Statement to support UMSU

Loud Jew Collective congratulates UMSU Students’ Council for passing a motion called ‘UMSU stands with Palestine - BDS & Solidarity Policy’ on August 15. This was an important motion which set out how Israel and Zionism should be understood, and made clear the importance of acting in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinians by, for instance, actively supporting BDS. We applaud the Palestinian student who moved the motion and all who voted in support, ensuring that it was passed.

This motion is a landmark moment in student activism in Australia, and comes as part of a growing moment internationally, where more and more people - including Jews - are recognising that Israel is a racist, settler-colonial, apartheid state, and that Zionism is unredeemable.

We reject the use of legal threats and lawfare, undertaken now by a non-Jewish student who alleges antisemitism, in order to try to stop people speaking the truth and acting on those truths. We reject the bullying and harassment of Palestinian students and their supporters. While some Jewish students may state that they feel unsafe on campus, their feelings are not an excuse for their behaviour, which is deeply racist.

For those of us who are Jews, Palestinians’ steadfast courage in the face of colonial dispossession sets the example for us to resist Zionism in our own families and communities. Palestinians make clear how we can understand the past and ongoing violence that Israel perpetrates. We have much to learn from them. It is important that we learn and that we resist alongside them, particularly in this moment of violent and racist opposition by Zionist communities to the motion and all it represents, and in the aftermath of the recent bombings of Gaza and amidst the ongoing brutal colonial violence being perpetrated by Israel across Palestine.

We say loudly and clearly: supporting Palestine is not antisemitic. BDS is not antisemitic. None of us are free until we are all free. The very least any of us can do to act in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinians is to tell the truth about Israel and Zionism and to support BDS.

Shkoyach and mazeltov to Palestinians and to everyone at the University of Melbourne who fights alongside Palestinians. We look forward to one day soon sitting down and drinking coffee with you in a free Palestine. 

16 August 2022