Protest at Sydney University – the video
J-Wire has received video of yesterday’s violent protest at Sydney University disrupting a lecture by celebrated British military officer Colonel Richard Kemp.
At 1pm on March 5 at the University of Sydney, Colonel Richard Kemp gave a public lecture on the ethics of Military Tactics in recent conflicts to a largely Jewish audience, before being aggressively interrupted by a group of students and professors wishing to silence the Colonel.
Colonel Richard Kemp is viewed as one of the most internationally respected military analysts, after being commander of British Army forces in Afghanistan. He is well known for his analysis on the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, where he praised the Israel Defence Forces for their highly ethical military tactics to avoid civilian casualties against an opponent known for using human shields.
The Colonel had been talking about militant groups in Ireland and Afghanistan when a group of students stormed into the lecture theatre and started shouting from megaphones “Richard Kemp, you can’t hide, you support genocide”, and proceeded to interrupt the event, aggressively resisting security when asked to leave.
“AUJS thoroughly condemns the highly aggressive tactics used by the purportedly ‘pro- Palestinian’ protestors to intimidate audience members and impede on their right to listen to a public lecture given by highly respected expert, who happens to disagree with their view of the world”, AUJS National Political Director, Julian Kowal said.
“This aggressive attack on freedom of speech was undoubtedly intended to intimidate the largely Jewish student audience and make them feel unwelcome at the University of Sydney”
The group of students had been led in part by professor Jake Lynch, the director of the University of Sydney Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, who actively participated in the protest, shouting in the faces of Jewish students, obstructing the campus security’s ability to remove the protestors and filming the Jewish students in attendance without their consent.
“The ultra-left student protestors are highly hypocritical in their tactics, willing to interrupt the freedom of speech of others when convenient and then crying wolf when they are forcibly removed from protesting illegally”

Moronic disturbances of brain dead activists aside, what is also EXTREMELY disturbing is that, outnumbering some 10 to 1 in our …favour, except for a few isolated calls from an audience largely in support of the speaker and implicitly Israel, what is seen in the same video are faces in the audience completely passive , looking on listless, some actually smiling, watching the spectacle of a few idiots and rendering NO other reaction.
PROUD OF YOU, MY PEOPLE !!! Jewish students ( brave and hyper active AUJUS ) on campus, the older folk, the whole bunch, Israel can count on you !
I hope the incident did not cause yourse poor tormented Jewish people, who only went there for a lecture NOT a bloody demo, too much of a trauma and you could all repair to a nice cool brunch, nothing too heavy. anywhere in Double Bay and had plenty to kvetch about and, why not, continue laughin’.I HOPE YOU DID NOT LET THOSE BASTARDS RUIN YOU DAY !!!
Anyways, now let’s get busy writing all those good, solid comments filled with objections and protest and maybe, if we work real hard, we may even get a court case out of it.
As I always said, they have Al Quaeda, Al Fatah, Al Jezeera, BUT we have Al Sueyou !!!
Incidentally , what is the purpose of NOW carrying on about what Israel does and what the others do. There is a Latin say, “hic Rodos, hic salta “, meaning that, when action is needed, that is when you see one’s true metal.
Security were also incredibly slack, they allowed those imbeciles some four minutes of illegal interference, practically giving the bastards enough time to do exactly what they came for . THIS is something you should complain about, not that some imbeciles do what imbeciles always do in a society which does not legislate against them imbeciles. Security WERE outside the hall and they should NOT have allowed the idiots in for starters !!!
They should have anticipated this kind of protest. Security were practically complicit in the incident !!!!
True, once again about our impeccably behaved audience, I must resign to the fact that there is also no law against picking your nose while action needed.
( expected reply : “who was picking any nose, we were, in fact, just being civilised and there is no law against giggling, is there !!!” ).
Rabbi Pinchos Woolstone,
I don’t agree with your thoughts on the irrelevance of this violent disruption to Colonel Kemp’s lecture, nor do I think the 1970s analogy is a valid one. What happened at the University of Sydney on 3rd March is very much part of a concerted and growing global effort to disenfranchise Israel, negate its right to exist, while at the same time vehemently and enthusiastically practise a new kind of anti-Semitism under its guise. If you would perhaps take time to explore the multitude of orchestrated events such as these happening all over the world, UK, USA, South Africa, Netherlands, Belgium, et al., you would surely come to a different opinion. Academia is only one area, albeit an important one – add it to the rest, and it’s a burgeoning nightmare. The hate is becoming vitriolic and the expression of it more violent and obsessive. It should not be brushed aside as irrelevant, and it is not fading away; it is snowballing. We ignore it at our peril. We need to fight it.
