Source : Perth Now news
Grace Tame has issued a defiant message after calls for her Australian of the Year title to be stripped following her controversial comments at a protest against visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Ms Tame came under fire this week for shouting “globalise the intifada” while leading pro-Palestinian protesters at a rally in Sydney on Monday.
“We have to continue to mobilise, and we have to continue to globalise,” she told the crowd.
“Say it with me – from Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce was among those calling for Ms Tame’s title to be stripped, with party leader Pauline Hanson going further to claim the statement “should be a terrifying trigger” for the former Australian of the Year to be investigated by ASIO.
Ms Tame was awarded the honour in 2021 for her advocacy for survivors of sexual assault.
Grace Tame has issued a defiant message after her controversial pro-Palestine speech, saying she will not be silenced after calls for her to be stripped of her Australian of the Year title.
On Wednesday, Ms Tame issued a defiant message on her social media, saying she did not advocate for violence or anti-Semitism and refuses to be silent.
Dressed in a T-shirt that read “readers and writers against the genocide”, she said she was “staunchly anti-violence and anti-racism in every form”.
“I have spent over half my life fighting for the rights and safety of children,” she wrote.
“We’re at the point where a federal MP has called for me to be investigated by police, another two have called for my Australian of the Year Award to be rescinded, and the premier of NSW has linked me to the Bondi massacre — all because I said a phrase that isn’t illegal, while addressing a peaceful protest.
“In that same speech, I also said that our communal weapons are compassion and love.
“This message has been completely lost.”
In the near-three-minute clip, Ms Tame said the calls to have her stripped of the title was part of “Israel’s propaganda strategy”.
“Choosing to put a negative spin on the word ‘intifada’, which literally means ‘shaking off’ is just another example of that,” she said.
In the video, Ms Tame claimed the “non-violent attendees of these protests (in Sydney) were met with unprovoked police brutality”.
An estimated 6000 people attended the rally against Mr Herzog’s visit at Sydney’s Town Hall on Monday evening, which ended with dozens of protesters under arrest after violent clashes with police officers.
Nine people were charged, including four with assaulting police.
In her post, Ms Tame said: “Our leaders go on about social cohesion -what’s a better example of social cohesion that tens of thousands of people from many and diverse backgrounds gathering united in the pursuit of humanity?”
She said it was not the first time she had been “made the villain for speaking out” and “refused to be silent” about her actions.
