Chris Minns Calls For Further Anti-Protest Laws In Wake of Synagogue Attack

The New South Wales government is considering an expansion to its anti-protest laws, with Premier Chris Minns calling for “urgent” reform around protests outside of places of worship.

The announcement comes after a protest against the Israel Institute of Technology that took place last Wednesday outside the Great Synagogue on Sydney’s Castlereagh Street.

In a speech to Bondi’s Central Synagogue on Friday, Minns condemned the proximity of the protest to the synagogue, referring to incidents like the recent anti-Israel sentiments graffitied in Woolhara, and the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne earlier that morning.

“I understand that the Jewish community of Australia gathers tonight under a dark cloud. I am heartbroken at that fact,” Minns said.

“The horror of recent hate crimes in Sydney that saw property destroyed, hate spray-painted for the world to see. The pitiful sight of protests out the front of a religious organisation, out the front of a religious institution.”

Later in the speech, Minns claimed Israel was “an amazing oasis, a friend and ally to Australia and a marvel to the world of Jewish resistance, and rebirth”.

Amnesty International recently declared that the Israeli government is currently committing genocide against the Palestinian people. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former military officer, Yoav Gallant.

Minns said to media on Sunday that he had spoken to Attorney General Michael Daley and the Cabinet Office to put in place laws that would better protect places of worship.

“Religious freedom is the bedrock of our multicultural state. People have the right to feel safe in their own city, in their own churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship,” said Daley.

“While we respect the right to protest we want to send a clear message that it should not be impinging on people gathering freely with their chosen faith community.”

Pro-Palestine organisers dispute Minns’ comments

Stop the War on Palestine, the group responsible for the protest outside of the Great Synagogue on Wednesday, say that Minns’ comments are deliberately conflating peaceful protest with antisemitism.

Protestors were rallying against an event being held by Technion Israel Institute of Technology, which was marking its 100 year anniversary. Technion is implicated in weapons research and development, contributing directly to the devastation in Palestine.

Speakers at the event included an IDF soldier reporting on experiences fighting in Israel’s assault on Gaza and David Weinberg, from The Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, speaking on “Israel’s Resilience and Determination to Win”.

Organisers say the location of the event was kept secret until a few hours before it was set to begin, and that choosing to host it at a place of worship was a clear attempt to hide the content of the event and avoid protest.

“Why are we protesting at a synagogue? Isn’t this antisemitic?” asked Michelle Berkon from Jews Against the Occupation during the protest. “Of course it isn’t antisemitic… 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.”

The group also refutes Minns’ comments over the weekend that congregations were “being heckled on the way in to observe [their] faith”, and says there was no religious service at the time of the protest.

Tightening already strict protest laws

NSW has the strictest protest laws of any Australian state, and has been rapidly expanding them over the last few years.

It includes legislation passed last month that has doubled the current penalties for obstructing a railway or light rail tracks, with a those who do facing a maximum fine of $22,000, up to two years imprisonment, or both.

“We remind all those elected to parliament that they have a sacred obligation to uphold democratic principles; including what they may consider “politically inconvenient” civil liberties and human rights, that make our country a liberal democracy. What we have seen under the Minns Government is the “white-anting” of civil liberties and human rights from within,” said President of the NSW Civil Liberties Council, Timothy Roberts, after laws were expanded in November.

“We are living in extraordinary times. Our democracy will not irrevocably be damaged in one foul swoop – it will be a slow bleed, a death by a thousand tranches of repressive legislation being cemented together by populist narratives that seek to demonise and polarise”.

The NSW Government was meant to conduct a review into the laws and table it in October, but has so far failed to do so.

NSW is home to almost 4000 churches, with over 1700 reported to be in Sydney as of 2014.

If the Minns government were to pass legislation prohibiting people from protesting outside of places of worship, it would make hosting a demonstration considerably more difficult for activists across a range of issues.

St Andrews Cathedral next to Town Hall has been the site of numerous protests over the years, including many instrumental rallies in support of same sex marriage, climate action, and First Nations justice.