Anthony Albanese invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit in the hope of boosting support for Israel. Instead mass protests, and anger at police violence in Sydney, showed the continuing depth of opposition to the genocidal state.
It was an outrage for Albanese to invite a war criminal named in both the International Court of Justice ruling and a UN Commission of Inquiry as inciting genocide. Lawyer Chris Sidoti, a Commissioner on the UN Inquiry, called for Herzog to be arrested on his arrival.
But Albanese thought that, after the Bondi attack, he could silence supporters of Palestine by smearing the movement as antisemitic.
Instead tens of thousands defied him. Albanese said he was “devastated” by the scenes at the protest in Sydney, as rage against Herzog’s visit dominated the news.
NSW Premier Chris Minns launched an authoritarian crackdown designed to stop people protesting. Minns warned people not to come into the city on the day of the protest and used anti-protest laws to ban the demonstration from marching.
Up to 20,000 defied him, with large sections of the crowd willing to march in defiance of the law.
Footage of police violence has generated outrage. Many have drawn comparisons to ICE’s crackdown in Minneapolis ordered by Donald Trump.
This was a defeat for Minns’ efforts following Bondi to smear the Palestine movement as hateful and dangerous.
In the aftermath NSW police have ended the restrictions on protests introduced after Bondi in a victory for the right to protest. The day after Minns refused to call an independent inquiry into police actions, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission announced one.
It is Minns and the police that are creating violence and chaos. Minns should resign.
The lesson is that defiance works.
Following the Bondi attack, sections of the Palestine movement went into retreat, calling off vigils and protests. But it was right to stand up to the intimidation and assert our right to protest.
The actions held in the weeks before Herzog’s visit, including the efforts of Indigenous activists in Sydney who forced police to allow a march on Invasion Day, showed that it was possible to defy the anti-protest laws.
The efforts to silence and criminalise support for Palestine are far from finished. NSW has imposed a new code of conduct on teachers, threatening them with the sack for vaguely defined “hate speech”. This is designed to suppress any expression of support for Palestine.
Minns plans to ban the phrase “Globalise the Intifada”, with legislation likely in March. The Victorian government wants to amend vilification laws to prosecute people for using it. The Queensland government is going further and banning “From the River to the Sea” as well.
Albanese has committed to implementing all the recommendations from antisemitism envoy and pro-Israel activist Jillian Segal. Universities will be a particular target.
Supporters of Israel will also use the Royal Commission into antisemitism to attack the Palestine movement and demand further repression.
We need to take the spirit of defiance around the Herzog protests into resisting all these attacks.
Cut ties with Israel
The genocide in Gaza continues and so must the fight for sanctions on Israel.
Albanese’s invitation to Herzog was part of strengthening ties with the genocidal state. Foreign Minister Penny Wong called the visit “an important signal … of our relationship with Israel”. Herzog himself praised the Albanese government as “serious partners” following official talks.
Albanese continues to aid Israel’s genocide through allowing the export of weapons parts alongside intelligence sharing from the Pine Gap spy base.
Australia also has a raft of contracts with Israeli arms firms that inject billions into Israel’s war economy.
This relationship is part of Australia’s military alliance with the US, with Israel a key US ally. Albanese wants to boost US power even as Trump pursues brazenly gangster imperialism.
Albanese is spending $368 billion on nuclear subs while expanding US bases in Australia to prepare for war against China.
And as Trump launches violent deportation raids across the US, Albanese is also fanning racism here.
One Nation is surging in the polls, scapegoating migrants for housing prices and the cost of living. Albanese has encouraged this racism, declaring that he is getting immigration down and passing new deportation laws to dump non-citizens with criminal convictions on Nauru.
Following the Bondi attack he imposed new “hate speech” laws, promoting the idea that the Muslim community contains terrorist sympathisers.
Interest rates, inflation and the cost of living are all rising again, with real wages going backwards. Albanese’s failure on living standards will also feed the growth of the far right.
We need to learn from the resistance in Minneapolis and the defiant demonstrations against Herzog—protest works. We can build on this to beat back Albanese and state governments’ offensive against Palestine.
Alongside the protests, every workplace, every school, every university, needs to get organised. And we need to link that resistance to a fight for a socialist alternative to the capitalist system that is run by a profit-hungry class of billionaires and warmongers.
