'The arson attack on the East Melbourne Synagogue on Friday night was carried out while about 20 people, including children, were having a Shabbat dinner inside the place of worship.

'Also on Friday night, a group of about 20 masked people [some wearing keffiyehs] entered Israeli restaurant Miznon and shouted offensive chants, scuffing with staff and knocking over tables to the alarm of patrons, before police arrived and police arrested one man.

'Victoria Police confirmed about 20 protesters walked to the restaurant on Hardware Lane on Friday night and began shouting offensive chants, including “death to the IDF”.

'The “death to the IDF” chant was also heard in Melbourne’s Bourke Street mall during last Sunday’s regular anti-Israel protest, and shouted from the Glastonbury stage by band Bob Vylan in its controversial performance.

'Last month, vandals targeted a historic synagogue in South Yarra'.

I'm finding it incredibly hard to believe that the 'Pro-Palestine advocacy' on show in FVEY societies is really that divorced from antisemitism and outright support for dismantling our polities as we know it.

But then again, I recall ASIO's concerns in the 1970s about the PFLP's targeting of, not just Jewish people here, but businesses supportive of Israel.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/melbourne-synagogue-hit-by-arson-attack-scuffles-in-cbd-20250704-p5mco2.html

'"Last week a year 9 girl was chased up Queens Park Road by a woman shouting, 'F*** the Jews', 'f****** c-word', 'free Palestine', over and over," Ms Hasofer told the inquiry.

'She also recounted incidents of people driving past the college and giving the Nazi salute or yelling "f*** the Jews".

'"There were kids in my son's year who had raw eggs thrown at them at Westfield because they were in school uniform," she said.

'[Jewish kids attending non-Jewish schools] make an active choice to take off their Star of David necklace … or not wanting to make a fuss when someone draws a [hakenkreuz] on the locker ...'

It appears the pursuit of 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion' by progressives does not seem to apply to all religious minorities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-04/nsw-antisemistism-inquiry-jewish-school-students-abuse-threats/105495422

‘About four years ago, the synagogue reinforced the door with steel and constructed a blast-proof, transparent plastic security cage just inside the entrance. Smoke filled the cage and drifted into the sanctuary but the synagogue’s defences held.

‘… it is self-evident that the same sentiment which drives the protest movement is motivating violence against Jews in Australia.

‘Jewish people are terrified, political leaders are appalled and police seem unwilling or unable to make them stop.

‘And come Sunday, protesters will march through Melbourne’s streets and disavow any connection between what they see as a just cause and what we saw on Friday night’.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/inside-the-synagogue-attack-the-night-hate-came-knocking-20250705-p5mcpx.html

‘The vandalised business … is a weapons company with links to Israel and had previously been targeted by protesters opposing the Israeli military’.

Another DIB member targeted. I expect more violence against our DIB until the law is enforced.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/netanyahu-condemns-reprehensible-antisemitic-attacks-in-melbourne-20250706-p5mctx.html

‘We don't see Russian or Ukrainian or Sudanese restaurants being attacked, or other places of conflict around the world …’

Exactly. Or even Pak restaurants despite the wars the Paks started in 1947, 65, 71, 99, and the array of jihadism sponsored in India since the 70s.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-06/synagogue-fire-charges-protest-laws-victorian-parliament/105498480

'A police source ... said at least one of those who invaded the restaurant was part of a group known to counter-terrorism police for sometimes organising left-wing protests that turned violent'.

Mate, of course, it was LWE.

Even CPA wasn't this violent.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/allan-government-scrambles-to-beef-up-efforts-to-tackle-antisemitism-with-new-anti-hate-taskforce-20250706-p5mcxo.html

‘… dozens of officers were assigned to the anti-police demonstration, which was promoted online by various hard-left and pro-Palestinian activist groups.

‘… a decision was taken for police to not have a physical presence at the protest, to avoid inflaming the group.

‘… most of the protesters questioned by police at the restaurant were known to police due to their frequent attendance at the regular Sunday rallies’.

If police are afraid of entities with disdain for the rule of law getting ‘inflamed’ by police merely being present, police are not appropriately equipped to deal with said entities.

