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Protesters are brutalising Australia by normalising the rhetoric of political violence

Abusive protesters are importing a Jew-hatred unparalleled in our history and they are also preaching an unhinged hatred of Australia.

'Enough is enough' after latest 'nauseating' act by university protester

Anti-Israel protesters lie when they claim they’re saving Palestinians. No, they’re just hurting us, and have become a danger to Australia.

Even Labor must now realise this after protesters outside a state Labor conference in Melbourne on Saturday physically attacked and manhandled Labor politicians.

Federal MP Daniel Mulino was shoved and abused. About 30 protesters surrounded and shouted at state ministers Lily D’Ambrosio and Harriet Shing, as well as MP Paul Edbrooke, and slapped pro-Palestine stickers on their jackets.

Edbrooke was blocked from delivering his planned tribute to the late Peta Murphy, but dozens of protesters stormed inside and banged on the conference room doors to drown out another tribute, to former federal Labor leader Simon Crean.

Pro-Palestine protesters outside a state Labor conference at the Mooney Valley Racecourse. Picture: Diego Fedele
Pro-Palestine protesters outside a state Labor conference at the Mooney Valley Racecourse. Picture: Diego Fedele

Premier Jacinta Allan was incensed, tweeting: “Today, protesters and intruders brought violence, homophobia and anti-Semitism to the front door of state conference. I’m disgusted.”

Fine, but will Labor now see these protests for what they really are?

It’s trite and mistaken to say such protesters just hurt their own cause.

That’s true only if you thought their cause really was to stop Israel fighting back against Hamas terrorists, but that’s clearly wrong.

About 30 protesters shouted at state ministers. Picture: Diego Fedele
About 30 protesters shouted at state ministers. Picture: Diego Fedele

Only an idiot would think they’d help Palestine by menacing Jews, fighting police, vandalising politicians’ offices, blocking traffic, invading university lectures, spraying paint over an ABC building, and cheering the mass murder of Jews.

That may cow other people but acting like mini-terrorists might actually make their victims understand a little of what Israel is up against.

Nor will anything these protesters do here stop Israel from firing even a single bullet.

Israel is fighting for its existence. It won’t stop just because protesters in Melbourne trashed Labor minister Bill Shorten’s office.

Nothing these protesters do here will stop Israel from firing even a single bullet. Picture: Diego Fedele
Nothing these protesters do here will stop Israel from firing even a single bullet. Picture: Diego Fedele

No, this isn’t really about stopping deaths in Gaza. It looks instead like an attack on Australia.

The damage being done is stunning. Most obviously, protesters are importing a Jew-hatred unparalleled in our history.

They started on October 9 – just two days after Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1200 Israelis, raped women, beheaded men, shot children in front of their parents and kidnapped 253 people – by disrupting a planned memorial at the Sydney Opera House to the victims.

“F … the Jews,” some chanted. “Where’s the Jews?”

At that rally were Sydney University academics, including senior lecturer Nick Riemer, so pitiless that he refused to condemn the slaughter and rape of the Jews, saying: “Resistance is justified.”

The protest isn’t really about stopping deaths in Gaza. It looks instead like an attack on Australia. Picture: Diego Fedele
The protest isn’t really about stopping deaths in Gaza. It looks instead like an attack on Australia. Picture: Diego Fedele

This shocking indifference has spread now to students occupying parts of some of our top universities.

An organiser of the Australian National University occupation told ABC radio: “Hamas deserves our unconditional support.”

An Adelaide University protest organiser, Habibah Jahoori, said the same: ”Unconditional solidarity to the resistance.”

These protesters are also brutalising Australia by normalising the rhetoric of political violence.

Many dress as Hamas terrorists with keffiyehs masking their faces, while pushing people around and chanting the Hamas-endorsed slogan to wipe out Israel: “From the river to the sea …”

Students at both Sydney University and Melbourne University have chanted “Intifada, intifada” – the word for terrorist wars against Israeli Jews – and Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah posted how she was “inspired” by a Palestinian female terrorist who helped to slaughter 13 Jewish children in a raid on Tel Aviv.

These protesters are also preaching an unhinged hatred of Australia, and – worse – linking a war started by Hamas terrorists to Aboriginal activists “resisting” our supposedly white “occupation”.

Palestinian flags dominated many protests against Australia Day this year, and GetUp, our biggest Left-wing activist group, posted a call to arms from board member Sara Saleh claiming Israelis “have also been invested in killing us (Palestinians), in restricting our freedoms, all of that should sound familiar to anyone living in Australia” because “we are all in this same shared anti-colonial struggle”.

What’s actually linked is this hatred of Australia with the crudely racist identity politics of some anti-Israel protest leaders.

Take Nasser Mashni, head of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, who last week ranted: “Israel and Australia share two things in common, aside from being a s--thole, racist, settler colony … They also have the highest incidence of skin cancer.”

Untrue. Israel is 23rd on that list, but Mashni used his fake statistic to delegitimise white Australians here and supposedly white Jews in Israel: “Their skin is designed for northern Europe … but our skin is designed for this land, it’s designed for the Middle East.”

The protesters are bringing to our streets a great hatred, and it’s not just for Jews. Israel is not alone in having its very existence challenged.

Originally published as Protesters are brutalising Australia by normalising the rhetoric of political violence

Andrew Bolt
Andrew BoltColumnist

With a proven track record of driving the news cycle, Andrew Bolt steers discussion, encourages debate and offers his perspective on national affairs. A leading journalist and commentator, Andrew's columns are published in the Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph and Advertiser. He writes Australia's most-read political blog and hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News at 7pm Monday to Thursday.

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Original URL: https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/opinion/protesters-are-brutalising-australia-by-normalising-the-rhetoric-of-political-violence/news-story/229682959fe27dd0b3295c16363005f0