![\"Pro-Palestine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c35ee1bfaac2ab9aaefdd703a1516e4c.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA university physics professor has recounted the moment a group of masked students stormed his office and accused him of genocide.<\/p>\n
Hearing block four of the inquiry, which is being held in Melbourne, focuses on the lived experiences of antisemitism among Jewish attendees at Australian universities.<\/p>\n
The inquiry, headed by retired High Court Justice Virginia Bell, will also scrutinise Australian universities on their response to rising antisemitism.<\/p>\n
University of Melbourne physics professor Steven Prawer recounted the moment a group of masked students stormed his office and refused to leave.<\/p>\n
Professor Prawer was involved in a joint PhD program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but he said student activists mistakenly thought he was playing a key role in the university\u2019s partnership with the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG).<\/p>\n
The DSTG has been targeted by pro-Palestine activists for its role in the global defence industry.<\/p>\n
Professor Prawer in his testimony on Tuesday told the commission that students had picketed outside his building in September 2024.<\/p>\n
He said university security had intercepted him on his walk back to the building and escorted him to safety.<\/p>\n
A month later, about two dozen masked students and protesters entered his office.<\/p>\n
Professor Prawer said it was like being in a bank as someone walks in with a \u201cbalaclava over their head\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough they might be there to make a withdrawal, I think most people would be alarmed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very perturbed. I had no idea at that stage if it was a protest or if it was a terrorist attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Prawer said the protesters told him they had been waiting to chat with him. He asked them to leave and make an appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said: \u2018No, we won\u2019t leave\u2019. I said: \u2018You\u2019re trespassing, and you\u2019re in my private space\u2019 \u2026 they said to me: \u2018Well, Israel trespasses on Palestinian lands\u2019, and I didn\u2019t know what to say to that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I left the office area to seek security, they chanted, \u2018Prawer, Prawer, you can\u2019t hide. You\u2019re guilty of genocide.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Prawer said students would protest against the vice-chancellor who was \u201cpaid for that\u201d and \u201cwell protected\u201d by security.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne might say that it\u2019s legitimate for people to protest at the seat of power. In my case, they were protesting against someone who I think was a soft target, a clearly identifiable soft target,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was not a spontaneous protest born of excessive zeal. This was highly organised, and students were very disciplined. They knew exactly how far to go before the police would arrest them.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Royal Commission heard evidence that how some pro-Palestine university protests “crossed the line” into antisemitism.<\/p>\n
It comes after the Albanese government announced it would force universities to adopt a formal definition of antisemitism.<\/p>\n
The threshold standards require universities to take steps to prevent racism and antisemitism, respond appropriately, and adopt recognised definitions for hate.<\/p>\n
Universities will also be required to establish clear and transparent processes so students and staff understand how complaints can be made and handled.<\/p>\n
The reforms represent the federal government\u2019s strongest intervention yet into university governance following sustained concerns about rising antisemitism on campuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A university physics professor has recounted the moment a group of masked students stormed his office and accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[42,7445,260,5829,7446,3921],"class_list":["post-50215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-antisemitism","tag-commission","tag-melbourne","tag-palestine","tag-royal","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}