Source : Perth Now news
A pro-Palestine protest held on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, as the sails were lit up in solidarity with the Jewish people following Hamas’ terror attack shattered “physical and psychological sense of safety in this country” for Jews, an inquiry heard.
“F*** the Jews” were among the chants heard by Jewish Australians during protests at the landmark on 9 October, 2023.
This was two days after Hamas militants launched a deadly attack into Israel, killing around 1200 people.
CBD was no go zone
Police told Jewish Australians to “avoid their own Sydney CBD” during the “despicable” 9 October Sydney Opera house protest, the royal commission heard.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip said the march from Town Hall to the Opera House was “incredibly insensitive” with “a lot of celebration” in regards to the 7 October Hamas attack.
“I thought it was quite an extraordinary and outrageous admission from police (and) I can’t recall any group, particularly any religious or racial group, ever being provided advice that they should avoid their own city CBD, for their own safety and wellbeing,” he said.
“It was effectively the police saying, ‘we can’t keep your community safe’ and as I’ve said in my statement, in my view, it was effectively the police transferring control of the CBD to the protesters and I thought the matter was very serious.”
Mr Ossip said the police’s view was there should be no counter protest as it would be “inflammatory”.
Mr Ossip said the anti-Israel protest brought “international disgrace” upon Australia with one attendee reportedly yelling ‘I am going to kill them all’.
“It was amongst the clearest examples of anti-Semitism in recent years.”
The Jewish Board of Deputies President said the 7 October Hamas terror attack had a “profound psychological impact on the Jewish community” and the decision to light the Opera House with Israeli flag colours “was a source of reassurance and comfort”.
Mr Ossip said while “members of the Jewish community were understandably planning to go down to the Opera House for a vigil”, their plans were disrupted by the protest which involved flares and anti-Semitic chants.
“It was a work day, children were attending school in the CBD.”
“We’re also aware of workplaces, sending around communications, effectively providing permission, to members of the Jewish community to leave the CBD, because of concerns about what would transpire that evening,” he said.
Police conduct called into question
“The Commission has heard evidence that the conduct of the police on October 9 gave some members of the Jewish community the impression that the police were protecting anti-Semitic demonstrators,” Counsel Assisting Richard Lancaster SC told the seventh tranche of hearings at the Royal Commission into anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.
Mr Lancaster shared the experience of some witnesses and said protests must be understood as a vessel for expressing “freedom of speech”, not a path to encourage violence.
“Interpersonal violence does not become lawful or acceptable in the context of a protest, incitement to violence and racist vilification does not become lawful or acceptable in the context of a protest,” he said.
“Anti-Semitism does not become acceptable in the context of a protest.”
Mr Lancaster acknowledged the Sydney Opera House protest and a neo-Nazi protest in front of parliament on 8 November 2025 had both been “critical event(s)” for the rise of Jewish hate in Australia.
He described witness accounts of “the Star of David going into a rubbish bin” and images of a “neat line of white men in black outfits”, with Jewish Australians experiencing a “loss of a feeling of safety”.
More to come
