Viral footage captures shocking ‘genocidal’ Sydney Trains announcement

Sydney Trains is investigating footage which appears to feature a train driver saying an anti-Israel “river to the sea” chant during a service announcement. Jewish groups want the driver sacked. WATCH

Sydney Trains is investigating a viral video purporting to show a train driver making a public announcement of the controversial anti-Israel chant “from the river to the sea” through loudspeakers on a carriage.

Jewish groups have condemned the incident, calling on the driver to be sacked and saying there must be “zero tolerance” for such behaviour.

The chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” refers to the land between the Jordan River, which borders eastern Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west and has been widely interpreted as calling for the destruction of Israel.

The footage, shared on TikTok on Monday by user “Maryam” shows a Sydney train seat, with the back of a female commuter, and captures the audio of the announcement: “Thank you for riding Sydney trains and remember from the River to the Sea”.

It follows an earlier incident also captured by commuters on October 23, when a Sydney train worker was widely condemned for blasting a pro-Palestine song through carriage speakers, promoting a rally.

A still from the video. Jewish groups have raised concerns about the footage of a Sydney train driver apparently making an announcement “From the River to the Sea”. Picture: Twitter

Asked if the driver would be sacked, a Sydney Trains spokeswoman said:

“Sydney Trains is aware of a video circulating on social media and we are looking into this matter.”

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s spokesman said Sydney Trains were aware of the video and are currently looking into this matter.

“It is not acceptable to use the public address system for political purposes,” he said.

“Public transport is for everyone.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the consequences for the train worker “must be swift and severe”.

“There must be zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour,” he said.

“Anti-Semitism has always been conveyed through dog whistles and euphemisms and this is a classic example of that.

“The consequences must be swift and severe. Anyone who uses their publicly-funded position to marginalise and intimidate segments of our society is unfit to hold that position.”

In a statement, the Australian Jewish Association said “public transport should be for all passengers and not co-opted for political stunts”.

“This is not the first such incident on Sydney trains.

“It’s understandable if Jewish passengers don’t feel safe. It appears the NSW government’s response to previous incidents has not deterred them from occurring. We are calling for the dismissal of any NSW Government employee engaging in these actions.”

It is understood that in the previous incident in October, Sydney Trains identified the staff member in question, who met with Sydney Trains management and were warned about their responsibility to only use the public address system for passenger service and safety announcements.