By NATASHA BITA, 6:24PM AUGUST 9, 2023, (The Australian, 10/8/2023)
An Australian university has been caught up in an escalating dispute over academic freedom, after clearing a lecturer over a tweet that had angered a Jewish lobby group.
The University of NSW has dismissed a complaint by Australian Jewish Association public affairs director Robert Gregory over a lecturer’s pro-Palestinian message on Twitter.
Assistant professor Lana Tatour, a lecturer in development at the UNSW school of social sciences, told The Australian she had been “threatened” after the AJA lodged its complaint and demanded a retraction and apology.
The dispute centred on Dr Tatour’s tweet that “Palestinians have the right to resist Israeli occupation, colonisation and apartheid”.
“Stop scrutinising Palestinians and focus on Israel’s crimes,’’ the tweet continued.
“There is no symmetry between occupier and occupied, coloniser and colonised.”
The lecturer posted the comment on Twitter on June 21 – the same day Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis and wounded four others at a roadside restaurant near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The militant Hamas group claimed the shooting was a response to a raid by Israeli forces the previous day that had killed six Palestinians in the city of Jenin.
Dr Tatour’s tweet, which did not link to news or commentary about either shooting, generated 590 retweets and 1534 likes.
Mr Gregory lodged a formal complaint with the university about the tweet.
A UNSW spokeswoman on Wednesday said it had taken the complaint seriously and reviewed Mr Gregory’s concerns.
“After careful consideration, UNSW did not find cause for disciplinary action against Dr Lana Tatour,’’ she said.
“The university protects academic freedom and freedom of speech wherever people express their views within the law.’’
Dr Tatour on Wednesday demanded Mr Gregory apologise for his “defamatory’’ complaint to the university.
“I often comment on the gross human rights violations and war crimes against Palestinians committed by Israel, and this tweet is no different,’’ she told The Australian.
“The accusations by the Australian Jewish Association (were) not only defamatory but also resulted in threats being made against me,” Dr Latour said.
“I expect the AJA to retract their false accusations and issue an immediate apology.’’
Mr Gregory on Wednesday refused to apologise or retract his complaint.
“Lana Tatour’s words speak for themselves,’’ he said.
“Free speech is a critical principle, but the line must be drawn.’’
Dr Tatour did not respond to The Australian’s question about whether she had posted her tweet in response to news of the shootings. Her Twitter profile, with 7656 followers, states she is a lecturer “working on settler colonialism, race, and decolonisation in Palestine’’ and is “tweeting in personal capacity from stolen Gadigal land, Sydney”.