Dear Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell,
We, the students, staff, and alumni who make up the community at The University of Melbourne, reiterate the NTEU University of Melbourne Branch’s Palestine solidarity statement. We implore The University of Melbourne to stand on the right side of history by condemning Israel’s genocidal attack against the people of Palestine.
In the past 20 days, Israel has killed over 7000 people in Gaza. Israel’s actions constitute “crimes against humanity” and are in “clear violation of international humanitarian law”. Experts have warned of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Israel has destroyed over 42% of the homes in Gaza, and has forcibly displaced over a million Palestinians. As the death toll rises and the United Nations warns of a human catastrophe, experts have urged for the prevention of genocide:
We are sounding the alarm: There is an ongoing campaign by Israel resulting in crimes against humanity in Gaza. Considering statements made by Israeli political leaders and their allies, accompanied by military action in Gaza and escalation of arrests and killing in the West Bank, there is also a risk of genocide against the Palestinian People.
From the Holocaust to Rwanda, we often reflect with shock and horror on the genocides of the 20th century and wonder with bewilderment at how the public would accept or even stay silent in the face of such mass atrocities.
We are in this moment again. It is clear that silence and inaction is how attempted genocide was enabled then, and how it is being accepted now. The historical record will show that the students, staff and alumni of The University of Melbourne refused to look away and instead condemned the genocide we are currently witnessing.
Unfortunately, to date, the recent communications circulated by Duncan Maskell, the Vice Chancellor of The University of Melbourne, to University of Melbourne Staff and Students titled “A message concerning the Israel – Gaza war” enables rather than condemns this genocide.
The University of Melbourne is the highest ranked University on the continent and one of the leading Universities in the world. With the authority that is given to academic expertise, higher education institutions carry a responsibility to accurately, and without censorship, represent the reality of Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza.
Instead the Vice Chancellor’s statement categorically misrepresents the atrocities being committed by the Israeli settler-colonial state against Palestinians in Gaza. Further, it functions to uphold dehumanising and racist discourses about Palestinian People, which furthers Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism and erasure.
The Vice Chancellor’s statement references antisemitism and Islamophobia, but fails to assert the Palestinian People’s rights to self-determination and in doing so, stokes the rise of anti-Palestinian racism on campus. Anti-Palestinian racism includes:
Denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathiser or opposed to democratic values.
We stand together against the University’s dangerous misrepresentation of the reality in Palestine.
The Vice-Chancellor opens his statement by expressing “the act of terrorism committed by Hamas on Israel has triggered escalating violence in Israel and Gaza.” Both in Australia and internationally, we are witnessing how this framing of Israel’s right “to defend itself against these terrorists” is being deployed to justify the collective punishment of and brutal violence perpetrated against the people of Gaza, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
We affirm that it is Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism that invites dehumanising language that blames Palestinians for “triggering” Israeli perpetrated violence. To be clear, this violence is increasingly being labelled by the international community as unlawful and constituting war crimes.
We express our grave concern about how this misrepresentation of Israel’s genocidal attack against the people of Palestine will contribute to further loss of life in Gaza and harm to Palestinian students, staff and alumni of the University.
The Vice-Chancellor’s statement should uphold international law and acknowledge Palestinian human rights. The use of the label of “war” obfuscates the reality of Israel’s settler colonial violence and indiscriminate killing of over 7000 people in Gaza. Naming what is occurring using accurate language, in line with human rights and international law, is critical to preventing genocide, a form of violence that the Vice-Chancellor fails to mention in his statement.
As Peter Beinart, editor of Jewish Current, questions:
Why is this widespread anti-Palestinian bigotry so difficult to name? Because until society decides that members of a certain group deserve equality, the bigotry that they and their supporters endure generally remains invisible.
As South Africa’s apartheid was brought to a head through widespread economic sanctions by the international community, we support the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement which calls on us to cut ties with Israeli companies that facilitate the apartheid in Palestine.
Maintaining relationships with companies complicit in the ethnic cleansing of the Indigenous people of Palestine cannot co-exist with The University of Melbourne’s stated commitment (as set out in Murmuk Djerring: The University of Melbourne’s Indigenous Strategy) to “confront its colonial past and work towards a future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, and knowledges are acknowledged and celebrated”.
The IHRA definition of antisemitism, adopted by The University of Melbourne earlier this year, has drawn widespread criticism as it primarily functions to immunise Israel from criticism. If the Vice Chancellor aims to take seriously the respect, protection and freedoms of the University’s community, he must ensure all students and staff are safe to freely express opposition to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians.
We issue the following calls to action:
- We implore The University of Melbourne to stand on the right side of history and condemn Israel’s genocidal attack against the people of Palestine in Gaza.
- We echo the NTEU University of Melbourne Branch’s Palestine solidarity statement that calls on The University of Melbourne to immediately cease its partnership with weapons manufacturer Lockhead Martin and to end its relationship with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which by its own admission supports Israeli forces.
- We reiterate the NTEU University of Melbourne Branch’s Palestine solidarity statement which demands that the IHRA definition adopted by The University of Melbourne as part of its so-called “anti-racism commitment” be rescinded.
- We call on all signatories of this open letter to include the following statement in the signature of their University and/or professional email addresses:
“We, The University of Melbourne students, staff and alumni, call on the University to take an ethical, lawful stance against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Further, we call on The University of Melbourne to rescind its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition and ask the Vice Chancellor to reassure students and staff that their right to political expression is upheld. Please read our full statement, published in Overland.”
To read the original statement: click here
