A rally near the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on July 9 protested the conflation of pro-Palestinian voices with anti-Jewish hate speech.
It was called by Jews Against the Occupation ’48 (JAO), Stop the War on Palestine (SWOP) and City of Sydney for Palestine (CoS4P). The key message they wanted to convey was that supporting Palestine is not antisemitic and the royal commission should not be silencing anti-Zionist Jews.
Co-chairs Judith Treanor, from JAO, and Adam Adelpour, from SWOP, criticised the royal commission for its bias towards pro-Israeli state and Zionist voices. The controversial Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal has been asked to appear several times, whereas anti-Zionist voices have been largely sidelined, with one exception — Sarah Schwartz, from the Jewish Council of Australia, whose request to appear was granted on July 2.
Treanor gave a passionate account of the pro-Israel lobby’s vitriolic attacks on herself and other anti-Zionist Jews, following their submissions to the royal commission, which supported the Palestinian cause and condemned Israel’s genocide on Gaza.
Palestinian activist Shamikh Badra said that while all racism is wrong and damages social cohesion, supporting Palestine against Israel’s genocide is not antisemitic. He said the royal commission must hear the voices of Palestinians, anti-Zionist Jews and other anti-racist voices, which it has so far minimised.
Jepke Goudsmit, from JAO, spoke about the dangers of combining Jewish identity with support for Israel. She said it was likely to increase real antisemitism in society, rather than diminish it.
Rachel Evans, speaking for Liv Carney from CoS4P, said: “The hundreds of rallies organised against Israel’s genocide in the city have been peaceful and in no way antisemitic ... Attempts to conflate our pro-Palestine rallies as antisemitic are completely baseless and designed to discredit the anti-racist aims of the pro-Palestine movement.”
Angus Dermody, a pro-Palestinian student activist from University of Sydney, spoke about the university management’s campaign, in collaboration with the pro-Israel lobby, to demonise and suppress pro-Palestinian students’ right to campaign on campus.