Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has come under fire from the Australian Jewish community for including a “disturbing antisemitic lecture” as part of an “anti-racism” conference.
An event hosted and sanctioned by QUT featured a speaker who claimed that Jewish groups were complicit in the spread of “racism, Islamophobia, and anti-immigrant sentiment."
Videos posted of the event feature Jewish human rights lawyer Sarah Schwartz, an executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, a collective that represents anti-Zionist Jews. It is known in Australia for its pro-Palestinian views.
During her presentation, she presented a slideshow that featured slides that mocked Jewish supporters of Australian politician Peter Dutton.
In a leaked video, Schwartz displayed a slide with a superhero character titled “Dutton’s Jew." The character was given attributes such as “hates Palestinians, Arabs, and Mulisms,” and “thinks of anitsemitism as the only form of racism."
Some of my friends used secret recording devices to film this insane “anti-racist” conference at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. This is their section on Jews. “THE RIGHT WING USE JEWS AS THE PERFECT AVATAR FOR PEDDLING RACISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA”… pic.twitter.com/gqeLpHdJpM
— Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) January 23, 2025
According to the Jewish Chronicle, Schwartz went on to allege that antisemitism was being exploited to promote division and support right-wing political agendas, including Dutton's and other members of the right-wing Australian federal coalition.
Schwartz later reportedly showed a slide featuring a collage of pro-Israel figures, including Dutton, Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump, captioned with, “With friends like these, who needs enemies…?”
Jewish community reacts
The event comes after months of antisemitic attacks and events in Australia.
The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) claimed that the event was “hateful, racist and xenophobic – malevolently working with politicians for nefarious purposes."
“The presentation would not have been out of place in antisemitic gatherings throughout the ages. It contained it all – laughter as Jews were the subject of public mockery, images of Rabbis as the subject of ridicule, and the baseless demonization of a community which has done nothing to warrant such hatred,” said NSW JBD.
The board called for an inquiry on whether or not QUT should continue to receive taxpayer dollars; it also asked Australian Federal Education Minister Jason Clare to intervene and sanction QUT.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Daniel Aghion told Australian Jewish News that the image of "Dutton’s Jew" was overtly antisemitic.
“The image is clearly intended to stigmatize as evil and racist any Jewish person who might support the Coalition," Aghion said. “It is ironic that such an obvious and disgraceful racist trope has been used at an event that billed itself as an anti-racism symposium."
The incident could result in QUT being summoned by Australia's joint parliamentary inquiry on campus anti-Semitism.
Josh Burns, a Jewish Labor member for Macnamara, chairs the inquiry. He told AJN that while he can't discuss what happens within the committee, inquiries are ongoing, and there is potential for further hearings.
“Personally, the material used was completely irresponsible and one of the stupidest things I’ve seen in the past 18 months,” he said.
Schwartz has doubled down on her remarks, claiming that they were taken out of context in a dangerous way.
“Far right social media accounts have been sharing the slide of my speech titled ‘Dutton’s Jew’ without any of the context. These groups promote dangerous disinformation which no one should take at face value,” she said. “My speech was part of a comedy event making fun of racists. If we didn’t laugh, we’d cry.”