Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) welcomes the decision by the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) to rescind its motion urging a boycott of Israel.

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “This was an appalling antisemitic motion that should never have been passed, and it is disappointing that six of the 16 Union Council members still voted against the rescission motion. We hope the rescission was due to the understanding of the motion’s antisemitism and many other flaws, and not just due to the legal challenge.

“We note that, as stated by UMSU President Sophie Nguyen, the rescission motion was to amend the original motion based on consultation. We hope UMSU does genuinely consult, and learn from its mistakes, and that any further motion reflects the standards we would expect from an institution of higher learning, rather than just being a watered-down version of the original disgraceful resolution

“We also urge the student unions of the University of Sydney and the Australian National University, which passed motions in support of the UMSU motion, to reconsider their own stances accordingly,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.