The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) urges the Australian government to reject in its entirety the Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s proposed national plan, a publicly funded blueprint to silence dissent to Australia’s complicity in Israel’s genocide, criminalise Palestine advocacy and enforce political compliance, all dressed up as addressing one form of racism, antisemitism.
The Australian government’s elevation of antisemitism above all other forms of racism, underscores its ongoing commitment to settler-colonial power, and its silencing of First Nations and Palestinian struggles for justice.
The plan proposes the nationwide enshrinement of the highly politicised and discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism – which conflates criticism of the Israeli state and Zionism with antisemitism – across “all areas of state and federal government responsibility.”
It advances an expanded infrastructure of ideological surveillance and policing, targeting organisations, charities, arts and cultural institutions, media outlets, universities and schools.
Using dystopian language, it recommends that the “promot[ion of] division or spread[ing of] false/ distorted narratives” should result in the stripping of funding and removal of charities’ DGR status.
The plan also introduces racialised, ideological border enforcement measures – part of an insidious global trend of using antisemitism discourses to police racialised and political Others, particularly Palestinians and their supporters, Arabs and Muslims.
These include screening visa applicants for “antisemitic views,” the deportation of “non-citizens involved in antisemitism” and Australian intelligence collaboration with other international actors to “fight antisemitism across borders.”
APAN opposes in the strongest terms any government moves to institutionalise this authoritarian plan, which threatens fundamental democratic freedoms, entrenches injustice and a hierarchy of racism, and suppresses already marginalised communities.
First Nations, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities will be disproportionately harmed by the measures outlined in this highly politicised and deeply flawed plan.
Palestinians and their allies are already being surveilled, censored, deplatformed, harassed, intimidated, doxxed, and excluded from public and professional life for speaking out against Israel’s genocide and apartheid.
There is a growing and dangerous culture of anti-Palestinian racism in this country, and this plan promises to further entrench it.
Despite the rampant anti-Palestinian racism being experienced by our community across the country, APAN does not seek a parallel plan for Palestinians. We reject the very logic of surveillance and ideological policing altogether. Any organisation that claims a commitment to democracy, human rights and freedom of expression would also reject these measures.
Instead, we urge the government to commit itself to the evidence-based, holistic anti-racism approach promoted by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework, which recognises and seeks to address the colonial underpinnings of systemic racism, as well as the full spectrum of realities, manifestations and impacts of racism in this country, including anti-Palestinian racism.
Comments attributed to APAN President Nasser Mashni:
This plan is not about fighting racism. It’s a state-backed tool to silence dissent, criminalise people who are speaking up against genocide and in solidarity with Palestine, and enforce political conformity.
Every person in this country should be angered by the reforms this plan proposes – it represents the continued creep of publicly funded authoritarianism into the foundational institutions of our country.
It institutionalises racialised surveillance and censorship, which will disproportionately target First Nations people, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslim and their allies, and threatens fundamental democratic freedoms by turning migration policy and public institutions into mechanisms of ideological policing.
APAN unequivocally rejects this plan in its entirety. It is a dangerous attack on free speech, a betrayal of anti-racism, and a direct assault on the rights and dignity of First Nations, Palestinians and all marginalised communities.
APAN, as an organisation that brings together people from all corners of society to work together to offer a positive vision for collaboration and genuine anti-racist action, looks forward to working with the broad cross-section of society who are already coming out against the Special Envoy’s plan.