When the Australian government appointed lawyer and businesswoman Jillian Segal as its anti-Semitism envoy, it looked like a smart response to an increase in attacks on Jewish people and synagogues as Israel’s war on Gaza continues.
But the recommendations recently published by Segal have been described as a “gross overreach” by Labour Friends of Palestine – a lobby group of MPs and party members – and have been widely criticised elsewhere, including by some Jewish people.
Among her recommendations are that universities, arts organisations and public broadcasters should have their funding cut if they are not doing enough to combat what she deems to be anti-Semitism. This includes pro-Palestinian student protests, putting on a play that might be seen as anti-Israel, or having a radio presenter who expresses an opinion on what’s happening in Gaza.
The latter situation previously led to radio host Antoinette Lattouf being fired from public broadcaster ABC, three days into a five-day fill-in role in December 2023 after she reposted a Human Rights Watch video on Instagram with the caption “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”. Among those demanding Lattouf be fired was a WhatsApp group calling itself Lawyers for Israel.
READ MORE
In June, the federal court ruled ABC had unlawfully sacked Lattouf for reasons including her opinions on the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. ABC, which had claimed the post breached its editorial policy, apologised to Lattouf after the ruling.
Justice Darryl Rangiah found external pressure from “pro-Israel lobbyists” had played a role in the decision to sack her. Lattouf was awarded 70,000 Australian dollars (€39,400) in compensation and it cost the broadcaster millions in legal fees.
With no TV licence fee in Australia, ABC’s funding comes directly from the government. If Segal’s recommendations are taken on, ABC would have its funding cut as punishment for any indiscretion.
Segal said anti-Semitism “has become ingrained and normalised within academia and the cultural space”. She wants universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which it says is “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews”. One of its authors, Kenneth Stern, told a US government committee in 2017 the definition “was not drafted, and was never intended, as a tool to target or chill speech on a college campus”.
The similarity of Segal’s plans to Donald Trump’s crackdown on US university funding is compounded by the fact that her husband, John Roth, gave $50,000 to far-right campaign group Advance Australia
Segal plans to issue a “report card” in early 2026 on how well universities are tackling the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism. If they get a bad report, she said a “key action” would include “that all public grants provided to university centres, academics or researchers can be subject to termination”.
Prominent Jewish lawyer Josh Bornstein – who represented Lattouf – wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald: “Adopting the IHRA definition would render the opinions of many protesters in Israel as anti-Semitic, let alone those here in Australia. It is completely at odds with the federal court’s recent finding [in the Lattouf case] and our existing anti-discrimination laws.”
The similarity of Segal’s plans to Donald Trump’s crackdown on US university funding is compounded by the fact that her husband, John Roth, gave $50,000 to far-right campaign group Advance Australia, which has run campaigns against Indigenous Australians and immigrants.
During the recent election, Advance Australia said independents running in well-to-do areas were secretly Green politicians and accused left-leaning politicians of being “mostly on the same side as Hamas”.
When her husband’s donation was revealed, Segal said: “No one would tolerate or accept my husband dictating my politics and I certainly won’t dictate his. I have had no involvement in his donations, nor will I.”
While standing beside Segal to launch her report, prime minister Anthony Albanese said the government would consider all of its recommendations.
It has been speculated that the blowback since then will make it difficult for him to back any of the punitive measures she recommends.
