The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) condemns the NSW Minns Government’s proposed expansion of police powers restricting protest, warning that it represents a dangerous overreach that undermines fundamental democratic rights.
APAN recognises the profound grief and shock following the horrific antisemitic attack at Bondi. Racist violence must be unequivocally condemned, and Jewish communities deserve safety, dignity, and justice. However, exploiting tragedy to justify sweeping restrictions on civil liberties is unjust and deeply counterproductive.
“The right to protest is the bedrock of democracy, especially in moments of crisis”, said APAN President Nasser Mashni.
“History shows that when fear is weaponised, democratic rights are the first to go.”
People continue to protest because Israeli attacks on Gaza have not stopped. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, and more than two million remain displaced, living in tents, facing starvation, disease, intense storms and relentless violence. While much of the world has moved on, this crisis continues. Protest is how people refuse to stay silent in the face of such devastation — even amid fear and intense political pressure.
The mass movement opposing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza has mobilised hundreds of thousands across faiths and backgrounds, including thousands of Jewish people. It has been a powerful example of solidarity, not division – united in rejecting genocide and racism in all its forms.
“Blaming the Palestine solidarity movement for the horrors in Bondi are egregious and disgusting,” said Mashni.
“This movement has consistently rejected antisemitism and brought together people of all faiths and backgrounds, including many Jewish Australians, in a shared stand against racism, violence, and injustice.”
APAN is outraged by comments from the Antisemitism Envoy, Jillian Segal, and others, who seek to lay the blame for this horror on those protesting Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Further, APAN categorically rejects attempts by political leaders and commentators to say peaceful protest, including opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, are directly linked to the hideous attacks at Bondi Beach. This is a huge despotic attempt at vilifying the Palestinian solidarity movement, founded on a call for justice, equality, and grounded in international human rights law.
Silencing protest will not create safety or unity. It will entrench injustice and hand the state sweeping powers to shut down dissent on any issue it chooses. Democracy is not preserved by repression; it is preserved by defending the right to protest.
“The Jewish community does not need more repressive crackdowns. This is not the best way to deal with antisemitism or racism. Instead what we need are community-based responses that support people to come together and speak honestly and openly about violence here, in Palestine, and around the world”, said APAN board member and Jewish historian Dr Jordana Silverstein.
APAN urgently calls on the NSW Government to abandon proposals that curtail the right to peaceful assembly and to pursue responses grounded in evidence, human rights, and genuine anti-racism, not political expediency.