Professor Feared Terror Attack in Campus Office Siege

Published: 14 July 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.

A prominent Jewish professor recently testified before a royal commission regarding antisemitism. He detailed a distressing incident where protesters forcefully occupied his private office space. Professor Steven Prawer of the University of Melbourne shared his harrowing experience with the inquiry. He explained that he genuinely feared for his life during the sudden student protest action. On October 9th last year, twenty individuals entered his room while wearing masks and hoods. The group members were covered in traditional keffiyehs to conceal their own physical identities. Prawer noted that he did not know if this was a protest or terror.

The tense event lasted for roughly ninety minutes as the group voiced strong concerns. They were specifically demonstrating against the university’s ongoing academic partnerships with the Hebrew University. Prawer is the academic lead for these specific joint programs between the two institutions. He is a self-described Zionist who also wears a kippah during his daily professional activities. He told the commission that he was extremely perturbed by the sudden, aggressive, and dark encounter. The timing was significant because it occurred just one year after the attacks in Israel.

The professor argued that the allegations against the university regarding genocide were entirely quite ridiculous. He described the incident as a highly personal attack against him and his academic work. He noted that fifty students on a lawn do not pose an imminent physical threat. However, twenty people inside a small, enclosed office space created a very different, dangerous equation. The university’s then vice-chancellor, Duncan Maskell, issued a public statement expressing he was shocked. The institution initially disciplined the students involved, recommending expulsion and suspension for the leading participants.

However, the situation changed dramatically when the academic board overturned those initial disciplinary decisions. A petition signed by many university employees claimed that sit-ins were legitimate protest methods. Prawer remains deeply concerned because he still does not know the identities of the participants. He even hired a private investigator because he feared potential links to groups like Hamas. He believes that for his own safety, he should know who these people actually are. He argued that the university community needs to hear that it does not tolerate misbehaviour.

The university has since banned all indoor protest activities following this specific office occupation. The current royal commission is busy examining the lived experiences of Jewish students and academics. It is also looking at how major universities respond to various forms of hate speech. A university spokesperson described Prawer’s testimony as powerful and acknowledged the significant impact caused. The institution stated it is providing ongoing support to the professor during this difficult period. They emphasized his right to pursue research without being subjected to constant harassment or intimidation.

The interim vice-chancellor is scheduled to appear before the commission to provide further formal testimony. The Tuesday hearings also featured other witnesses discussing the fear surrounding various university campuses. Many Jewish students have expressed a deep reluctance to attend classes following recent global tensions. One former student from Monash University spoke about her own deteriorating mental health recently. Paris Enten described how she became clinically traumatised toward the end of her academic degree. She identified as a Zionist and felt targeted during a study tour in Europe.

She witnessed classmates claiming that Jewish people were not the main victims of the Holocaust. Some students even filmed insensitive dances in the carparks of the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial site. The president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students also shared his own troubling campus experiences. Jeremy Suss told the commissioner that he is frequently consoling undergraduates who feel intense apprehension. Students arrive on campus feeling scared because of antisemitic incidents reported in the mainstream media.

Suss mentioned that he has a productive relationship with the university administration in many areas. However, he also emphasized that he is not immune to hostility while on the grounds. He recalled a specific event held for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot last year. After the event, four individuals approached him and began aggressively interrogating him regarding his faith. They discussed very violent topics including the idea of killing or exiling Israel’s entire population. He found this interaction to be incredibly confronting and had to change his safety protocols.

He now ensures that his members are no longer packing up their event gear alone. He lamented that it is a constant, exhausting task to support students through these experiences. Universities have not dealt with these antisemitic incidents in a productive or even meaningful way. Many students report waiting for months to hear back about formal complaints they have filed. Sometimes their serious concerns are outwardly dismissed, or they simply never receive any reply at all.

Another academic, Professor Dennis Altman, spoke about the broader climate regarding these heated campus debates. He criticised the tendency of universities to simply shut down difficult discussions on the Middle East. He believes the best way forward is to build bridges between the Jewish and Palestinian communities. Altman noted that he is actually more fearful of neo-Nazis than the current pro-Palestine protesters. He argued that the biggest problem is that universities have failed to encourage any respectful debate.

The current tendency has unfortunately been to shut down these discussions rather than manage them. He warned that this approach promotes conspiratorial stories and deep resentment among the student body. He stated that the country needs a mutual recognition that all involved groups are currently hurting. Social cohesion demands that these groups move beyond their own narrow focus and reach across. Only through genuine human connection can the academic community hope to heal these deep, lasting divisions. The inquiry continues to collect evidence as it searches for solutions to these complex problems.

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