Source : Perth Now news
The NSW Attorney-General has refused to say if the state government intends to make a pro-Palestinian protest chant illegal, in line with Queensland, during an explosive senate estimates hearing at NSW parliament.
While fielding questions from members of the NSW Legislative Council on Wednesday morning, NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley was asked by council chair Sue Higginson whether the government intended to criminalise the phrase “globalise the intifada”.
“The government will respond in due course … my personal view is this; I accept that the phrase ‘globalise the intifada’ can be upsetting and could cause fear into the minds and hearts of the Jewish community given what the intifada has meant for them and in Israel over the decades,” Mr Daley said.
“If you accept that’s the case but you still choose to say that phrase anyway, you’re doing it either because you don’t accept that the Jewish person is being genuine in their fear of that saying or you do realise that it does cause that fear but you’re choosing to say it anyway.
“I just wish that you would find a different expression.”
Ms Higginson said the Labor cabinet had been warned by experts that crackdowns on pro-Palestinian slogans and other forms of protest would “increase the risk of radicalisation” in the community prior to Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit.
“You know that what your government did was place an unreasonable restriction on the ability for communities and organisations to submit a Form 1 to safely hold a public assembly and a march in large areas,” Ms Higginson said.
“Do you take any responsibility as Attorney-General of NSW for the police violence that took place at Town Hall on the 9th of February after extending those protest restrictions over and over again?”
Mr Daley rubbished the claims levelled at him by Ms Higginson, calling them “complete and utter demonstrable nonsense”.
The “globalise the intifada” phrase, which has formally been banned in Queensland, was chanted repeatedly at an anti-Herzog protest by firebrand social justice advocate and 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame.
The protests were sparked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s invitation to Mr Herzog, who once signed artillery shells bound for Gaza, to greet Australian Jews mourning the loss of friends and family in the aftermath of the alleged Bondi terror attack.
The intifada chant has regularly been deployed at pro-Palestinian rallies and protests across the globe in recent years following the October 7 Hamas attacks and subsequent alleged genocide committed against Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.
Intifada is an Arabic word meaning “resistance” or “uprising,” and was used to describe two well-known Palestinian uprisings against Israel between 1987 and 2005.
The controversy is generated mostly by the events surrounding the second intifada, which took place between 2000 and 2005 and was characterised by a series of infamous bus bombings against Israeli civilians.
Even within the Jewish community, the sentiment behind the phrase is disputed, with progressive groups like the Jewish Council of Australia actively opposing the banning of the phrase in Queensland.
In a submission made to the Queensland Parliament’s Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee in February, the JCA said “singling out the term for special scrutiny reproduces anti-Arab and Islamophobic assumptions that Arabic political expression is inherently threatening”.
