On the warmest day since autumn, a peaceful, family-oriented gathering at Bondi Beach – initiated by Jews Against the Occupation ’48 – was met with racist, intimidating abuse from Zionists waving Israeli flags and their apparent allies, white supremacists draped in Australian flags.
I am Jewish. What I saw on Sunday shook me to my core.
For 23 months now, we have heard endlessly from Zionist organisations about how unsafe they feel and how intimidated they are by the supposed rise in antisemitism. The inference is that pro-Palestine protests make Jews unsafe.
I have attended most pro-Palestine protests during these 23 months. Unless you support Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there is no reason to feel intimidated.
Our Bondi event was planned in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla – the humanitarian mission sailing to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza. Held on Father’s Day, the gathering was to honour countless children in Gaza who have lost their fathers, and countless fathers who have lost their children.
Hundreds of paper origami boats were made to be launched into the sea, symbolising the more than 60 boats heading to Gaza.
This peaceful event was a collaboration between JAO’48 and Eastern Suburbs for Palestine; Coalition of Women for Justice and Peace; Hope Uniting Church; Randwick Botany Greens; and Surfboard Riders for Palestine.
Zionists mobilise
Zionist organisations launched an online campaign in its lead-up to discredit and threaten the gathering.
StandWithUs Australia, one of the most visible pro-Israel advocacy organisations globally, issued a graphic with a red cross over our poster, captioned: “No, Not In Our Backyard. They bring hate and support for terror to our community. We will not stay silent.”
They framed the gathering as a “provocation” and called on people to “stand united” at Bondi Beach, bringing flags and voices.
The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) went further, posting: “The Jewish community is not going to sit by and allow a bunch of troublemakers to bring their hate to Bondi Beach … Members of the Jewish community have plans to confront this hate.”
This was not a call for dialogue. It was a call to mobilise — and it worked.
Even those with no interest in Israel or Palestine would surely be appalled by anyone claiming Australia’s most famous beach as their own. Bondi sits on the unceded lands of the Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal peoples. It is an unwritten rule that our beaches are open to everyone. Unlike other countries, we don’t have fee paying beach clubs.
Neither the Australian Jewish Association nor the Jewish Board of Deputies mentioned that Jews — several of whom are from the Eastern Suburbs/Bondi itself — were organising the event. Instead, they stressed attendees were “coming from outside the area,” a subtle but clear nod toward racism.
Support for our peaceful event was overwhelming. I saw social media posts and comments from Zionists beforehand, but I could never have imagined the numbers who would turn up to confront us.
Their meeting point was shared the night before. I was relieved they were gathering on the grass at the north end of the beach, while we were on the sand in front of the Pavilion — the beach’s centre. I assumed that after the anti-immigration and anti-racism/pro-Palestine protests in the CBD on August 31, which police kept apart, the same would happen. It did not.
Counter-protestors fly in
For safety reasons we travelled to the event in small groups. Pause for a moment: Sydneysiders attending a peaceful family event were in fear for their safety. Haven’t we been told ad infinitum that Zionist Jews have been fearful for 23 months?
On arrival, my heart sank. Hundreds had answered the Zionists’ call. They stood on the promenade, waving Israeli and Australian flags, shouting abuse. Some were reportedly linked to far right and neo-Nazi groups present at last week’s anti-immigration March for Australia.
The militant Zionist group, Lions of Zion, had flown members in from Naarm/Melbourne to stand alongside them, as did StandWithUs.
I joined JAO’48 and hundreds of other Sydneysiders — many of whom are Palestinians grieving loved ones in Gaza — on the sand. I couldn’t hold back my tears looking up at the promenade to the young blokes draped in the Israeli flag, supposedly “my brethren” tainting Jewishness and trampling on the meaning of “Never Again”.
How many of them have served or are serving in the IOF participating in a genocide?
The pro-Palestine supporters walked towards the shore. Michelle Berkon, who conceived and planned the event, gave a speech honouring the brave Flotilla activists, including the Australian and New Zealand contingent. She reminded us we stood on stolen land. Greens Senator David Shoebridge stressed that in the face of genocide we must do all we can to stop it. Both urged us not to engage with the thugs on the promenade.
In the background, the vile chants included: “You’re all terrorists!”; “Go back to Lakemba!”; “Get off our beach!”; “This is our beach”; “You can stick your Palestine up you’re a.hole”; “Send them home”; “White Australia”; “Deport you all”; and “No dogs on the beach”. Palestinians were accused of being rapists. Some denied Gaza children were starving. Their taunts were intertwined with a chorus of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie”.
Antisemitic jibes were directed at Jewish attendees: “Are you coming to shul on Friday?” A Zionist teenager draped in an Israeli flag sneered at my sign which said: “This Jewish woman says never again means to anyone” and told me: “No Jewish woman has ever said that”.
That boy had been raised on Zionist propaganda. Soon, he could be off to join the Israeli Occupation Forces enforcing occupation and apartheid.
Police were present, but insufficient: They admitted they lacked numbers to prevent a mass surge if the mob decided to rush the beach. They had been blindsided by the scale of the protest and failed to keep the Zionists and their allies in their original meeting spot on the grass.
In contrast, the rallies for Palestine in the CBD are heavily policed, despite always being peaceful. But at Bondi, there was none even though there had been a credible threat made against us.
Paper boats were released into the sea. Surfers paddled out with large Palestinian flags. Sea Shanty singers led us in call-and-response songs. The singing, cheers, and waves drowned out the promenade chants. That’s why we had come.
We built a “Free Gaza” sand sculpture while waiting for police to cordon an area so we could leave safely.
Imagine if the roles were reversed and we had been given move-on orders. Every politician would be issuing statements and calling for protests to be banned the very next day. As we approached the stairs up from the sand, the jeering grew louder. A mum and her 3-year-old child were shouted at by a Zionist saying: “I hope you’re all killed”.
Media spin
It was no surprise to see how the mainstream media spun what happened at Bondi. The words they used were “brawls”, “scuffles”, “two sides of protests”, “tensions raised”, “fisticuffs” — implying that the pro-Palestine gathering on the sand was, in some way, violent and equivalent to the far right mob that faced us.
We were made out to be the provocateurs to our abusers. It was reminiscent of the “You made me do it” defence in domestic violence.
To those still repeating the tired phrase “social cohesion” look no further than last week’s far-right, anti-immigration rallies and the Zionist mobs and their far-right allies who threatened and harassed a peaceful, multi-faith, multi-ethnic community gathering.
The supposed antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal has remained conspicuously silent.
Most disturbing in the mainstream media coverage is the repeated vilification of Palestinian voices. Where is the condemnation? We have hate speech laws in NSW, apparently, but are they being applied?
[Judith Treanor is a member of Jews Against the Occupation ’48 and helped organise the Bondi Beach Global Sumud Flotilla event. This article was first published at Michael West Media.]