Into the Lions’ Den: Militant Palestinian fighter group inspires hardline attack on Melbourne Uni

Vandals who attacked the University of Melbourne’s main library tagged it with the name of a militant Palestinian group that has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on the West Bank, in what terrorism experts and Jewish community leaders say is a worrying step-up in protest activity.

Balaclava-clad activists this month broke into the Baillieu Library and caused extensive damage, wrecking expensive book-scanning equipment and spray-painting references to “Lions’ Den” on the floor and walls.

Vandals spray-painted references to the Lions’ Den at the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne.

Arīn al-ʾUsud or Lions’ Den is a secular, armed resistance group of predominantly young Palestinian men that emerged in the West Bank town of Nablus two years ago and, through its presence on TikTok and Telegram, quickly gained a broad following across the occupied territories.

The group, which draws its members from across rival Palestinian factions Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is not listed as a terrorist organisation by the Australian government, but was this month sanctioned by the US Department of State for threatening West Bank security.

Graffiti at the University of Melbourne’s Baillieu Library.Credit: Penny Stephens

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said evidence of support for Lions’ Den within the pro-Palestinian protest movement was a serious issue. He urged the Albanese government to consider proscribing the group as a terror organisation, which would give the Australian Federal Police and ASIO broad powers to investigate and prosecute its members.

The opposition is also pushing for radical Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahir to be proscribed after an investigation by this masthead revealed some of its members had infiltrated the anti-war movement in Sydney.

“These are deeply concerning revelations,” Dutton told this masthead. “As if the recent Melbourne University encampments on South Lawn and the storming of the Baillieu Library weren’t bad enough, it appears there are more sinister elements at play here.

“The fact that it appears that a violent militant group is the inspiration for participants in these protests locally is a very serious issue indeed.”

Lions’ Den fighters are readily identifiable through their black uniform, black bucket hats, insignia and red ribbons tied to the barrels of their assault rifles. Since emerging in 2022, they have claimed responsibility for shooting attacks against Israeli and Palestinian Authority soldiers and the murder of a Palestinian civilian.

A video taken from inside the Baillieu Library and posted on an activist site shows vandals defacing the library and renaming it Lions’ Den. The makers of the video, who describe themselves as “students, alumni and outside agitators”, also quoted passages from Lions’ Den messages published on Telegram.

Lions’ Den fighters in their customary black uniforms with red ribbons tied around their rifle barrels.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said it was treating the June 7 break-in as a suspected burglary and no arrests have been made. Victoria Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command has been informed about the incident.

Dana Alshaer, a student leader of pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Melbourne, said she did not know the identity of the people involved in the break-in and whether they were connected to the student protest movement.

“We don’t know anything about them,” she said. “They are an autonomous group, as far as I can tell.”

Deakin University professor Greg Barton, an expert in terrorism and extremism, said although the references to Lions’ Den might have been a “false flag” raised by bad-faith political agitators, this appeared unlikely.

“It is more likely that these are pro-Palestinian protesters who understand what the Lions’ Den is and really identify with it, or a group that wants to take on a strong, provocative name and haven’t internalised what identifying with this group means,” he said. “Either way, it is a worrying turn.

“For eight months, we have had tens of thousands of people involved in protests. You get chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ and justifying resistance, but there is always an ambiguity.

“When somebody cites an active, new group that is youth-led in the West Bank and engaged in serious violence and recruiting at a steady rate, that is very worrying.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the episode reflected a lack of leadership at the University of Melbourne to confront extremism on campus.

Broad following: Mourners gather in the West Bank town of Nablus to bury Lions’ Den militants killed by Israeli forces in October 2022.Credit: Jaafar Ashtiyeh

“If the University of Melbourne had come out strongly at the very beginning and drawn a line in the sand, it would have never gotten to this point,” he said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin described the overt references to Lions’ Den as dangerous and troubling. “This is a group that has carried out armed attacks against civilians,” he said.

The references to Lions’ Den have coincided with a hardening of the pro-Palestinian message. At Sunday’s rally in Melbourne, protesters waived placards depicting a Palestinian fighter brandishing an assault rifle and carrying the tagline: “By any means necessary.”

Alshaer, a Palestinian student from the West Bank now living and studying in Melbourne, has researched Lions’ Den. She said the group was made up of university-aged men and has a strong appeal to young Palestinians disillusioned by long-standing factionalism within Palestinian politics.

Dana Alshaer speaking at a University of Melbourne protest last month.Credit: Jason South

“The ideology of the group is unity, which makes it a very different phenomenon in terms of Palestinian resistance,” she said. “In spite of their political differences and rivalries, the fighters in the group chose not to make this an obstacle to working together and became one autonomous party committed to liberating Palestine, ending the occupation of their cities and killing of their brothers, sisters and parents.

“The majority of Palestinian youth are not affiliated with political parties but have one goal, which is unity and ending the occupation.”

Prior to Hamas’ October 7 attacks in southern Israel, Lions’ Den was a priority target of the Israeli Defence Forces. The group gained iconic status in 2022 when three of its founding leaders, including 18-year-old “Lion of Nablus” Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, were killed in gunfights with Israeli soldiers.

Alshaer neither condoned nor condemned the Baillieu Library break-in, which she said was part of a “spectrum of resistance” against genocide in Gaza and the University of Melbourne’s research agreements with defence contractors that supply the IDF.

“Everyone will be acting in their own way,” she said.

The vandals caused damage on multiple floors of the library and forced the university to close the building for four days in the middle of student exams.

A university spokesman said the closure was a “significant disruption to students and staff” and the criminal damage was being investigated by police. “This type of criminal behaviour has the potential to incite further physical and psychological harassment, endangering people’s safety and wellbeing,” the spokesperson said.

The University of Melbourne, as part of an agreement reached earlier this month for students to end their encampment and occupation of the Arts West building, promised to disclose more details of its long-standing research with defence contractors, including BAE systems and Boeing.

The activists who broke into the Baillieu Library rejected this settlement. “F--- your disclosure,” the video declares. “Divestment now. Colonial institutions must fall. Long live the intifada.”

The group could not be reached for comment.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.