Jewish student called a pedophile for filming protest

Speaking at a royal commission into anti-Semitism, speech pathologist and lecturer Andy Smidt described an incident involving her son who attended the university where she was working at the time.

She said he had recorded audio and the backs of students chanting things like "five, six, seven, eight, Israel is a terrorist state".

Photos of the 21-year-old, with his face blurred, were then posted on social media by people within the encampment, with comments suggesting he was a "Zio" and a pedophile.

Around the same time, he was offered a security guard to escort him between classes on campus.

"I want to get on with it and be an excellent teacher. My child wants to go to and be an excellent student. That's what the university is for," Dr Smidt said, suggesting protests in public places on campus did not allow that to happen.

Dr Smidt has since left Sydney University, having sought a SafeWork investigation into the institution over its treatment of Jewish staff.

Earlier in the hearing, a Jewish student recounted losing her friends and being taunted on her university campus, including being called a "baby killer" because she identified as a Zionist.

The woman, known by the pseudonym Liat, began studying at the Australian National University in 2022.

She said she had felt scared to speak up about being a Zionist and was uncomfortable each time she walked past a pro-Palestine encampment that existed for more than 100 days in the middle of the Canberra campus.

While Liat said she was "sure it was possible" to criticise the actions of Israel without being anti-Semitic, she had not seen examples of it at her university.

She referred to an article in a magazine distributed by the university's student association that described Zionism as a far-right political project and the state of Israel as run by supporters of genocide.

"It plays on the very classical anti-Semitic trope that Jews are particularly murderous," the woman said.

Liat added many of her friends had stopped speaking to her entirely after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, during which at least 1200 people were killed, because she was a Zionist and both of her parents were born in Israel.

The royal commission is probing the experiences of students and academics, and investigating university responses to anti-Semitism, during hearings in Melbourne.

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, which will appear at the inquiry later in the week, said to truly benefit social cohesion, the royal commission must also hear from pro-Palestinian voices which have often been sidelined in the debate.

The witness list also includes Students for Palestine's national co-convener Yasmine Johnson, a Jewish University of Technology Sydney student who will on Monday speak against claims the group's activism is anti-Semitic.

"We have seen the royal commission extensively smear the pro-Palestine campaign as inherently anti-Semitic," she told AAP.

"I'm appearing before the royal commission in order to defend the pro-Palestine movement as a movement for justice."

Freedom of expression was being eroded across higher education, including at her own university, she said.

"We were told we couldn't use the word genocide on a leaflet we produced and that's the kind of atmosphere that we've seen extended across campuses nationally."

Multiple Australian universities housed pro-Palestine encampments in 2024 before several were shut down, sparking fears among students and staff that their views were being stifled.

Education Minister Jason Clare earlier said universities had been "caught flat-footed" by Semitism on their campuses and more still needed to be done to prevent the issue.

From Monday, the government will strengthen university governance standards, including a requirement that institutions adopt anti-racism standards with definitions on anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.