NSW Police say ‘no evidence’ for Opera House ‘gas the Jews’ chant by pro-Palestinian protesters

Investigators with Strike Force Mealing say they have found “no evidence” that a vile phrase was chanted at the Opera House.

WARNING: Explicit language

NSW Police says it has found “no evidence” that the phrase “gas the Jews” was chanted by pro-Palestinian protesters on the steps of the Sydney Opera House last October.

The October 9 protest — two days after the shocking Hamas terror attacks on Israel that left around 1200 people dead and some 200 taken as hostages — sparked widespread backlash after social media video claimed to show groups of people chanting the phrase.

Protesters also burned the Israeli flag during the rowdy demonstration.

Protesters burn an Israeli flag. Picture: Jeremy Piper/NCA NewsWire

NSW Police established Strike Force Mealing to investigate “reported unlawful activity committed during an unauthorised protest at the Sydney Opera House” on October 9.

“Police received reports following the protest suggesting that an offensive antisemitic phrase was chanted during the event,” NSW Police said in a statement on Friday.

“As a result of independent forensic analysis of audio-video files of the demonstration provided to investigators, police have no evidence that this phrase was used.”

Investigators also obtained statements from “several individuals who attended the protest indicating they heard the phrase however these statements have not attributed the phrase to any specific individual”, police added.

The scenes drew widespread condemnation. Picture: Jeremy Piper/NCA NewsWire

“Detectives from Strike Force Mealing continue to investigate the incident and have urged anyone with information, who may not have yet spoken with police, to contact Crime Stoppers,” the statement said.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters in Sydney on Friday that investigators had “engaged an eminent expert” from the National Centre of Biometric Science to analyse the footage.

“As a result of that examination, the expert has concluded with overwhelming certainty that the phrase chanted during that protest, as recorded on the audio and visual files, was, ‘Where’s the Jews?’” he said.

“Not another phrase, as otherwise widely reported.”

Protesters chanted, ‘Where’s the Jews?’, police say. Picture: Dean Lewins/AAP

He stressed there was no evidence any footage had “doctored” but that subtitles on the video “were an opinion of someone putting those subtitles on there of what they hear”.

Witnesses who gave statements about hearing the word “gas” would not be reinterviewed, he added.

“No, we haven’t gone back to any witnesses,” he said.

“That was obviously their recollection of what they heard on the evening. We won’t be going back to them to speak about what has subsequently been concluded by the expert, because the expert is relying on what they heard on the audio and visual analysis.”

Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by the ABC over her social media posts. Picture: X

In December, news outlet Crikey published an article citing independent audio-visual experts who cast doubt on the viral claim.

Former ABC radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf was a co-author of the article.

Lattouf had been filling in for Sarah Macdonald on ABC Sydney in the morning, but was given her marching orders by the broadcaster in December.

Her sacking came after criticism of her outspoken social media posts, including repeatedly suggesting that the “gas the Jews” claim was unverified.

UNCUT VERSION - SHOCKING

"Gas the Jews' on the steps of the Sydney Opera House pic.twitter.com/kLv9QMex65

— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) October 9, 2023

“It took 100+ days, but NSW Police can now confirm there’s no evidence ‘gas the Jews’ was chanted outside the Opera House,” Lattouf wrote on X on Friday, adding she had been “savagely targeted for doing accurate journalism”.

The Australian Jewish Association (AJA), which spread the initial video, declined to comment, saying it supported the statement issued by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).

“Multiple independent witnesses have verified and declared that the ‘gas the Jews’ phrase was used,” ECAJ co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said in the statement.

“We know what we heard, and the world knows what was said. However, the exact words used in these chants is not the core issue. The core issue is that on October 9, before Israel had even commenced its military response, just two days after the greatest atrocity inflicted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, a mob of thubs gathered at one of our nation’s most cherished sites to celebrate the mass slaughter and rape of Israelis, to burn Israeli flags and to chant threateningly towards fellow Australians.”

He added, “‘Where’s the Jews’ is as bad as ‘gas the Jews’. ‘F**k the Jews’ is as dangerous and abhorrent as ‘gas the Jews’.”

In an email newsletter to supporters in mid-December, the AJA said there had been “some leftist activist ‘journalists’ trying to undermine the AJA distributed video which had the now infamous ‘gas the Jews’ chant from the pro-Hamas rally at the Opera House”.

“This is outrageous gross anti-Semitism and those who spread fake conspiracies, denying what occurred at the Opera House, are part of a wider trend that includes deniers of the October 7 atrocities and Holocaust deniers,” the AJA said.

Originally published as NSW Police say ‘no evidence’ for Opera House ‘gas the Jews’ chant by pro-Palestinian protesters