Chris Minns’ threat to ban protests

Chris Minns’ threat to ban protests outside religious venues is deliberately conflating protests with antisemitism, say protest organisers

The organisers of a protest against the Israel Institute of Technology that took place last week outside the Great Synagogue in Sydney have responded to Chris Minns’ comments on Sunday, in which he conflated the protest with an antisemitic attack on a synagogue in Melbourne, and threatened to ban protests outside places of worship.

Adam Adelpour, from Stop the War on Palestine, says, “the protest across the road from the Great Synagogue in Sydney on Wednesday night was in opposition to a pro-Genocide gala event that was occurring inside celebrating Technion, which is implicated in weapons research and development. Chris Minns has deliberately conflated activists peacefully protesting against weapons research with the terrible antisemitic attack on a synagogue in Melbourne.”

Organisers also dispute Minns’ comments about congregations “being heckled on the way in to observe your faith”, since there was no religious service at the time of the protest, nor have any other protests against religious worship taken place in NSW.

The Stop the War on Palestine protest on Tuesday took place outside an event being held by Technion to mark its 100 year anniversary. Speakers at the event included an IDF soldier reporting on experiences fighting in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and David Weinberg, from The Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy speaking on “Israel’s Resilience and Determination to Win.”

After concealing the location of the event, Technion communicated to attendees on the day that it would be held at the Great Synagogue on Castlereagh Street in Sydney.

Protest organisers said that holding a pro-genocide event at a place of worship was a clear attempt to hide the content of the event and avoid protest. The protest went ahead despite this, with two Jewish speakers condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Michelle Berkon of Jews Against the Occupation addressed the protest location in her speech, explaining: “Why are we protesting at a synagogue? Isn’t this antisemetic? Of course it isn’t antisemetic… What we have is an ideology and a state using my identity, my culture, my history of oppression and persecution as a moral and religious shield for this genocidal state. Zionism and Israel uses Jews as living human shields for its criminality.”

Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist, author of The Palestine Laboratory and on the Advisory Committee of the Jewish Council of Australia, says, “The weapons Israel uses in these illegal and immoral conflicts are directly tied to Technion and its R&D departments. White-washing these gross violations of human rights is shameful and many Jews around the world, myself included, stand in direct opposition to them.

“Holding this event in a synagogue should not distract from what’s being said in a Jewish house of worship, a celebration of Israeli militarism and violence.”

The right to protest is already severely restricted in NSW, with Chris Minns expanding anti-protest laws to impose $22,000 fines for protests on train lines or light rail tracks just last month. Pro-Palestine activists are facing heavy fines for blockading a port earlier this year.

Adam Adelpour says, “We will fight any attempt by the Minns’ government to further restrict protests. The threat to ban protests outside religious institutions has nothing to do with protecting religious communities, and everything to do with the Minns government’s continued support for the state of Israel, as it carries out a genocide that has been condemned by the International Criminal Court.”

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