[Article updated on November 13.]
The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) condemned the antisemitic Nazi stunt outside NSW Parliament on November 8, saying: “As Jews, we refuse to be intimidated by these pathetic media stunts.”
NSW Police had received a Schedule 1notification of the protest from a group calling itself “White Australia”, signed off by a leading neo-Nazi member several weeks beforehand.
Police responded to concerns regarding their failure to challenge the protest by claiming there was a “communication breakdown”. NSW Police did not seek to ban White Australia’s protest by taking it to the Supreme Court, as it has done with several Palestine Action Group rallies.
The neo-Nazi protest lasted about 20 minutes.
Labor Premier Chris Minns, who has been on a campaign to outlaw pro-Palestine groups on the grounds that they promote antisemitism, was remarkably sanguine about the Nazi protest. There will be a “review” of police processes, he said, with new powers given to police to prevent such protests.
He has since introduced new laws restricting protest outside places of worship, a month after the Supreme Court struck such powers down.
NSW Council for Civil Liberties President Tim Roberts told the ABC that while the neo-Nazi stunt was “deeply concerning”, new laws are not required.
Minns has a "tendency” to announce “law changes on the run”, Roberts said, and police already have the ability to challenge protests in court.
“It’s deeply concerning that, with respect to Palestine and climate [protests], the police escalate matters to the Supreme Court … But with respect to neo-Nazis, they have let this one straight through to the keeper.”
The JCA said it stands with all Jewish people impacted by the Nazis. “The hate these fascists feel for Jews is the same hate they show for First Nations, Muslims, Queer people and many others.”
It said leaders should “focus on the dangerous return of the far right in Australia as the real threat to multiculturalism, rather than the Palestine solidarity movement or valid criticism of Israel”.
Rather than giving police more powers, the JCA called for “united action to combat the far right” including “countering the politics that spread panic about so-called ‘mass migration’ and seek to pit communities against one another.
“We follow in the footsteps of our Jewish ancestors who were committed to fighting against all forms of racism, fascism and injustice.”