Anti-Zionist Jewish groups have rejected so-called Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal’s recommendations to the Australian government, describing her report released on July 10 as an attempt to silence dissent, especially about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Jews for Palestine Western Australia (JFPWA) described Segal’s appointment to the role as “inappropriate given her history as a pro-Israel lobbyist”.
“Her report ignores the voices of anti-Zionist Jews, and the plan within the report is a dangerous and authoritarian proposal firmly grounded in the widely rejected International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism,” JFPWA said.
Jews Against the Occupation ’48 (JAO’48) said Segal is a “special envoy to protect Israel’s interests rather than to combat anti-Semitism”. It said her view that “Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people” conflates Judaism with Zionism and wrongly implies that “all Jews … agree with Israel’s supremacist expansionism”.
The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) said Segal’s report and recommendations are “riddled with misinformation”. Her claims about nefarious funding sources for protests and universities “verge on conspiracy theory”.
It said it is “especially concerned about the plan’s strong endorsement of the widely discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism, which has been used to silence legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism”.
The JCA criticised the plan’s emphasis on surveillance, censorship and punitive control over the funding of cultural and educational institutions, measures it said are “straight out of [Donald] Trump’s authoritarian playbook”.
It said the recommendations on visa powers and judicial inquiries into student activity “risk censoring criticism of Israel” and “deepening racism”.
JFPWA said even Kenneth Stern, who drafted the original IHRA definition, warned against it being weaponised “in a way never intended”.
“The IHRA definition conflates criticism of Israel with the hatred of Jews and, from that assumption, flows the proposals to withdraw the funding of arts bodies and universities that do not comply with it,” JFPWA said.
It said Segal wants to “shape and govern media narratives” and give police special powers to respond to “newly defined antisemitic incidents”.
“If implemented, the result would be censorship and surveillance of public institutions and the repression of expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
It said that “this has frightening parallels with Trump’s attempt to silence pro-Palestine sentiment in the US”.
JAO’48 said “Segal seeks to silence the millions of Australians, Jews and non-Jews, who expose and criticise Israel’s unlawful occupation and the IDF’s [Israel Defense Forces] barbarity, on the ground that this criticism is antisemitic.”
While Israel builds a concentration camp in Rafah to imprison starving and traumatised Palestinians, “Segal wants to curtail our freedom of press and debate and to withdraw funds from public institutions found to be critical of Israel”.
JFPWA said Australia “already has laws against hate speech and harassment” and every manifestation of racism, including Islamophobia and racism against First Nations communities, must be fought.
“Why is the Jewish community being exceptionalised in this way?” it said. “Indeed, if enacted, these proposals could even create and fuel anti-Semitism.
“We demand our right to criticise and protest the actions of the Israeli state and will defy any attempt to silence us.”
The JCA is calling on Labor to engage with a “broad spectrum of Jewish voices, including those critical of Israel, who have not been consulted in the development of this plan” and to “reject authoritarian proposals that erode civil liberties under the false guise of Jewish safety”.
JCA executive officer Max Kaiser said: “Antisemitism is real and must be taken seriously. But it does not exist in a vacuum. Any response that treats antisemitism as exceptional, while ignoring Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and other forms of hate, is doomed to fail.”
The Coalition of Women for Justice and Peace, which includes Jewish women, wrote to the Prime Minister on July 14 saying that Segal's plan “appears designed to shield the Israeli state” from “legitimate scrutiny by targeting academics, artists, students and journalists”.
“Australia already has strong anti-racism protections under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, including Section 18c, which makes it unlawful to offend or intimidate based on race or ethnicity. These laws provide a solid foundation for combatting antisemitism without compromising open discourse,” the Coalition of Women for Peace and Justice said.
[This article was updated on July 16.]