Help University of Sidney Palestine advocates defeat Israel Lobby legal attack!
As in Britain, so in Australia, Palestinian rights advocates at universities are coming under relentless attack. At the University of Sydney, Dr Nick Riemer and Professor John Keane are being sued in the Federal Court of Australia, on the basis that their opposition to Zionism is ‘antisemitic’. If they lose, they fear that Australia will in practice outlaw support for Palestinian rights in general.
Help University of Sydney Palestine advocates defeat Israel Lobby legal attack!
22 August 2025
Nick RIEMER and John KEANE
Dr Nick Riemer and Professor John Keane are academics at the University of Sydney and long-time advocates of freedom and justice for Palestinians. Since October 7, in articles, on social media and at public events, they have loudly opposed the genocide, defended Palestinians’ right to resistance as recognized by international law, and promoted the cause of a just and lasting peace for everyone in the Middle East, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or social background.
John and Nick are being sued in the Federal Court of Australia because their opponents claim that their statements and actions opposing Zionism – the political and military commitment to an exclusivist Jewish ethnostate in historic Palestine – are actually antisemitic hate speech. They need your help to defend themselves.
If John and Nick lose, then no one will be able to criticise Zionism
John and Nick’s case covers different ground from other recent cases in Australia. The case against them, which is brought under Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act, will be the first to explicitly test whether Zionism should be protected under race hate laws. If Palestine supporters can’t say what John and Nick have said, then nobody in future will be able to say anything.
The attack against John and Nick is a concerted example of ‘lawfare’, a preferred tactic of the pro-Israel lobby. Its real targets are the whole Palestine solidarity movement and its supporters in Australia, along with anyone who dares to criticise Israel’s terrifying violence against Palestinians.
A critical moment for free speech on Israel and Zionism
The case comes at a critical moment in the fight for freedom to speak truth to power. In countries such as the UK and Germany, people are being arrested for flying a Palestinian flag or holding a sign that reads “Free Palestine”. The push to bring the same level of repression to Australia is exemplified by the outrageously anti-democratic demands of the government-appointed Antisemitism Envoy.
At this dark moment in world affairs, with over 60,000 Gazans murdered, most of Gaza itself flattened to the ground, and two million dispossessed and bereaved survivors currently being deliberately starved, vocal defenders of Israel are perpetrating a classic bait-and-switch. They want us to believe that black is white, perpetrators are victims, and pro-justice and anti-genocide advocates are aggressors.
Jewish colleagues side with us
As numerous Jewish colleagues have recently agreed in John and Nick’s defence, their opposition to genocide and their vocal criticisms of Zionism and Israel’s warrior apartheid state have nothing whatsoever to do with antisemitism or racial hatred.
John and Nick say:
“We are entirely confident of victory in the Federal Court, but we need material help. Defending this case and making sure we win is extremely time-consuming and expensive. We are being represented by a team from Marque Lawyers, led by its managing partner Michael Bradley. They cannot be asked to work for nothing. Fighting the Israel lobby requires money. Please be generous. If we win, we will establish an essential legal precedent – opposing Zionism is not antisemitic.”
How your contributions will be used
All the money raised from this crowdfunding initiative will be used in funding John and Nick’s defences.
If John and Nick succeed in defending these cases and the Court makes costs orders in their favour, this could mean that they’ve raised more money than needed to pay their legal costs. If this happens, John and Nick will make a donation of any surplus funds to a variety of individuals and groups supporting the rights of Palestinians to justice and freedom.
Click on these links if you’d like to know more about John and Nick.
