A coalition of Muslim and Palestinian organisations have rejected a push by universities to adopt a new definition of Islamophobia, arguing it would “shield” the institutions from criticism of their contentious new antisemitism definition, and that a unified standard that rejects all racism is what is needed.
Last month, Australia’s universities confirmed they would unilaterally enforce a new definition of antisemitism on campuses after an inquiry recommended higher education providers “closely align” with the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
The eight organisations, which include the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (Aman), the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), Muslim Women Australia and the Muslim Legal Network, are urging universities to replace the antisemitism definition with a unified anti-racism standard that would apply to all communities – regardless of race and religion.
In a joint statement, they said adopting an antisemitism definition or any separate definitions for racism – including one for Islamophobia – would “perpetuate double standards” by leveraging groups against each other.
“The antisemitism definition, soon to be part of university education and complaint schemes, risks suppressing legitimate criticism of Israel,” they said.
“Developing such narrow definitions will result in gaps and a failure to protect all persons from racism, bigotry and discrimination.”
The definition adopted by universities states that criticism of the policies and practices of the Israeli government or state is “not in and of itself antisemitic” but “can be” when “grounded in harmful tropes, stereotypes or assumptions and when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel or all Jews or when it holds Jewish individuals or communities responsible for Israel’s actions”.
Chief executive of the Group of Eight (G08), Vicki Thomson, said the Go8 developed the new definition at the request of the special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, following a rise in antisemitism on campuses after 7 October 2023.
“This does not take away from the fact that our universities have been undertaking important work to address Islamophobia, as well as other forms of racism on our campuses,” she said.
“It is not a matter of either/or.”
Universities have been consulting with Muslim students and staff as to whether to develop a separate definition for Islamophobia as part of their antiracism commitments, as has been done at Monash University.
The University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney are seeking to do the same.
The Muslim and pro-Palestinian groups strongly opposed implementing a separate Islamophobia definition, arguing it would “shield” universities from criticism of the antisemitism definition, while also excluding Palestinian voices.
Legal advisor to Aman, Rita Jabri Markwell, said it would “make matters worse”.
“The antisemitism definition encroaches on Palestinian rights and freedom of expression, it’s unlikely any Islamophobia definition could remedy that problem,” she said.
“Allowing universities to adopt different standards for different groups is not the answer.
“If there is an institutional bias that already exists, universities will be able to use whichever definition they prefer. We need one unified standard that rejects dehumanisation and promotes equality for all, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.”
after newsletter promotion
In its place, the organisations have backed the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network’s definition of dehumanisation, which has been used since the Christchurch massacre in 2019 to push back against hate speech and harmful stereotypes among any group based on race, religion or ethnicity.
It defines dehumanisation as “material produced or published, which an ordinary person would conclude, portrays the class of persons identified on the basis of a protected characteristic as not deserving to be treated equally to other humans because they lack qualities intrinsic to humans”.
President of Apan, Nasser Mashni, said universities weren’t responding to the “pervasiveness” of anti-Palestinian racism.
He said any separate definition of Islamophobia, if it were to be adopted alongside the antisemitism definition, would be “piecemeal” and wouldn’t address the root of the issue.
“It’s Palestinian racism,” he said. “You can experience it as a Muslim, also as a teacher who’s scared to teach a class because of the antisemitism definition, or a student who decides to self-censor,” he said.
“We don’t want any separate definitions, there should not be this hierarchy of hate.”
The CEO for Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy, said racism had “no place” in Australia’s universities.
“Sadly, university campuses are not immune to racism in all forms, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and the experience of First Nations people,” he said.
“Universities Australia wrote to TEQSA [Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency] to seek their support to assist our 39 member universities to combat racism and to ensure we have a harmonised approach to dealing with these issues, consistent with our collective efforts to address all forms of discrimination.”
Some Jewish groups that had pushed for the IHRA definition to be adopted are lukewarm on how effective the new antisemitism definition will be.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which acts as the umbrella organisation for more than 200 Jewish groups across the nation, said the body hoped to see “better identification of antisemitic conduct and more effective complaints-handling at universities” and would wait to see the new definition in practice.
