Protesters in Melbourne wave Hezbollah flags, Tony Burke warns of visa cancellations
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke issued a warning for anyone inciting ‘discord’ in Australia, after protesters in Sydney and Melbourne brazenly waved Hezbollah flags and carried framed pictures of assassinated terror chief Hassan Nasrallah | WATCH
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has warned he will consider cancelling the visas of anyone who incites “discord” in Australia, as protesters in Sydney and Melbourne waved Hezbollah flags and carried framed pictures of dead terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Pictures and video from the thousands-strong protests for Gaza and Lebanon in Melbourne showed more than a dozen masked and unmasked men walking together through the Melbourne CBD streets commemorating Nasrallah, whose death was confirmed by the Israeli Defence Forces and the Iran-backed militant group on Saturday in a massive air strike on Beirut.
The group of mostly young men were filmed chanting “labayka ya Nasrallah” in Arabic, which translates to ‘at your service, Nasrallah’ or ‘here I am, Nasrallah’. The slogan expresses the willingness to dedicate the life of the individual and the community to defend the leader of the group, who is typically both a religious and political figure that must be obeyed, even to the point of death.
Many of the protesters were seen wearing Hezbollah emblems while waving the terror groups’ flag, which translates to ‘Hezbollah will be victorious’. Some were carrying frames of Nasrallah that reads, ‘we belong to Allah and to him we shall return.’
Other chants heard include ‘no more USA, no more Israel, no more Saudi Arabia’.
In Sydney, both adults and children carried posters of the late Hezbollah leader. A couple of others were seen holding and wearing Hezbollah flags. One woman held a poster showing assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Nasrallah under the words “A nation led by martyrs will triumph”.
It was the biggest Gaza solidarity rally in Sydney in months, with up to 2000 people in attendance, following air strikes in Beirut overnight. The protests have been running weekly since late 2023.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said “any indication of support for a terrorist organisation is unequivocally condemned”.
“It draws the immediate attention of our security agencies. There is a higher level of scrutiny if anyone is on a visa. I have made clear from day one, that I will consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia,” he said.
Islamic community leaders said those supporting Hezbollah were a small minority.
“They are definitely a minority. An absolute, tiny minority. From my own experience, my knowledge of the community, there is no support of Hezbollah, no love of Hezbollah, right now, this is all about support for the Lebanese people,” Islamic Council of Victoria’s president, Adel Salman, said.
He said the community’s focus was on the escalating violence - primarily in Gaza, but also the escalation in violence between Israel and Lebanon. “And we have to be careful we don’t reduce the battle to one between Hezbollah and Israel, effectively this is an attack on Lebanon that is a sovereign country … and people are outraged,” he said.
“It’s not about supporting Hezbollah in any way, shape or form, this is about supporting the Lebanese people, this is about concern for the deaths of Lebanese civilians and the destruction of Lebanon.”
Another Muslim community leader, who didn’t want to be named, said this handful of people were likely “taking advantage of the opportunity” given the timing of the rally. “I think the way I would interpret it is they are leveraging off this platform. These protests have been ongoing for 50 weeks.”
Separately, the Masjid Arrahman mosque in Kingsgrove, which has 10,000 followers on Facebook, announced a service for “for the souls of the righteous martyrs, the master of resistance, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (may God be pleased with him), and the souls of the martyrs who ascended with him, and the martyrs of Lebanon, Palestine, and our Islamic world.”
Opposition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson called the alleged conduct by the protesters a contravention of the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
The entirety of both Hamas and Hezbollah are recognised by the federal government as terrorist organisations, and in certain circumstances the public display of the groups’ insignias is a breach of section 80.2 of the commonwealth criminal code.
“Today’s shocking scenes on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne are the direct result of the weakness shown by the Albanese government over the past 12 months. The law is clear. Incitement to violence based on religion is a crime,“ Senator Paterson said.
“Publicly displaying a symbol of a listed terrorist organisation is a crime. But the failure to enforce the law since 7 October has emboldened extremists in our community to parade their hate and terrify the Jewish community.
“Only clear direction to enforce the law from the top will fix the extremism crisis in our country.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said laws, that clearly define Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation and make it unlawful to support it, “must be enforced”.
“It is unacceptable for Australians to publicly profess admiration for a terrorist leader who led the slaughter of civilians in Syria, including the brutalisation and starvation of Palestinians and heaped pain on his own people by waging wars on Israel despite the absence of any territorial disputes between Lebanon and Israel,” he said.
“Our authorities must closely monitor and investigate terrorist sympathisers in our society before evil words again become evil deeds.”
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young attended the solidarity rally in Adelaide today, while Senator Mehreen Faruqi spoke at the protest in Sydney.
“Once again, the Greens are willing to stoop to any level to win votes, including endorsing a rally supporting Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organisation in Australia,” Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler said.
BREAKING: Dozens of masked men filmed waving Hezbollah flags and chanting “Death to the Jews†in Melbourne Australia.
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇨🇾🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) September 29, 2024
This Palestine rally was endorsed by the Australian Greens which has 15 members in the Australian Parliament. Also endorsed by every major Palestine org in… pic.twitter.com/uGdfdgqk1F
“The Greens are the third largest political party in Australia, and it should send a shiver down the spine of every Australian that they are openly endorsing a rally openly supporting Hezbollah.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said her government prioritises civic safety.
“The Australian government recognises Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,” Ms Allan said.
“Violence and division overseas should never result in violence or division brought to our streets.”
A spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Act banned “glorifying and praising acts of terrorism”.
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