‘Death to Israel’ article in university paper prompts fear among Jewish students

By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News

An article welcoming “death to Israel” has been published in the student paper of an Australian university, amid reports that Jewish students on campus are increasingly scared in the face of rising anti-Semitism.

Habibah Jaghoori, the author of the article published in Adelaide University’s On Dit magazine, took to Twitter two days before its publication, calling for the “annihilation” of Israel, which she termed a “genocidal colonial apartheid project.”

Jaghoori’s article concludes: “The solution to achieving peace and bringing forth justice for Palestine is to demand the abolition of Israel. Free Palestine and Death to Israel.”

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) said it was “horrified” by the piece, and called on the university to take action.

The article “actively calls for and encourages the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state,” the AUJS said in a statement.

“The majority of Jewish students identify with Zionism. Rather than seeking to understand the religious and cultural connection Jewish students have to the Land of Israel and encouraging productive conversations, the divisive and hateful speech in the On Dit article sends a dangerous message to Jewish students,” the statement said.

“The university must not allow hateful and vicious language to dominate student spaces,” said AUJS.

South Australia’s leading paper The Advertiser cited local Jewish community leaders as saying that “Jewish students studying at Adelaide University are being left increasingly scared on campus amid claims of rising anti-Semitic behavior.”

Jasmine Munn-McDonnell, a Ph.D. student at the university, expressed her disappointment in the university, which “so far failed to decisively address the hostile environment that exists for Jews on campus.”

Jonathan Iadarola, a second-year law and arts undergraduate student, told The Advertiser, “I do not feel safe or welcomed on my campus as a Jew, knowing that these antisemitic views are shared by many students.”

Jaghoori, who also serves as the editor of On Dit, doubled down on her vitriol in a response to a request for comment by the Australian Jewish News.

“Death to Israel” means “death to the state, to the war criminal IDF, to the occupations and to Zionism,” she wrote in an email to the newspaper that she also signed off with “Death to Israel”.

She added that in her view “Judaism and Zionism are completely separate”.

“The revolutionary slogan of ‘Death to Israel’ is not antisemitic,” she said, adding, “Palestinians themselves are Semites.”

“Israel is a sponsored terrorist state,” she told the newspaper.

It’s not the first instance of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate on Australian college campuses. Last month, the University of Melbourne Student Union adopted a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution to “take a firm, clear stance as a pro-Palestine union.”

The resolution recognizes Israel as an “apartheid” state and backs the right of Palestinians to engage in “self-defense.”