The Australian National University is investigating an allegation that a student made an anti-Semitic gesture at the annual general meeting of the ANU Students' Association.
Jewish students at the ANU said that another student put her finger under her nose in what appeared to them to be mimicking Hitler's moustache.
The Canberra Times has a copy of a video of the gesture. We have decided not to identify the student. She has been contacted through her Facebook account but hadn't responded at the time of writing.
The Jewish students were adamant that her gesture was deliberate and anti-Semitic.
"I just thought: that's not a natural hand position. She's doing it for a while and then she pulls her finger away and laughs," second year student Oliver Segerman said.
He said the student was blocked from the Zoom meeting. He said one of ANUSA's officers described it on the call as "abhorrent discriminatory behaviour".
Maya Grynberg of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students in the ACT said, "It was very clear that it was malicious."
Student Mia Kline said, "It's very scary for us when you see something like that in a meeting which is meant to be very democratic."
The ANUSA president, Phoenix O'Neill, said: "Immediate action to exclude individuals was taken where allegations were brought to the attention of the ANUSA executive during the meeting. This action was taken on the basis of the available evidence following an initial investigation."
But the student association added that "the allegations and findings made during the meeting are disputed by the students concerned".
A university spokesperson said: "ANU will investigate the matter, in accordance with the university's existing processes and take appropriate action as required.
"To be clear, any racism or hate speech, including anti-Semitism, is unacceptable at ANU. The university acts swiftly if such behaviour occurs."
The spokesperson said that ANUSA was an independent body but the gesture would be investigated because it involved an ANU student.
The university authorities have already taken unspecified action against another student over comments made on radio. A student said "Hamas deserves our unconditional support." The Australian government deems Hamas a terrorist organisation. It perpetrated the massacre of more than a thousand Israelis on October 7.
Meanwhile, the ANU and seven other prestigious universities in Australia (known as the Group Of Eight) sought the advice of Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on what constitutes anti-Semitic phrases in chants at demonstrations.
At the Canberra protest, for example, people chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free". This implies the dismantling of Israel as it currently is.
If the legal advice was that the phrases were anti-Semitic, the universities "would act immediately to prevent the use of these phrases on campus," the letter said.
But Mr Dreyfus declined to give specific advice. "A person aggrieved by an alleged act of racial discrimination can make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission," he wrote back to the universities.
"The government remains committed to pursuing legislative amendments to prevent discrimination on the basis of a person's faith, as well anti-vilification protections, in a way that brings Australians together. This includes strengthening criminal offences relating to hate speech," he said.
In Canberra, the AGM of the student association was on Zoom and lasted for at least four hours. It started 45 minutes late because there were so many people involved (more than 500) that it broke Zoom's limits on the numbers in a meeting.
There was heated discussion on rival motions from Jewish students at the university and from people aligning with the pro-Palestine camp there.
Jewish students said their motion was gutted by the majority, which voted to cut out a clause condemning Hamas and one which "condemns the use of hateful slogans, such as calls for an Intifada as anti-Semitic hate speech which is not welcome within the ANUSA environment".
The motion as finally passed "affirms that Jewish students have a right to participate in ANUSA, in a discrimination-free environment; affirms that Jewish students have a right to participate and belong to the university community; encourages students to participate in governance review and reflect on how ANUSA could engage with the broader ANU community".
