By Lucinda Garbutt-Young in Canberra

Australian National University’s interim vice-chancellor Rebekah Brown will appear before a royal commission, as witnesses continue to grapple with blurred lines in separating criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism.

University bosses to front the inquiry have detailed bubbling tension amid threats to staff and students because of differing views about Palestine.

Earlier this week, a former ANU student, known as Liat, told the Royal Commission on AntiSemitism and Social Cohesion that she felt fearful on campus and lost many of her friends because she was a Zionist.

“I spent the majority of my university education in an environment that was characterised by people justifying and excusing, and sometimes encouraging the murder, the rape, and the brutalisation of people on the other side of the world and here because those people happen to be Jewish,” she said.

A pro-Palestine encampment at the university lasted for 110 days in 2024, making it one of the longest-running at any Australian university.

ANU for Palestine said at the time that the encampment had become “untenable” after the university “called the police on us, censored us, and lied about us”.

“The ANU is committed to engaging fully and constructively with the royal commission as part of a rigorous and independent process to address anti-Semitism and strengthen social cohesion across Australia,” a spokesperson for the university told AAP ahead of Professor Brown’s appearance on Thursday.

“Our commitment is to provide a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for all members of the ANU community, while remaining a university where complex and difficult conversations can occur without fear, hatred or harm.”

On Wednesday, UNSW vice-chancellor Attila Brungs told the royal commission he was “deeply concerned” about the wellbeing of his academic community following the October 7 Hamas attack after students spoke of “fear” and “anguish”.

Professor Brungs was the third in a series of vice chancellors to appear this week.

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