Controversial Sydney Opera House protest prohibited

CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Michele Goldman and the Head of Legal of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Simone Abel said the Jewish community feels “relieved and validated” by Justice Stephen Free’s decision to block an anti-Israel protest at the Sydney Opera House on October 12.

“The public safety risk to participants and other members of the public is extreme,” Justice Free said in his judgment.

NSW Police blocked the Palestine Action Group (PAG) protest over security concerns at the iconic venue. The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) and ECAJ joined the fight by challenging the proposed location of the protest amid escalating antisemitism and following last week’s terror attack targeting Jews in a Manchester synagogue which killed two worshippers.

“The right to engage in public protest is fundamental but not unlimited,” Goldman and Abel said in a joint statement following the Court’s ruling.

“Like all rights it has to be balanced against the equally fundamental rights of other people.  The first major Gaza protest took place at the forecourt of the Opera House two days after the Hamas atrocities against Israel on 7 October 2023. The protest became notorious for its chants of “f… the Jews”, flag burning and other acts that desecrated one of our national icons and brought international condemnation upon Australia.

“This protest set the tone for far too many others that have followed. They have taken over major public spaces on a weekly basis and made them no-go areas for Jewish Australians or any other Australians who disagree with the views of the protesters.  No citizens should be subjected to these kinds of restrictions on their freedom and should be able to go about their daily lives anywhere in public without facing threats, harassment or intimidation.”

Goldman and Abel said they had not attempted to stop people from protesting, but called the protest organisers’ “calculated decision” to march at the Opera House “callous and reprehensible”.

“This is all the more reason why the Court was right not to authorise the protest to take over the Opera House precinct and risk repeating the disgraceful scenes of two years ago,” they said.

Meanwhile, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon has been left “appalled” at pro-Hamas graffiti that appeared across Melbourne on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks, as a controversial protest linked to Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir went ahead in Sydney’s Bankstown.

Vandals spray-painted “Glory to Hamas” on a billboard in Fitzroy on Tuesday morning. Just 500 metres away, the words “Oct 7, do it again” and “glory to the martyrs” were daubed on a wall.

“Today, on the day that two of my family members were brutally murdered two years ago, I am appalled and shocked by the abhorrent pro-Hamas graffiti seen across Melbourne,” Maimon said.

“To celebrate Hamas is to celebrate rape, murder and mutilation. Urging them to ‘do it again’ is to endorse barbarism, to burn children, and desecrate bodies. This is not politics; it is not solidarity. Praising Hamas is praising one of the purest evils this world has to offer.”

Opposition leader Sussan Ley said supporting Hamas “is not free speech, it is a crime. Those responsible must face the full force of the law.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the graffiti reflected a “very ugly streak of hatred” in Australia.

In Sydney, two men were ­arrested after a gun was allegedly pointed at the Cremorne synagogue from a moving truck, while a Stand4Palestine protest went ahead in Bankstown on Tuesday evening. One child was seen wearing a “Death to the IDF” shirt.

Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun, who said “I’m smiling, I’m elated” the day after the October 7 attacks, told the rally: “Our martyrs are a thorn in the throats of Zionists. Zionism is on its last legs, Zionism is at its end, it’s going to die.”

He also compared Zionism to Nazism and called for Zionist organisations to be recognised as terror organisations. The rally, entitled “Glory to our Martyrs” in flyers, was organised to mark “two years of resistance”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the timing of the Bankstown protest was “shockingly insensitive”.

“It’s awful that it’s taking place. I think it says a lot about the people who are organising it,” he said.

Zionist Federation president Jeremy Leibler said any protests held on October 7 were a glorification of murder and abduction, while both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the anniversary of October 7 was “not the day” to hold demonstrations.

“On this day the Jewish community in this country is obviously feeling a sense of pain and it’s very important that that is respected and that there is the appropriate remembrance and commemoration of the events that occurred two years ago on this day,” said Marles.