Source : Perth Now news
A fresh-faced candidate running for a spot on the NSW Legislative Council says anti-Israel slogans “incite violence”.
Among the organisations that regularly pop up around election time in NSW, a new party has appeared in the list; Josh for NSW.
The “Josh” in question is Joshua Kirsh, a gay, Jewish, 29-year-old former public servant and volunteer ambulance dispatcher from Dover Heights, just north of Bondi, running on an independent ticket for the NSW Legislative Council.
Mr Kirsh isn’t the first politician to have a party named after himself, but if elected he would likely be the first openly gay Jewish man and one of the youngest members to serve on the council.
The independent candidate served on the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies for two years, and despite leaving the organisation six months ago, he shares their belief that pro-Palestinian slogans are “inflammatory”.
In a submission to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into measures to prohibit slogans that incite hatred, the board asked for six different pro-Palestinian phrases to be criminalised, including “from the river to the sea”, “globalise the intifada” and “death to the IDF”.
“My Jewish community experience helps me understand the damage that some of these slogans and some of these chants have on social cohesion and community safety,” Mr Kirsh in his first interview following Tuesday’s announcement that party registers had closed for the 2027 NSW election.
“I think it’s not a reach to say that some of the most egregious things said have inspired some of the most egregious actions taken.
“There’s a piece here for the criminal justice system to be a lot more involved. I personally believe that the laws we have should be sufficient to criminalise some of those slogans and those chants … we believe these things are already unlawful because they incite violence.
“The Premier made comments after Bondi to the effect that he was in possession of legal advice that a chant like ‘globalise the intifada’ was not consistent with the Crimes Act … we haven’t really seen prosecution and the legal advice hasn’t been provided publicly. I would be interested to understand why that’s the case.”
When asked specifically about whether a phrase like “death to the IDF” could be prosecuted under hate speech laws given those chants were directed towards the armed forces of a foreign country, Mr Kirsh said it was “still inflammatory”.
“It does nothing good for our community and for social cohesion. I think with the existing framework that we have under our laws … if someone wanted to bring a prosecution, we’d be able to test whether that was actually something that was inconsistent with the law, and I think this should happen,” he said.
The Jewish Council of Australia has opposed the banning of slogans, saying that it “risks increasing, not decreasing anti-Semitism”.
“Banning a phrase used by a specific group to raise awareness about injustice will be experienced by that group as discriminatory targeting, marginalisation and demonisation,” it said.
“This will worsen social cohesion, increase racism and strengthen the narratives relied upon by the far right to grow – that migrants, Palestinians and Muslims are an inherent problem for Australian society.”
Mr Kirsh said there had been a “lack of leadership in bringing people together and sitting people around the table” when it came to social cohesion.
“Governments of all stripes have relationships with both Jewish and Muslim communities and I think they have a responsibility to stop finger-wagging and saying go back to your corners and actually put people in a room,” Mr Kirsh said.
In the aftermath of the Bondi attacks and the subsequent widespread reporting of the alleged killers’ Pakistani heritage, a cluster of Muslim graves were desecrated with pig remains at the Narellan cemetery in southwestern Sydney.
“I think governments and politicians – and I would be very keen to do this – need to play an active role in convening different communities and bringing them together,” Mr Kirsh said.
“I’m both Jewish and gay, and it’s not worse for me to experience homophobia than it is anti-Semitism. Both of those things hit me in the same way at the same time.
“As a state we need to be acknowledging that everybody experiencing hate is experiencing hate.”
Outside of his plans to address social cohesion issues, Mr Kirsh is running on a major push for improved public mental health services, particularly for marginalised communities.
“I’ve got a great friend who is doing mental health case management work, particularly supporting people who were affected by the Bondi attacks. His experience has really helped inform some of the policy development work that I’ve been doing,” Mr Kirsh said.
“One of the lessons that came out of Bondi was that when people are able to interface with this support through a trusted lens, and particularly living in a multicultural and diverse state like we do, they’re more likely to get the support that they need and they’re likely to ask for help,” he said.
“My hope is that we could get to a stage where community organisations that are embedded (within their diaspora) can receive referrals from local health districts and then do the work with dedicated supporters to co-ordinate care for people who don’t have the bandwidth or resources to even be able to deal with the challenges they’re facing.”
The official launch of “Josh for NSW” is expected to be announced in the coming months.
The NSW election will take place on March 13, 2027.
