source : the age
Police effectively handed control of the Sydney CBD to pro-Palestine protesters two days after the October 7 attack by advising the Jewish community to stay away, the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has heard.
About 700 people attended the October 9 rally marching from Town Hall to the Opera House forecourt, where a number of protesters chanted “Where’s the Jews” and lit flares.
David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, told the commission he recalled advice from NSW Police that the CBD in general should be avoided by Jews on October 9.
“It was effectively police transferring control of the CBD to the protesters,” Ossip said.
Describing the police advice as “objectionable” and “unprecedented”, he said police had in effect said “we can’t keep your community safe”.
That night, the sails of the Opera House were illuminated with the blue and white of the Israeli flag to express condolence for the atrocities carried out in southern Israel two days before.
In the end, the Board of Deputies issued advice to an email list containing about 10,000 addresses, telling Jewish community members they should avoid Town Hall and the Opera House while “exercising vigilance” in other parts of the city.
“We agonised over whether to put out a statement,” said Ossip, whose organisation administers the volunteer-run Community Security Group. He also expressed appreciation for the NSW Police efforts to keep the Jewish community safe and acknowledged the limits on their powers to deal with protests.
Lawyers for Palestinian groups questioned the Board of Deputies president about his criticism of the protest, particularly its timing.
The protest was first called by Palestine Action Group on October 7.
“That post would have gone out when women were still being raped, children being kidnapped and families being burned alive,” he said.
Dominic Toomey, SC, barrister for the Palestine Action Group, suggested facts contradicted Ossip’s evidence that the protest was called before Israel had initiated a military response in Gaza.
Ossip maintained his position that Israel was still in a state of disarray at the time and primarily dealing with Hamas attacks. Asked whether he understood problems at the October 9 rally may have been caused by a small group of protesters joining late, he said: “I’m not aware of the minutiae of who joined the protest when.”
In other evidence, Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna apologised for the police force’s failure to advise the Jewish community ahead of time that neo-Nazis would rally outside NSW Parliament in November.
“It absolutely shouldn’t have happened,” McKenna said of the communication breakdown. “It was a human error.”
McKenna said police relied on legal advice when deciding not to oppose the application to hold an “Abolish the Jewish lobby” rally, which was submitted by the National Socialist Network.
“Whilst some things are abhorrent, offensive … if they don’t meet the threshold of breaching the law, we fall back on the fact that people have a right to public assembly,” the officer said.
One neo-Nazi has been charged with inciting racial hatred based on the content of a speech he gave at the rally, after a long police review.
“It took months for the lawyers to agree that it probably was an offence,” McKenna told the commission.
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