Australian University Investigates Prominent Academic Over Calls to Destroy Israel, Zionism

Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia has launched an investigation into a prominent academic and award-winning author who has regularly used social media to call for the destruction of Israel and Zionism, with Jewish leaders calling for her to be fired.

The university confirmed with The Daily Telegraph, an Australian newspaper, that it was investigating the online conduct of Randa Abdel-Fattah, a Future Fellow in the school’s Department of Sociology and one of Australia’s most prominent anti-Israel activists.

“The university is aware of comments made on social media by a member of its staff that have caused concern and distress among some members of the community,” the university told the Telegraph in a statement.

Citing its duty to address the concerns of “distressed” students and the university community more broadly, Macquarie said it has “policies and procedures in place to balance its commitments both to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all and to lawful free speech and academic freedom. Where there is found to be a breach of policy, the university will act to address the matter under its policies and procedures.”

Abdel-Fattah, 45, caused an uproar last week when she called for Israel’s destruction in what was apparently meant to be a message of hope and optimism for the new year.

“May 2025 be the end of Israel. May it be the end of the US-Israeli imperial scourge on humanity. May we see the abolishment of the death cult of Zionism and the end of US empire and finally a world where the slaughter, annihilation, and torture of Palestinians is no longer daily routine,” Abdel-Fattah posted on X/Twitter.

“And to achieve that,” she continued, “is to snowball collective liberation because the tentacles of Western imperialism oppress and dehumanize us all. May every baby slaughtered in Zionism’s genocide haunt you who openly support or acquiesce through your gutless silence.”

The academic has also used social media to accuse “Israeli Zionists” of “murdering torturing, and, raping with zero restraint” and Israel, “the people of a Holocaust,” of “committing a holocaust” in the ongoing war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

“Daily, hourly slaughter. Zionism is a Palestinian slaughter house and still there are people supporting this abomination of a regime and ideology. To hell with you all. Every last Zionist,” Abdel-Fattah posted on X last week. “May you never know a second’s peace in your sadistic miserable lives.”

Australian Jewish community leaders told the Telegraph that Abdel-Fattah, who receives an $802,000 taxpayer-funded grant for her research, should be fired over her online postings.

“There needs to be an end to future public grants to Ms. Abdel-Fattah and an immediate review [by Macquarie University] of her fitness to be an educator,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin told the paper. “She has created an unacceptable risk for the welfare and health of Jews and Israelis at the university. It is intolerable that our taxes are propping this up.”

Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory expressed similar sentiments.

“Antisemitism is surging on Australian university campuses; it’s imperative that Macquarie University disassociate itself from Randa Abdel-Fattah and the hatred she spreads,” he said to the Telegraph. “This is just the latest incident involving Randa Abdel Fattah. Macquarie University should terminate her employment.”

This is not the first time that Abdel-Fattah came under fire for her anti-Israel activity.

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, in October, the New South Wales Police Force posted on social media saying it would not tolerate flags of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah or portraits of its leaders at anti-Israel protests. The message was displayed in blue and white, coincidentally the colors of the Israeli flag — a point noted by Abdel-Fattah.

“Brought to you in the colors of Israel’s flag,” the writer responded, appearing to insinuate without evidence that the Australian police force was acting on behalf of the Jewish state.

That same month, Abdel-Fattah penned an op-ed in which she accused Israel of “industrialized genocide, domicide, scholasticide, infanticide, femicide, medicide, and ecocide” in Gaza and described the Israeli state as “stolen land.” The writer also falsely accused Israel of seeking to expand its territory into Lebanon and Syria and posted messages from group chats that she was part of expressing excitement during Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.

The academic in April led a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” for “all ages” at Sydney University to “inspire” children to “stand up for justice and solidarity.”

Footage showed Abdel-Fattah clapping and encouraging children as they chanted slogans including “intifada,” “Israel is a terrorist,” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Abdel-Fattah’s activism has come amid a surge in antisemitism across Australia since Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

Earlier this month, for example, the home of Lesli Berger, former president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, was vandalized with a swastika and the misspelt German words “Jewish Gate.”

Around the same time, arsonists heavily damaged a synagogue in Melbourne in what the country’s prime minister called an antisemitic attack.

The attack followed the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) releasing a report showing that antisemitism in Australia quadrupled to record levels over the past year, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.

The data included dozens of assaults and hundreds of incidents of property destruction and hate speech. Physical assaults recorded by the group jumped from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024. The level of antisemitism for the past year was six times the average of the preceding 10 years.

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