Conservative author Douglas Murray made case for Israel despite pro-Palestine protest
A protest outside a Douglas Murray event called an ‘intifada revolution’ the ‘one solution’ as police charge 19 people who gathered at a pro-Palestine rally at Port Botany.
An unauthorised protest outside a Douglas Murray event in Sydney described Zionism as “terrorism” and called an “intifada revolution” the “one solution” as the high-profile conservative commentator swatted down the activists and made an impassioned case for Israel’s existence.
Speaking at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Sunday, as part of a live conversation with former ABC personality Josh Szeps, Mr Murray told a packed crowd that the war could be over tomorrow.
“There’s a very straightforward way to end this war,” he said. “Which is a return of the hostages. If they return, by the admission of the Israeli government, there would be a ceasefire.”
Pro-Palestine chants could be heard from within the theatre’s auditorium, where about 60 activists had set up camp at its entrance, shouting “shame” to those who had a ticket and calling Zionism terrorism.
Mr Szeps said that conversing about issues, opposed to hurling insults, was a “virtue”.
“Thank you for upholding the virtue of talking about things, not just shouting,” he said, referring to the protesters. “I think that is actually quite important.”
The protest, which was met by officers from Inner West Police Area Command, and later by riot teams, never escalated to violence, but the group booed Mr Murray’s name at every opportunity and called for a global intifada.
“Douglas Murray, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide,” they chanted.
In another, they chanted: “Intifada revolution, there is only one solution.”
Arrests at port protest
In the hours that followed, NSW Police charged 19 people who gathered at an unauthorised pro-Palestine rally at Port Botany to protest against the unloading of an Israeli-owned shipping company vessel.
Dozens of protesters assembled on Foreshore Rd chanting “free Palestine”, banging drums and waving Palestinian flags near the port’s loading dock just after 8.30pm.
The group, which gathered in nearby parkland, chanted slogans including “From the river to the sea” and “ZIM out of Botany, bombs out of Gaza” before several speakers took to the microphone, including Australian Greens deputy leader and Senator Mehreen Faruqi.
Senator Faruqi thanks protesters for their “solidarity” and lashed out at the heavy police presence at the site, taking aim at NSW’s “draconian” protest laws.
“Absolute shame on police,” she said as the crowd cheered. “These tactics are used to intimidate to scare us.”
She also lashed out at the Albanese government: “ How ruthless and cruel can you be to aid abet and arm Israel. ZIM shipping should never be welcome in this country.”
Organised by a group called the Tzedek Collective, activists called for Enmore Theatre to be boycotted and labelled Mr Murray a “genocide propagandist”.
The protest, NSW Police confirmed, was not authorised.
Mr Murray said that he – along with a recent trip to Israel and Nir Oz, a kibbutz targeted by Hamas on October 7 – had covered every conflict since the 2006 war with Lebanon.
“Gaza was handed to the Palestinians, they elected Hamas, who – to the great detriment of the Palestinian people – killed their political opponents,” he said.
“And they ruled Gaza for 18 years. Think what could have been done in that time.
“Instead of peace Israel got rockets, and instead of billions of dollars the world gave to Palestine being used to build up (a city), they built downwards and a tunnel network.”
Although at no stage physically confrontational, tempers did flare between the protesters and attendees, with keffiyeh-donned activists booing those who entered, with some retaliating with rhetoric in turn.
“What drugs are you on,” one attendee asked the group of protesters.
One woman, away from the theatre’s entrance, had a sign ripped off her that read: “There was a ceasefire on October 6”.
Inside, Mr Murray urged people to picture Australia’s reaction if New Zealand repeatedly fired rockets over the Tasman Sea.
“I think you’d all have an attitude and view towards that,” he said.
Mr Murray said Palestine could make a “reasonable demand” for statehood, but that any future state couldn’t include the “eradication” or “chucking out” of all Israelis, Jews and Zionists.
“I think a state that would not allow a particular racial group would be, by definition, racist,” he said.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said that police attended the scene “due to unauthorised protest activity” and that officers and specialist units had “monitored the group”.
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