Anthony Albanese condemns ‘unacceptable’ protests against Deborah Conway

Anthony Albanese has declared it is ‘unacceptable’ for Jewish artists like Deborah Conway to be targeted by pro-Palestine supporters after she faced protests and boycott calls

Singer Deborah Conway, who is angry about being 'cancelled' by music and festival organisers because of her pro-Israel views since the Israel-Hamas war began. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Anthony Albanese has come to the defence of the ARIA award-winning Jewish singer, songwriter and ­author Deborah Conway, declaring it was “unacceptable” she had faced protests and calls for boycotts after speaking out in support of Israel’s right to exist.

In an interview with former Liberal treasurer and prominent member of the Jewish community Josh Frydenberg, the Prime Minister said: “Deborah Conway is not engaged in violence against anybody, anywhere, let alone Gaza. Why is it that an artist was targeted? It’s just completely unacceptable.”

Conway told The Australian she was “grateful to the Prime Minister for weighing in and defending not just me but the idea that in a democracy we should all be allowed to voice an opinion without fear”.

“People have the right to protest, but a protest that disrupts someone’s place of work I believe crosses a line.”

The comments from Mr Albanese were made in an interview with Mr Frydenberg for his Sky News documentary, Never Again: the Fight Against anti-Semitism. While the documentary went to air on Tuesday, the comments relating to Conway were not included in the final cut but have been obtained by The Australian.

Conway was one of a number of people who were doxxed for being part of a WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives that had been formed in response to anti-Semitism in the arts community.

More recently, Conway’s theatre show – written with her husband and collaborator Willy Zygier, and based on her recent memoir – was repeatedly disrupted by pro-Palestine supporters.

The performance at the Playhouse Theatre in Hobart on Saturday night was interrupted by several protesters from the audience who called on Conway to condemn Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, including one man from the balcony who unfurled a Palestinian flag.

During one interruption, an audience member broke a wine glass on the stage and, with the broken stem, appeared to threaten one of the protesters who had disrupted the show.

After the protester and the glass-smasher were removed by security, Conway said she decided to “formally break the fourth wall” to “direct a statement to our audience”.

“There is nothing you or I can do to effect any outcome in the Middle East. So if no one else has anything to add – hopefully you’ve got it out of your system – we can resume the show with no more interruptions,” she said.