Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Arab Foreign Ministers' statement: We warn that "Israel" is pushing the region toward more conflict and tension
Arab foreign ministers, in a statement issued from Istanbul: We condemn the Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: An Israeli drone strike targeted the vicinity of al-Naqoura port
Azizi: The Israeli enemy suffered such significant losses that it fears disclosing them publicly
Azizi: Israeli intelligence bases sustained severe damage, and most military centers were targeted and destroyed
Iranian state TV, quoting head of parliamentary National Security Committee, Ebrahim Azizi: We launched 23 missiles on Friday, all of which successfully hit their targets
An Iranian missile hit an Israeli governmental compound in Haifa.
Talks begin in Geneva between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the E3.
Al Mayadeen correspondent: The E3 will present Araghchi with a four-point European plan that includes a complete end to uranium enrichment in Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives at the venue of the negotiations that will soon begin with the E3.

Federal Court of Australia Exposes the Deep Racism of the Israeli Lobby

  • Tim Anderson Tim Anderson
  • Source: Al Mayadeen
  • 14 Sep 2021 16:55
  • 20 Shares
6 Min Read

The Federal Court implicitly recognized the deceptive technique of the Israeli lobby: the use of contrived and trivial pretexts to suppress critical discussion of apartheid crimes in Palestine.

  • x
  • Federal Court of Australia Exposes the Deep Racism of the Israeli Lobby

While the Federal Court of Australia (FCA) decision in NTEU v University of Sydney (2021) is an important affirmation of principles of academic freedom at the University of Sydney, it also implicitly exposed the deep racism of the Israeli lobby. 

The FCA recognized that my Gaza graphic –almost universally called a ‘swastika graphic’ by university managers and the corporate media – was in fact about a racial massacre of more than a thousand Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians. 

The Court said, beyond the altered Israeli flag, “everything else in the PowerPoint presentation involves the expression of a legitimate view, open to debate, about the relative morality of the actions of Israeli and Palestinian people” of a false “moral equivalence” in a “long history of colonial exploitation”. Ruling in principle they found that “it does not matter whether this comparison may be considered by some or many people to be offensive or insensitive or wrong,” as that cannot undermine the right to intellectual freedom, as protected by the industrial agreements at the University of Sydney (268).

None of this was acknowledged by former Provost Stephen Garton, who referred to a ‘Swastika image’ nine times in his 2020 affidavit to the Federal Court, or by the Sydney Morning Herald which ran four consecutive stories (2018-2021) referring to a Swastika on the Israeli flag, without showing the actual graphic or mentioning its principal subject matter: the massacre of Palestinians. In this way, all attention was paid to a fragment which may have insulted the Israeli killers.

Until the FCA decision, that was music to the ears of the Israeli lobby, which actively promotes the idea that Palestine does not exist. It suited them well for all attention to be paid to alleged ‘offense’ to the Israeli armed forces, by comparing them to the Nazis, while the slaughter of Palestinians was hidden. 

However, the Federal Court punctured this deep racism, by acknowledging the subject matter of the graphic, some of its intellectual content, and the importance of intellectual freedom more generally.

It is hardly surprising that the Australian corporate media, wring about this ‘offensive’ graphic, recognized neither the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians nor the principle of intellectual freedom. After all, virtually all of them have backed the last half dozen wars in the Middle East, with the various false pretexts, while remaining either highly deferential or fully committed, to the Israeli regime.

The FCA full bench unanimously rejected the ruling by Judge Tom Thawley, which endorsed a management argument that academics had no real right to intellectual freedom (that was just an ‘aspiration’), that ‘misconduct’ was simply a matter for the satisfaction of the relevant university managers and that academics had to follow orders, even if that included secret gag orders.

The full bench stressed repeatedly that “the court must determine for itself” questions of possible misconduct, having regard to the intellectual freedom clause, which protects academics from discipline unless there is “harassment, vilification or intimidation”, none of which were alleged in my case (257)

Related News

Why I hate Zionism and will never forgive its disciples

The parallel struggle of Liberal Zionism

The court also defended my re-post of the Gaza graphic, after Provost Garton had privately complained about it. When posting material with intellectual content “Dr. Anderson would be acting lawfully … and would be right to insist he had the right to [re-post it] ‘without censure’ … it was not necessary for Dr. Anderson to prove or explain what course he was teaching at the time”.