In the case of University of Sydney, one way of fighting the event we’re discussing here is to call for the sacking of Professor Jake Lynch, who has more than crossed the line of his academic position in participating in the way that he has, seek ramifications for the students involved, and ask for investigation into the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (a real misnomer if ever there was one) insofar as how it’s administered, the kind of syllabus its teaching, the attitude of its staff to the studies, the way in which academic assessment is made, and if that adheres to University criteria. Lynch and his immature, ill-informed, bigoted co-horts are becoming more and more active in what has become an excessive and obsessive campaign against Israel, which ultimately incites hatred for Jews.
There is no place for ‘sadness’ or passivity in this matter. We need to stand up and fight back. Make people accountable.
Liat, I agree with what you are saying, there is a concerted effort worldwide to delegitimize Israel; the same was true in the 1970s in many quarters, however the technology of the global village makes the efforts of our enemies more powerful, we also know how to counter balance the propaganda.
We must be vigilant and be aware that lurking behind much anti Israel sentiment is plain and simple Jew hatred.
We must do everything in the natural order, on the practical level and on the diplomatic front to defend ourseleves while simultaneously praying to the Almighty to protect our People.
Universities are places where discourse,freedom of speech and freedom of association are paramount,however Lynch and his mob flouted every convention by their appalling intimidation and bullying in an attempt to close a lecture.These are tactics reminiscent of a past era and must be resisted ,otherwise our democracy will suffer
while this raging frustrated individuals need to feel important with putting fire into more fire
in our tolerant democratic fair go Australia .
this is taking place .
A step in the right direction is taking place between people .but in a productive peaceful way .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.646704
Every human being has the right to a peaceful life, the Arab citizens of Israel are equal citizens in the Jewish State.
Trading between the population in Gaza and Israel is a regular form of commerce and should be encouraged.
At this time Israel must monitor that commerce to guarantee that the flow of goods and services is not corrupted so that the terror groups can smuggle anything which will aid them in their targeting of Jews or for that matter the intimidation of local citizens.
One professorship awarded prematurely, evidently. This protest was nasty, bigoted, intellectually ramshackle and totally pathetic!
Lizzie, we need to accept that universities are general held randsom by left wing faculty, its only a matter of how left.
Here in the US, most campuses except in the Christian south are dominated my student associations and faculty who hardly hide their anti Israel views and in many cases are outright antisemitic.
My saddest memory has been to witness Jewish Professors spewing out anti Zionist rhetoric.
Note to Rabbi Pinchos:
You’re right…no-one will remember Kemp
Kevin, you purposely misinterpret the meaning of my words.
Do believe that the protester achieved anything.
If they held a contrary view to the Colonel, I assume they would have been given the opportunity to ask a question and demonstrate their disquiet in a civilized manner.
The screaming and ranting undermined their opportunity to voice their anti Israel sentiments.
Hello again Kev,
Some peoples remember their friends and their enemies for a very long time. In your case wilful amnesia, pre existing ignorance, bigotry, who knows?
Kev,
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that the problem you have is that you have considered only one side of this extremely complex conflict, one which arouses more passion in the West than any other.
That in itself is a fascinating phenomenon which bears serious research.
Now, it is possible that you are immovably committed to a position that denies that Jews have national rights. If so, we don’t need to go any further.
If, however, you are prepared to open your mind, remember this: The Peace Centre is an advocacy institution. The Socialist Workers Party is an advocacy body.
They are welded to a fixed, pre-determined position.
If you want intellectual honesty, at least study the pro-Israel position; no one forces you to accept it, but don’t reject it summarily.
A rejection by you and people who think like you will not determine Israel’s or the Jews’ fate, but don’t you think that for the sake of your intellectual peace of mind you need at least to consider an opposing set of evidence and views?
In the early 1970s, at the same university, I witnessed similar anti Israel protests, sprouting the same left wing gibberish; at that time the megaphone was held by the son of a member of the Israel Communist Party,
He was in self imposed “exile” traveling from campus to campus in an attempt to denigrate Israel and shake the resolve of Jewish students.
He was little more than the quintessential self loathing Jew, his influence was minimal.
The recent student antics performed in an attempt to disrupt the lecture given by the British Colonel will quickly fade away into complete irrelevance.