An Australian white nationalist organization rallied against Jewish community involvement in politics and hate crime laws outside the New South Wales Parliament, drawing outrage against the NSW police for allowing the protest to occur.
Black-clad men stood at attention in rows outside the Sydney government building, according to a video shared on Telegram by White Australia, which claimed responsibility for the event. A large banner read “Abolish the Jewish lobby.”
“We are here today because the Jewish lobby is destroying our nation. The Jewish lobby is one of the most powerful lobbies in Australia,” a speaker said.
“They bribe our politicians, coerce our politicians, and send them on all-expenses-paid trips to Israel to educate them, to indoctrinate them so that they can come back and do their wishes. They own our politicians,” the same speaker continued.
Speakers on behalf of the NSW chapter of the white nationalist organization charged that a package of laws passed in February by the NSW government was advanced under false pretenses.
The state has experienced a wave of antisemitic arson and vandalism incidents, which NSW and federal police have claimed to have, in part, been conducted by criminal organizations to distract or manipulate police into rewarding leaders with reduced prison sentences.
Nevertheless, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization in August attributed at least two of the incidents to Iranian operatives. White Australia speakers, however, implied that the Jewish community had paid biker gangs.
Jews, this white nationalist movement continued, had hate acts exaggerated and embellished by a supposedly Jewish-controlled media in order to pressure the government into passing the law package.
“These laws should never have existed in the first place. They stifle freedom of speech,” a White Australia representative said. “These laws should be repealed immediately, and the Jewish lobbies, who lobbied based on falsehood and lies, should be abolished.”
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said on Saturday that it was inexcusable that the police authorized the protest.
“The chilling images and despicable words of antisemitism that were uttered at the event should never find a home or be accepted in our society, especially outside the heart of our democracy,” the board said.
Antisemitism in Australia is on the rise
The anti-Israel group Palestine Action Group Sydney, whose October appeal to the NSW Supreme Court saw the striking of a state law against blocking or intimidating those seeking access to a house of worship, also complained that the white nationalist protest demonstrated a double standard.
“It is outrageous that the NSW government and police have repeatedly tried to ban and block our protests against genocide and war, while they wave through neo-Nazi rallies,” the group said on Instagram on Sunday. “[NSW Premier] Chris Minns cannot use this despicable Nazi rally to pass even more anti-protest laws. They have more than enough.”
NSW opposition leader Mark Speakman also questioned on X/Twitter on Saturday how the “disgusting scene” outside the Parliament was allowed to occur under the premier’s, police minister’s, and police commissioner’s watch.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said in a Saturday press briefing that the Sydney police had made a judgment call about the protest, taking into account the right of free speech against concerns regarding division and other limitations.
Lanyon said he would be reviewing the decision-making process, but that, under current legislation, the Sydney police may have made the correct decision.
Minns suggested in the same press briefing that more legislation could grant the police greater discretion when responding to such incidents. The premier warned that white nationalist groups would not stop with the harassment of the Jewish community, and would also act against New South Wales’ Indian and Islamic communities.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said on X on Saturday that law enforcement needed the right legislative tools to monitor and disrupt extremists.
“Conspiracy theories about Jewish control of politics are more prevalent now than at any time in the past 80 years. They are common to all extremist ideologies, from the far Left to the far Right,” he said.
“Neo-Nazis are adept at identifying the grievances and prejudices that are taking hold in a society and manipulating this for their evil purposes,” said Ryvchin.
“The single most important thing we must do is to restore decency, civility, and basic rationalism to our country, which would instantly remove any appeal of movements founded in pathetic ideas of overthrowing democracy and racial hierarchies.”
Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory said on social media that his organization was against hate speech laws, but that all decent Australians and Jewish community members had to stand united against “racist freaks.”
The NSW Jewish Board called on the police to review whether the protest fell afoul of the law package they were protesting against.
In January, there was a federal ban on the Nazi salute, symbols, and terrorist iconography. Then, in February, Minns’ government passed a bill creating minimum and maximum sentences for displaying Nazi or terrorist organization symbols, or performing the Nazi salute.
The NSW laws also introduced offenses against threats and advocacy of violence against groups for their immutable characteristics, as well as a ban on advocacy or threats to damage the property of targeted groups. A minimum sentence of six years’ prison was added for acts of terrorism, including planning, membership, recruiting, training, support, and association.