Leaders to attend October 7 anniversary memorials as Australians evacuated from Lebanon

As Jewish leaders condemn the use of flags with similarities to that of Hezbollah and terms protests “horribly inappropriate”, the terrorist organisation praises its Australian supporters.

Hezbollah has praised the pro-Palestinian protests in Australia over the weekend, posting pictures of Sunday’s rally in Sydney’s CBD on the terror group’s Telegram channel.

Photos of the protest were captioned: “From Australia to the world — stop the ‘Israeli’ aggression on Lebanon”.

The channel also shared images of other pro-Palestinian protests around the globe, including those in Los Angeles and Indonesia.

It came as Jewish leaders condemned pro-Palestinian protesters waving yellow flags symbolic of Hezbollah at Sunday’s rally.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said protests across the weekend were “horribly inappropriate” and “intended to provoke and inflame”.

“These people think they’re very clever to find loopholes in the law, but the fact that they’re looking for loopholes to publicly support a terrorist organisation says it all,” he said.

“If they (protesters) were concerned about civilian loss of life they would have been concerned on October 7, they showed no concern, quite the contrary.

“If they want to commemorate what’s happening in Gaza and the loss of civilian life they can do it on any other day.”

Alex Ryvchin co-CEO of Executive council of Australian Jewry and Simone Abel; head of legal for the Executive council of Australian Jewry and members of the Australian Jewish community hold a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel at Double Bay in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Mr Ryvchin argued protesters should be investigated for potential infringement of counter-terrorism laws.

“The laws are drafted in a way that it precludes the public support for terrorism. It’s never quite been tested what that really means,” Mr Ryvchin said at a press conference commemorating the October 7 attacks.

“Whether these variations would (be in breach) is questionable, but I think certainly, at least from a counter-terrorism and a security point of view, these people need to be closely examined.”

“We’ve never opposed the right of Australians to assemble, to express political views, even abhorrent political views. We simply asked these people to leave this one day alone, to let this day be a day of warning and commemoration to the Jewish people.

“If they were concerned for civilian loss of life, they would have been concerned on October 7.”

Members of the Australian Jewish community gather for a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel at Double Bay in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The ECAJ’s records indicate the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Australia have tripled since Hamas’ attack, with up to 1800 reports made to the peak body.

“It cannot be the Jewish community alone standing up to this,” Mr Ryvchin said, calling on all Australians to “fight this hatred”.

“This is a national problem which requires a national solution.”

Mr Ryvchin said while people holding the yellow flags and those in the Hezbollah colours should be “closely examined”, it was too soon to say whether laws around hate symbols should be tightened.

“We’ll only know once there are arrests and charges and we’ll see whether the law is fit for purpose,” he said.

“I’m more concerned by the number of Australia who actively support these organisations rather than what variation of the flag they choose to fly.”

Mr Ryvchin said he was unsurprised to see a swastika used on a sign in Sunday’s rally.

“Their strategy has been forever to associate Israel with all evil, Nazism, colonialism and apartheid … all then to justify the types of attacks that we’ve seen,” he said.

“So to see people using swastikas as a weapon against the Jewish people, equating them with Nazis, it’s shameful and repugnant but not surprising.”

‘No place in Australia’: Leaders condemn anti-Semitism

It comes as Australia’s leaders will pay their respects to the victims of the October 7 terror attack at memorials around the country, condemning the Hamas attack and warning there is “no place” for anti-Semitism, prejudice and hatred in the community.

As commemorations take place around the country, the first group of Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family members with a right of entry evacuated out of Lebanon will arrive in Sydney on Monday on a repatriation flight operated by Qatar Airways.

As of Sunday a total of 456 Australians and their family members have been evacuated from Lebanon to Cyprus, where they are staying in temporary accommodation in Larnaca before returning on special connecting flights.

Qantas has confirmed it will operate two other flights from Cyprus to Sydney this week, with the first departing on Monday evening local time and a second leaving on Wednesday.

The emergency direct flights are all being operated free-of-charge for the federal government, including no cost to passengers, with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade co-ordinating registration for Australians who want to return home and giving priority to vulnerable people.

Australian Government officials assisting Australians to depart Lebanon on two government-supported charter flights from Beirut Airport to Larnaca, Cyprus. Picture: DFAT

Anthony Albanese will attend an anniversary “illuminate October” event in Melbourne and Peter Dutton will be present at the memorial in Sydney, while senior Labor and Coalition figures will appear at various events, including a vigil at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra.

The Prime Minister said October 7 was a day that carried “terrible pain” and since then Jewish Australians have “felt the cold shadows of anti-Semitism reaching into the present day”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend a memorial in Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty / NewsWire

“We unequivocally condemn all prejudice and hatred,” he said.

“There is no place in Australia for discrimination against people of any faith.”

Mr Albanese said the anniversary of the Hamas attack was a time to “reflect on the horrific terrorist atrocity that reverberated around the globe”.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton will attend a memorial for October 7 in Sydney Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Mr Dutton said the last 12 months have been one of the most “difficult periods” for Jewish Australians in the nation’s history.

The opposition leader said together on the first anniversary of the October 7 terror attack by Hamas respects are paid to the memories of the 1,200 innocent people murdered.

“That day of depravity – the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust – woke and exposed an anti-Semitic rot afflicting Western democracies.”

On Sunday Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles clarified it supports Israel’s right to “respond” to the threats from Iran and terror groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis in the Middle East, aligning Australia’s position with the US.

“Israel clearly has a right to defend itself and that does include a right to respond, but the manner in which it defends itself obviously matters,” he said.

Originally published as Leaders to attend October 7 anniversary memorials as Australians evacuated from Lebanon