019s 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History will record that in the week when Israel\u2019s determination to eradicate Palestinian life in Gaza became too much even for wilfully blind Western governments to ignore, the University of Sydney\u2019s 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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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University of Sydney Staff for Palestine, Monday 26 May 2025 The University of Sydney\u2019s 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\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2656,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/2656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sydneystaff4bds.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}