The rule of law must supersede ‘hurt feelings’ of ‘activists’.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/police-told-not-to-confront-protesters-before-restaurant-rampage-20250707-p5md33.html

‘Jemima Demanuele, who was filmed sticking up her middle finger at people at the [Miznon] restaurant but has not been charged, has been stood down from her job at St Vincent’s’ Hospital as it investigates her conduct.

‘All patients – whatever their backgrounds and beliefs – are welcome and safe in our services, and we have zero tolerance for any behaviour that interferes with people’s right to feel safe while going about their lives’.

Good - personnel vetting in CNI must be an ongoing thing, as seen in the Bankstown ex-nurses case.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/three-people-charged-with-assault-and-affray-after-allegedly-storming-israeli-restaurant-20250708-p5mdg1.html

'[SMH] has also not been able to independently identify the original source of the video ...

'This is a clear and serious threat – if you continue making weapons components of any kind, there will be consequences ...

'Lovitt [The target] has produced titanium longeron keels for the F-35’s inner wing assembly for Lockheed Martin ...

'Lovitt was targeted because it is a bottleneck in the [Fat Amy] supply chain ...

'Every worker in this supply chain [Wait, the Fat Amy supply chain? Including test pilots?] is complicit … We will decide your fate as you have decided the fate of millions. [This is terrorism.]

'For the past few months, we have been closely watching you. We have your addresses. All the information we have about you will be distributed to our underground networks".

'The matter is now being investigated by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which includes personnel from Victoria Police, [AFP and ASIO] ...

Talk about physical security risks to the supply chain of our/Allied/partner DIBs. This is terrorism. I add that the data broking ecosystem would have enabled the tracking of DIB employees.

Assuming the video is by a LWE group, rather than garden variety jihadis, it tells you how blinded at least fringes of the Left are to reality that they would, in effect, rather Europe fall to the Russians and two island chains to the Chinese because of their fetish against Fat Amy, an aircraft highly unlikely to be used in uncontested airspace in the first place.

Perhaps the Pro-Palestine attacks on our Allied/partner DIBs will be a wake-up call about the need to concentrate supply chains in trusted jurisdictions where terrorism is not supported/condoned by the mainstream and where useful idiots of hostile states/terrorist groups _cannot_ do lawfare to try and undermine operational readiness (as happened in the Netherlands and was attempted in the UK).

Indeed, the US was able to produce 10,000s of planes to help win the WWII air war largely because the supply chain was pretty much at home.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/anonymous-group-claims-responsibility-for-attack-on-israel-linked-military-parts-maker-20250714-p5meth.html

Left-leaning people on here, could you clarify your fetishised hatred for Fat Amy?

As in, why Fat Amy but not F-16 or F-15 (both operated as well by the Israelis)?

And why not the F/A-18 Super Hornet which has been bombing Houthi terrorists?

Why are you so singularly opposed to Fat Amy when that jet is vital to European security and indeed Asian security as it's operated by, eg, us and our Japanese cousins?

'It was the second day of protests after activists were arrested on Monday for scaling a business in the industrial Canberra suburb of Hume, accusing the firm of contributing to weapons used in Israel'.

Great, another, I'd assume, member of our DIB seeing its physical security being violated by Pro-Palestine entities.

I'm sorry, but this isn't 'protest', this is the targeting of our CNI - we need to prosecute. Do we have aggravated trespass offences in relation to the DIB or something?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pro-palestine-protesters-disrupt-opening-of-parliament-20250722-p5mgyc.html

'[VICPOL chief] said the line between activism and extremism was "quite possibly" being blurred.

'If we talk about public protest, absolutely ...

'No-one wants to live in a city where people are too scared to go in on weekends because there might be some violence.

'It's only a minority but we should not tolerate the behaviour of that minority.

'Victoria Police has received independent legal advice that ... "Death to the IDF" was not an offence.

'Mr Bush was also unequivocal when asked by the ABC if the chant amounted to hate speech [in saying it wasn't]'.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-28/victoria-police-chief-commissioner-mike-bush-first-interview/105577152

'The bridge is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our city – used every day by thousands of people. Unplanned disruption risks not only significant inconvenience, but real public safety concerns ...

'We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos. NSW Police are in discussions with organisers about other routes they can take and are working to ensure community safety is upheld'.

Why can't they find somewhere else to do their protests? Like an area of land not used by thousands of families to easily get across the harbour by road, especially on a Sunday?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/pro-palestine-demonstration-across-sydney-harbour-bridge-to-be-blocked-20250728-p5mibb.html

‘Once we’ve taken the Harbour Bridge, we might take it again’.

Erm, a section of the community, which never calls for civilian hostages to be released by jihadists, wants to shut down a critical transport artery, effectively at will for the purposes of peaceful protest and repeatedly on days ordinary families seek to use that artery, over a conflict in West Asia?

If the Bridge and feeder roads/areas on both sides are shut down _every Sunday_ (rather than extremely rarely as in the instance of WorldPride/the Ryan Gosling movie):
- what does that mean for nearby parts of the road network that will have to take more vehicular traffic than what they were designed for as motorists seek alternatives to cross the Harbour on Sundays?
- how does that affect maintenance planning for said nearby parts?
- will regular protests across the Bridge simply dissuade motorists from coming into the CBD on Sundays during the day if alternative routes are likely to be clogged?
- what does Sydney becoming Melbourne in terms of regular Sunday protests in CBD/city chokepoints mean for our tourism reputation?

Also, does the Pro-Palestine side want to do what the rail unions tried to do, which is shut down NYE celebrations, in this case by lodging a protest application 'to take the Harbour Bridge for Palestine on NYE'?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-supreme-court-authorises-pro-palestine-march-on-harbour-bridge-20250802-p5mjq9.html

‘… authorities would start shutting down the bridge from 11:30am and warned of changes to bus routes, along with an anticipated "very busy" rail network.

‘Both the north and southbound lanes of traffic on the bridge will remain closed until about 4pm.

‘The Harbour Tunnel will remain open, but Mr Moran expected it would also be busy.

‘Anybody on the public transport system, if you can avoid non-essential travel, please do so because there will be flow-on effects in various different areas …

‘… possible congestion on the Western Distributor, Anzac Bridge, Rozelle Interchange, the Eastern Distributor in the south, and also the Gore Hill Freeway and Lane Cove Tunnel’.

Great, so that means less non-activist footfall on a Sunday into the heart of Sydney - wonderful news for CBD businesses, especially SMEs wanting tourist traffic.

Also, those other listed transport arteries are not backroads - and they will be under pressure, like I predicted. And the Harbour Tunnel is only 2 x 2 lanes. Hopefully, no ambulance will need to use either of those roadways.

And that’s all separate to stress this ‘protest’ will (indirectly) put on the public transport network to the extent that folks are being told to avoid discretionary travel into town _on a Sunday_.

Plan ahead folks, especially if you have a flight to catch on Sunday.

I’m sure this solves West Asia, ruining ordinary Sydney families and SME traders’ Sunday, potentially on a repeated basis. And on the public purse, with extra effort required from police and transport authorities.

Meanwhile, no condemnation from the organisers of Hamas releasing yet more trophy videos of emaciated hostages.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-02/nsw-sydney-bridge-pro-palestinian-march-supreme-court-outcome/105603000

‘NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the public should prepare for “massive, massive disruption”.

‘Our message is avoid the city, if you can …’

Glad to see that making the Sydney CBD a ghost town potentially each Sunday will solve West Asia.

And we thought the nonsense had ended with the rail/sparkies union not striking anymore.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-supreme-court-authorises-pro-palestine-march-on-harbour-bridge-20250802-p5mjq9.html

'There will be extensive queues in both directions to the Sydney Harbour Tunnel which will extend to the Western Distributor, Anzac Bridge, Rozelle Interchange as well as Eastern Distributor in the south, and also the Gore Hill Freeway and Lane Cove Tunnel and all of the roads linking into these major corridors.

'For any critical travel, such as going to the Airport from the north shore, we suggest people allow plenty of time, or consider alternative routes such as the Gladesville Bridge and Victoria Road.

'Bus services that cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge will end at North Sydney or Wynyard during the closure times. Travellers should expect crowding at platforms on and around North Sydney and Wynyard stations. Passengers should also allow extra travel time.

'Ferries may also be overcrowded due to commuters utilising this mode of transport.

'There will be no light rail between Circular Quay and Town Hall. The L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford light rail line will truncate at town hall from 12pm and will reopen when deemed safe to do so'.

Wonderful. And the Pro-Palestine side have already flagged they want to do this potentially every Sunday.
https://transportnsw.info/news/2025/major-disruptions-expected-during-sydney-harbour-bridge-closure-this-sunday

'An amendment seeking to insert language into the motion [at the Vic Labor conference] condemning Hamas was defeated.

'... sought to add ... stronger criticism of antisemitism into another motion about recognising the “equal rights of all people”. That suggested change was also defeated'.

The Australian Left needs to be clear: do they condone certain forms of terrorism and hate?
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/capital-cities-prepare-for-bridge-marches-as-fears-raised-over-emergency-services-impact-20250802-p5mjrd.html

'She said the evidence indicated that whether or not the protest was authorised or a prohibition order was made, the Harbour Bridge would be closed to motorists today, as would roads surrounding the route.

'Had there been evidence suggesting that public safety will be enhanced by a prohibition order, that would have been an important factor in my consideration, but there is no such evidence ...

'I reject the submission, if I have understood it correctly, that if the court does not make the order sought it is condoning scenes of violence and ambulances not getting to hospitals in time. This is not the nature of the balancing act required in this case.

'A prohibition order would not have banned the march outright, but would have removed a limited number of protections against criminal liability for protesters, including for blocking roads. But the Palestine Action Group had said the march would proceed in any case'.

So, if I understand it correctly, if you are not openly supporting a banned cause and you make clear that you will occupy a major transport artery for that cause peacefully with a sufficiently large crowd regardless of negative externalities of this inherently private conduct for the transport network, commuter convenience and the functioning of the wider economy and, above all, regardless of whether the protest is legally banned, your ability to conjure up enough street power means that the police has no choice but to facilitate the occupation?

And this is legal even if it happens repeatedly, regardless of the stress placed on other chunks of the road network and the wider public transport network, as well as the desires of others to legally go about their day uninterrupted?

By this logic, does the Pro-palestine side want to nuke any major event within, say, 5 km of the CBD (eg games at the SCG or NYE Fireworks) every week?

Does this mean we need to enlarge the police force simply to recruit officers whose sole job is to facilitate occupation of major infrastructure for political protests?
https://archive.md/WCkmE

'Rally speaker Mohammed Sharab addressed the crowd ...

'He then referred to the October 7 attack as a "prison break"'.

All forms of terrorism are abhorrent and must be condemned and the pro-Palestine side needs to say that.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-03/nsw-march-across-sydney-harbour-bridge-for-pro-palestine-gaza/105605596

Excuse me?

h/t @SouthwickMP

'No one should assume it’s open season on the bridge ... We’re not going to have a situation where the anti-vaccine group has it one Saturday, and then the weekend after that, critical mass takes over and then the weekend after that we have an environmental cause, and then the weekend after that because of an industrial dispute.

'Minns said if a precedent was set, it’s something the government would consider more closely with a view of balancing the right to protest with the right for Sydneysiders to access the city on weekends'.

I suggest redrafting the permit regime so that the test is expanded from just public safety to include effects on road and public transport networks, as well as the wider economy. Something along the lines of Fair Work Act s 424.

The constitutionally implied freedom of political comms isn't absolute for a reason. We can't allow chunks of critical transport infrastructure to be shut down for any political reason, especially shut down regularly. Also, if last Sunday is repeated again and again, we need to look at significantly expanding the size of NSWPOL purely to add public order, tactical and mounted officers to police protests. Because if 90k march down an arterial road every other day/week/month, 1000 officers ain't enough to ensure no one is hurt.

Also, do regular protests on arterial roads mean the death of weekend sports and arts events within a 10-15 km radius of the city? Should protesters compensate struggling community footy clubs and musos if they prevent fans from being able to travel to said events?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/it-s-not-open-season-on-the-bridge-premier-s-verdict-on-protest-that-stopped-traffic-20250804-p5mk33.html

What effect will the regular shutdown of any city's transport infrastructure for political reasons have on the livability of that city?

Will weekends be reduced to staying within your local district/council area because you can't be sure you can do discretionary travel on public transport?

'[Legislation banning protests on arterial roads like the Bridge] could also be ignored by defiant protesters, putting them on a collision course with police ...

'Sunday's scenes suggest that any further attempts to block them could backfire ... on the streets'.

Is the ABC acknowledging that Australia's rule of law itself has potentially frayed like our social cohesion already has, such that street power potentially trumps the state's regulated monopoly on violence?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-05/nsw-premier-chris-minns-risks-backlash-if-bans-bridge-protests/105611196

A nuanced statement on our plan to recognise a Palestinian state during the September season of the UNGA: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/australia-recognise-palestinian-state

It's conditional the PA getting its house in order - good commitments (eg ending pay for slay, education reform, election) - and that we will work with the world to hold the PA to the same. Good also in confirming the PA's recognition of Israel's right to exist (though, check the map they use in their mission in Tunisia).

Love that we're gonna be working to advance normalisation of the rest of West Asia with Israel - make IMEEC happen!

Good, unequivocal language re Hamas + hostages.

Let's see how this goes. Of course, recognition doesn't mean 'the State of Palestine' is a UN member, rather it's more a bilateral thing in our case (like Iraq and Syria).

I note that the recognition movement among Western governments appears conditional on the PA fixing itself so it can govern a Palestinian state, rather than Hamas releasing the hostages. Indeed, the statement doesn't say that recognition will be withdrawn if the PA doesn't successfully get Hamas to release the hostages.

n = 1,800; August 11-16

'Thirty-two per cent said they believed Australia should wait until Hamas was removed from power and/or when Palestine recognises Israel’s right to exist, before recognising a Palestinian state.

'Forty-four per cent said they did not support changing Australia’s current position of not recognising Palestine.

'Labor voters were virtually evenly split on whether to recognise Palestine in September or wait until particular conditions were met, 43 per cent saying they did not support a change to the status quo.

'Fifty per cent of respondents said they did not support sanctions against any participant in the conflict.

'... 51 per cent of respondents said they did not believe marches by local supporters of either Israel or Palestine should be allowed.

'Sixty-four per cent also said they did not believe local councils should display either the Israeli or Palestinian flags'.

Wait, why are local councils displaying overseas national/equivalent flags anyway?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/largely-symbolic-australians-split-on-plan-for-palestinian-recognition-20250725-p5mhqh.html

'NSW Police have spent $11.3 million responding to protests, rallies and crimes linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Sydney ...

'... more than $1 million for the police presence at the August 3 [Harbour Bridge] march, which included a PolAir helicopter circling the bridge and a hefty overtime bill.

'... now far exceeds $11.3 million, given the number and scale of the protests since April, most notably on the bridge.

'More rallies are planned for the future, including an anti-immigration march which is trying to distance itself from the neo-Nazi and conspiracy theorists who are claiming to hold leadership roles ...'

Given Grace Tame's bizarre statement today about assembling 3 million protesters for Palestine (she's silent on Sudan and Tibet), we really need to consider how we fund our police. Society's getting more polarised and indeed selective in its outrage, and we will see more, quite frankly, bizarre mass protests.

Arguably making the Vietnam era look like a few rural town halls here and there.

The money to prevent chaos, especially from protesters rejecting our values by wanting to 'Abolish Australia', has to come from somewhere.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-police-reveal-cost-of-policing-israel-palestine-protest-movements-20250824-p5mpay.html

@warkolm I think anyone wanting to 'abolish Australia' is rejecting Australian values regardless of the arrangement of nucleotides in their genetic code.

I'm all for reasoned and civil public debate on public policy among stakeholder groups.

I revile calls for the abolition of my country by any identity group.