Key points

• University of Melbourne Student Union passed a motion on April 29 calling for the university to divest from corporations involved with Israel, boycott Israeli institutions, researchers and academics that support “Israeli oppression of Palestinians”.
• The Boycott Divest Sanctions (BDS) movement has gained traction internationally, including at Harvard. In January, more than 30 acts withdrew from Sydney Festival because of Israeli sponsorship. 
• Melbourne post-graduate law student Justin Riazaty threatened legal action on May 10, asking for them to rescind and apologise for the motion, accusing it of being anti-semitic and having a negative impact on Jewish students.
• The student union has put forward a new motion to be voted on Monday, which Riazaty said is similar to the last, and has again, threatened legal action if it is passed. 

The University of Melbourne Student Union has stirred up a fresh legal storm amid claims that it is promoting anti-Semitism as it revived a motion calling for a ban of Israeli institutions.

The original motion, passed in April and withdrawn the next month amid threats of court action, called on the university to divest, boycott and cut ties from “Israeli institutions, researchers and academics who support the Israeli oppression of Palestine”.

The University of Melbourne’s student union is again embroiled in a row about boycotting Israel.Credit:Wayne Taylor

The proposed motion has been rewritten and was sent to the student union’s 22 council members on Thursday – with a vote pencilled in for Monday.

On Friday, University of Melbourne student Justin Riazaty, 22, who is represented by Corrs Chambers Westgarth, sent a letter to the student union’s lawyers demanding they do not put the new motion to a vote. He said it was “entirely disrespectful and indeed anti-Semitic” and “inconsistent with the purposes of the union”.

Riazaty, also a member of the student union, said he believed the rewritten boycott motion was “doubling down [on] pure anti-Semitism and hatred”.

In May, Riazaty engaged pro-bono lawyers and sent a letter of demand to the student union, insisting that they rescind and apologise for the original motion.

Justin Riazaty sent a letter to the student union’s lawyers demanding they do not put the new motion to a vote.Credit:Chris Hopkins

The student union withdrew the motion on May 26, saying it was “committed to a voice on the Palestinian cause” but did not want its funds to be “unnecessarily spent defending legal proceedings”.

Riazaty, who is not Jewish, said on Friday that the rewritten motion was “a declaration of war against Jewish students and supporters of Zionism” and that any improper conduct would be “unearthed” and “ventilated” in court.

Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns said any threat to take legal action against anyone who is critical of Israel or who is supporting Palestinians “represents a serious attack on freedom of speech”.

UMSU president Sophie Nguyen said the union and its predecessor organisations had maintained a 130-year tradition of students standing up on human rights issues, including in international affairs.

“This is consistent with the purpose, mission and values of UMSU,” she said.

The union is a self-governing body that operates as a separate entity to the university. It has about 35,000 members.

Nguyen said the latest motion would be considered on Monday, following the same process as all valid student-proposed motions.

“UMSU recently engaged an independent agency to facilitate a consultation process with relevant stakeholders, including relevant pro-Palestinian and Jewish bodies on campus,” she said.

The union previously allocated $8000 for legal fees and said it would not comment on legal matters but “deplores and denounces bigotry and hate speech in all its forms” and that its “highest priority was the safety and wellbeing of all students”.

The new motion was put forward after Students for Palestine UniMelb – which has Jewish, Palestinian and Aboriginal members – hosted Israeli Apartheid Week at the university, calling on it to divest from Israel.

Organiser Emma Dynes said the event was about drawing attention to the importance of solidarity with Palestinians – a “tangible issue” as Melbourne University management was partnered with Lockheed Martin, “one of the biggest weapons suppliers to the Israeli military”.

Natalie Gunn, president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students said she vehemently opposed the new motion and rejected the “utterly false and ludicrous version of history” set out in the motion. She said it would lead to “further anti-Semitism on campus”.

In early May, a University of Melbourne spokesperson condemned the original motion as anti-Semitic and said it was “not the position of the University of Melbourne; nor is it one that is endorsed or supported by the university”.

The union’s motions follow the actions of international universities and student unions, including Harvard, as part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.

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