‘We can close a city’: Fierce comments at first Free Palestine rally since Bondi attack
SOURCE:Sydney Morning Herald|BY:Rachael Dexter
The rally, called to protest an upcoming visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Australia, went ahead despite pressure to cancel in light of Victoria’s bushfires.
A prominent leader of Australia’s Palestinian movement has used the first major Melbourne protest rally since the Bondi massacre to slam the federal government and other figures, including directing a “f--- you” at South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.
The rally, called to protest an upcoming visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Australia, went ahead despite public pressure to cancel because of Victoria’s bushfire emergency and the proximity to the December 14 terror attack on the Jewish community.
Nasser Mashni, a leader of Australia’s Palestinian movement, speaks outside the State Library on Sunday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece and the state government had called for the protest to be abandoned, citing the state of disaster and the strain on police. In a concession, rally organisers downgraded their march to a “static” protest outside the State Library, though trams were still stopped on Swanston Street.
Police said 500 people attended the rally, but The Age estimated more than 2000 protesters at its peak. Reece said he was disappointed the protest went ahead, but he welcomed the absence of a disruptive march.
Addressing the crowd, Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, condemned the “scumbaggery” of figures trying to link the pro-Palestine protests to the Bondi terror attack and called attempts to hold his movement responsible “racist”, “shameful” and “disgusting”.
Mashni expressed deep disappointment in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for establishing a royal commission into antisemitism, and argued it created a “hierarchy of hate”. “We should be doing a royal commission into hate, not elevating one community, one oppressed community, above all of the others,” he said.
Protesters at Sunday’s rally in Melbourne.Credit: Chris Hopkins
He derided high-profile figures who called for the inquiry – including James Packer, Nova Peris, Dawn Fraser, Wayne Carey and Grant Hackett – and described them as “dullards” and “has-beens” who did not have the same power as his movement.
“We can close a city – 300,000 of us closed the [Sydney Harbour] Bridge. We can shut down a city, a bridge, a town, wherever it might be, because we are the people,” he said.
Mashni also condemned antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and labelled her a partisan from one of the “nastiest Zionist organisations”.
Mashni directed a “f--- you” at Malinauskas, who backed the Adelaide Festival’s decision to dump Palestinian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the Adelaide Writers’ Week line-up due to “cultural sensitivity” since the Bondi massacre. Mashni labelled the move “shameful”.
Academic and writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Abdel-Fattah, an academic and award-winning author, has faced sustained criticism from Jewish groups for her comments following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The Adelaide Festival board noted that while Abdel-Fattah had no connection to the Bondi attack, her “past statements” made her inclusion in the writers’ week “culturally insensitive”.
She has been criticised for posting on social media that Zionists had “no claim to cultural safety” and that institutions that considered “fragile feelings of Zionists” were abhorrent, as well as for saying in an interview that she does not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Abdel-Fattah was also involved in a “doxxing” incident in early 2024 in which details of 600 Jewish creatives and academics were leaked online.
However, Mashni said the author was “our best and brightest” and argued that her removal was “egregiously drawing a line between us and that horror [at Bondi].”
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“When the board of the Adelaide Writers’ Week said, ‘We don’t want you, Dr Randa, people will feel uncomfortable’ ... what did writers of good conscience do?” he asked. “They said, ‘F--- you. F--- you, Malinauskas, f--- you, Adelaide Writers’ Week. Jam that shit where the sun doesn’t shine.’”
The focus of Sunday’s rally was protesting against Herzog’s looming visit. Albanese invited the Israeli president to provide support for Jewish Australians following the Bondi attack. Mashni on Sunday labelled the invitation an antisemitic gesture as it conflated Australian Jews with the Israeli state.
Although the Israeli presidency is a ceremonial role, Herzog was named in the genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. The court cited statements by Herzog as plausible evidence of genocidal intent, specifically his remark that an “entire nation” – referring to Gazans – bears responsibility for the October 7, 2023 attacks. He was also photographed signing an artillery shell destined for Gaza.
Herzog claims the court twisted his words, and argues he was referring to the widespread civilian support for Hamas.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is due to visit Australia.Credit: Getty
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said Mashni’s comments were appalling.
“This kind of rhetoric is offensive and is designed to stir up hatred of, and violence towards, an ethnic minority in this country, being Jews,” he said.
Aghion said the comments underlined why the government called a royal commission into antisemitism.
Of the Free Palestine movement’s attempts to decouple Zionism from Judaism, Aghion said Zionism was “nothing more than the right to a Jewish homeland in the traditional lands of the Jewish people”.
He compared the connection to Greek or Ukrainian Australians being proud of their home countries.
A protester holds a placard reading “Globalise the intifada”. The slogan has been highly criticised.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“Zionism says nothing about political solutions for that land, including borders or coexistence – all of which can be accommodated and indeed welcomed within a Zionist philosophy,” he said.
However, Jewish Council of Australia executive member Ohad Kozminsky disagreed with Aghion’s view, and told protesters on Sunday that there was a “false choice” being imposed on the public.
“There’s no choice between standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine ... and standing in solidarity with Jewish people who were killed by racist violence,” Kozminsky said.
Another speaker, Jasmine Duff, the national co-convener of Students for Palestine, defended the controversial phrase “globalise the intifada”, which critics argue is a call for violence.
Daniel Aghion, the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (pictured in December), said the comments made at Sunday’s rally were appalling.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“The word is an Arabic word, and it means uprising,” she said.
Duff led chants of “Long live the intifada” and “There is only one solution, intifada revolution”. Duff also called media figures such as Eddie McGuire and Kyle Sandilands “racist scum” for their criticisms of her movement.
As the rally ended, some protesters chanted: “Death to the IDF” and “All Zionists are terrorists”.
Aghion noted the NSW government was already moving to declare such chants illegal. “These are the very chants that are being used to incite violence against Zionists, which, in Australia, means Jews,” he said.
Victoria Police said there were no issues or arrests at the rally.
Albanese’s office declined to comment, but pointed to a previous statement welcoming Herzog to Australia.
An earlier version of this article quoted Nasser Mashni as saying “one oppressive community.” This has been updated to “one oppressed community” to reflect his intended meaning.