If the graphic was an expression of intellectual freedom, the court said, then even if the University considered the re-post as ‘provocative’, Dr. Anderson “would have been correct and entitled to make that point to the University” by reposting it (267).

While effectively defending the graphic, by explaining some of its intellectual content, the court also suggested an argument against my use of the swastika, saying “it may involve an assertion of the very kind of false moral equivalence (comparing "Israel" to Nazi Germany) against which Dr. Anderson is advocating in the PowerPoint presentation; again, however, the relevant issue cannot be the level of offense… or insensitivity” (269). 

Had they read a little further, into my linked article ‘The Future of Palestine’, the court might have found that my analogy was specific rather than general, looking at parallels between Nazi and Zionist racial ideology and racial massacres.

On my rejection of the University’s demand that I remove a social media photo, because a Yemeni badge in Arabic appeared in the background, saying ‘Death to Israel’, the judges expressed a provisional view that the badge might be seen as ‘anti-Semitic’ but noted that I had neither worn the badge nor endorsed it (283-4). 

Whatever one thinks of the emblem of Ansarallah, the ruling party in Yemen, it can be seen in photos of many large gatherings in Yemen. Further, far worse Israeli statements about Arabs (such as “kill them all”) are regularly seen online. Anyone studying the Middle East should get used to this reality.

The Federal Court implicitly recognized the deceptive technique of the Israeli lobby: the use of contrived and trivial pretexts to suppress critical discussion of apartheid crimes in Palestine. In summary, University of Sydney managers argued: ‘we will decide what is the appropriate public comment’; the Federal Court responded: ‘no, you must abide by agreed standards’.

The court directed that the matter be remitted “to the primary judge” to re-determine the appeal according to the law as they had clarified; and in particular to decide (1) whether University actions against me breached my right to intellectual freedom and (2) whether the termination of my employment was “in whole or in part based on any conduct which constituted the exercise of the right to intellectual freedom”, in accordance with the industrial agreements (291).

The full court ruling can be found here.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Zionism
  • Israel
  • Resistance
  • Australia
Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson

Director of the Sydney-based Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies.

Most Read

All
The wheels fall off of 'Gideon’s Chariots' in Gaza

The wheels fall off of 'Gideon’s Chariots' in Gaza

  • Opinion
  • 11 Jun 2025
At the time of Vanunu’s whistleblowing, Western governments and intelligence agencies had been aware of "Israel’s" development of nuclear weapons for almost three decades. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Mahdi Rtail)

Hidden history: How 'Israel' acquired nukes

  • Opinion
  • 13 Jun 2025
Absent a full-scale American war on the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu has set up his regime and himself for a historic humiliation. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The clock is ticking down to 'Israel’s' capitulation

  • Opinion
  • 18 Jun 2025
Trump's failures, 'Israel's' impasse and Iran's apocalyptic trump card

Trump's failures, 'Israel's' impasse and Iran's apocalyptic trump card

  • Opinion
  • 12 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
War on Iran

More from this writer

All
Even if apartheid is dismantled or a Palestinian state is recognised, Liberal Zionists will use their influence to create a ‘deal’ with compliant elements of the Palestinian and Arab elites. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

The parallel struggle of Liberal Zionism

The new wave of ‘fact checkers’ and AI machines are mostly extensions of existing media monopolies, which aim to reinforce key messages of the Western hegemonic cartel. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

How Western fact checkers promote fake news

Cuba faces an urgent need for relief, and the second Trump administration is doing its best to sabotage recovery in all sectors as a means of punishing the Cuban people. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

Update March 2025: The Cuban economy and living conditions

The world sat back and watched Gaza in horror, but few did anything, except for the Yemeni people and the Hezbollah-led resistance in Lebanon. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Moral imperative: Recognise Yemen and Palestine

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS