Members of the public were cleared from Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra and some areas of the building were locked down Thursday morning after terrorist supporters climbed up to the roof and unfurled banners supporting Hamas.
“From the River to the Sea PALESTINE Will Be Free”, War Crimes … PALESTINE Enabled Here” and “No Peace on Stolen Land. Genocide” were written in huge white letters on the black banners. One had a blood-red tail.
The demonstrators were wearing keffiyahs and most were masked, dressed up as fake Arab terrorists. They read out a statement calling for an end to “US and Australian support for the genocidal state of Israel.”
However, the protest was not limited to hatred for Israel: one banner also listed Frontier Wars, Vietnam, Timor Leste, West Papua, Iraq and Afghanistan along with “Palestine” as places where war crimes were “enabled.”
The protesters bellowed “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever” from the rooftop, overlooking a handful of people below, most of whom were journalists and security officers.
How Could This Happen in a Secured Federal Building?
Member of Parliament Barnaby Joyce told Sky News Australia there were “serious questions” to be answered about how the protesters gained access to the building.
“We should have an inquiry,” he said. “This was planned. How did they plan it?”
It’s a good question. The protest took place just seven years after a $120 million security upgrade to the building.
Senator James Paterson, home affairs spokesperson for the government coalition, agreed. Paterson noted that if someone can gain access to the roof of a building fortified to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, “then their access to the building is much easier than it otherwise would be … and the security mechanisms in this building have failed to prevent it,” he said.
“These are protesters; they don’t appear to have any violent intent. But if protesters can do this, then someone with violent intent could also do this,” Paterson also pointed out.
The incident took place on the final day of a two-week session prior to the start of a six-week winter break, according to The Guardian. No arrests were made.
Antisemitism in Australia on the Rise
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, as of December 15, 2023, there was a 738 percent increase in antisemitic incidents since the October 7 Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 people in southern Israel and abduction of 250 others.
According to the 2023 Antisemitism Worldwide Report published by Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Australia recorded 622 antisemitic incidents in October and November 2023, in comparison to 79 during the same period in 2022.
But antisemitic incidents “down under” increased also before October 7th, the report points out.
Prior to the start of the war, 371 incidents were recorded in Australia between January and September 2023, compared to 363 in the same period in 2022.
Equally disturbing, the hate is not limited to Australia.
Antisemitism on the Rise Globally
Following the massacre that launched the October 7th war, the levels of antisemitism have skyrocketed worldwide.
instances of discrimination, harassment, and violence targeting Jewish communities around the world have surged, with a 58.2 percent increase in monitored incidents in 2023, compared to 2022.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) recorded 3,046 incidents globally in 2023, compared to 1,925 the previous year and 2,215 in 2021.
Large-scale demonstrations celebrating the attack erupted across the world, according to CAM’s report, Antisemitism in 2023, with protesters defending the kidnapping, torture, rape, burning and murder of Israeli civilians as “legitimate resistance.”
Four key global trends in antisemitism were detected, according to the report: Increased global antisemitic incidents; sharp rise in far-left incidents; surge of antisemitism on American college campuses; and persistence of far-right incidents of antisemitism.
