Jewish groups seek to block Opera House protest

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) and Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) have joined the fight at the NSW Supreme Court to stop anti-Israel protests planned to end at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday October 12.

The peak Jewish organisations submitted an amicus brief challenging the proposed location of the protest, amid escalating antisemitism in NSW and following last week’s terror attack targeting Jews in a Manchester synagogue which killed two worshippers.

JBD president David Ossip said the demonstration “cannot be allowed to proceed”.

“Two years ago, whilst innocent Israelis were still being massacred, raped and taken hostage, protesters defiled our iconic Opera House with celebrations and antisemitic chants. Now – at a time when Israel and the Arab and Islamic world have embraced a comprehensive peace plan to end the war – these protesters want to return to the Opera House to continue their demonisation of Israel and the Jewish community,” he said.

“This has never been about the Palestinians or peace. For these activists who have systematically torn our society apart, it has always been about their deep and irrational hatred of Israel. If they truly cared about peace, they would be on the streets demanding Hamas accept the peace plan. Instead, there is complete silence from pro-Palestinian groups and the Greens. Their hypocrisy is deafening, and their true motivations are clear.”

JBD CEO Michele Goldman said the move comes as the community seeks balance between freedom of assembly and freedom from harassment.

“In the wake of deadly attacks overseas and an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents here at home, we are asking the court to restore the balance between freedom of assembly and freedom from harassment and hate,” Goldman said.

“For more than two years, weekly anti-Israel rallies have turned our CBD into a no-go zone for Jewish people. But it doesn’t stop there — we know these protests have fuelled real-world antisemitic incitement and violence across Sydney.”

The action follows the notorious protest on the steps of the Opera House on October 9, 2023, just days after Hamas’s attacks on Israel, when demonstrators chanted “f… the Jews” and “where’s the Jews” among other antisemitic slurs and threats.

ECAJ president Daniel Aghion said protesters wanted to return to the Opera House after using it to spread hatred.

“First they used the Opera House to spread their hatred of Jews — even as Israelis were being raped, murdered and taken hostage,” Aghion said. “Then they marched across the Harbour Bridge carrying an image of the Iranian dictator who calls for the destruction of Jews. Now they want to return to the Opera House.”

He cited ASIO director-general Mike Burgess’s comments earlier this year that the cumulative effect of protests has created “an atmosphere of rabid hostility towards the Jewish community”.

Aghion argued the proposed march from Hyde Park to the Opera House would cause excessive disruption to the public.

“The proposed march directly from Hyde Park to the Opera House, a distance of 1.9 kilometres, would occupy the whole of Macquarie Street, a major traffic artery, and restrict public access to Sydney Hospital, Sydney Eye Hospital, the NSW Parliament and the NSW State Library,” he said.

“It would also shut down the Opera House for a period, and deny the public access to it. The disruption to the general public would therefore be excessive, and should be avoided by, at a minimum, re-routing the march.”

Goldman said the community had not taken the legal step lightly.

“The community — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — is exhausted,” she said. “The courts have set a high bar for these cases, but we hope they will recognise the considerable weight of evidence we have provided.”

According to The Australian, pro-Palestine activists fighting for authorisation said a victory for NSW Police would unconstitutionally confine “a wide variety of protest activities”.

Palestine Action Group solicitor Nick Hanna told the court that “if the police application is conceded to, the ramifications for the right to protest in Australia will not be confined to the Opera House, but for a wide variety of protest activities”, The Australian reported.

The case was adjourned until Wednesday morning and moved to the Court of Appeal, with both sides pushing for the matter to be referred directly to the higher court to streamline proceedings.

Supreme Court judge Ian Harrison acknowledged the time pressure and public significance of the proceedings, noting “you’d have to live in a vacuum not to be aware of the significant public importance of these proceedings to all members of the community”, The Australian reported.

Justice Desmond Fagan said on Friday the march could lead to “disaster” if between 10,000 and 100,000 “strongly motivated people” attempted to converge on the Opera House forecourt.

The NSW Supreme Court will consider whether to hear arguments from the Jewish organisations at hearings on Wednesday morning.