Sydney Opera House displays Israeli flag colours

by GRACE JOHNSON

Last night, the Sydney Opera House was lit with the colours of the Israeli flag to express solidarity with the Jewish community after Hamas launched attacks on Israel this past Saturday. 

Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel on Saturday as the country celebrated a religious holiday. So far, Israeli officials have reported over 700 deaths. More than 2,200 are known to be injured. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese MP expressed his support on Twitter on Sunday morning, condemning the attacks on Israeli cities and civilians. 

“We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself,” he wrote. 

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton MP posted his support for following in Germany’s footsteps and illuminating Parliament House and Sydney Opera House. 

Australia stands with our friend Israel in this time.

We condemn the indiscriminate and abhorrent attacks by Hamas on Israel, its cities and civilians.

We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself.

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) October 7, 2023

The Coalition would strongly support the Government in following Germany’s lead and illuminating Parliament House and the iconic Sydney Opera House in strong support of our friends and family in Israel. https://t.co/EgB515zUri

— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) October 8, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since declared war, vowing to impose an “unprecedented price.” 

Following this declaration, Israel has hit 800 targets in Gaza, killing more than 400 people and injuring 1,900.

At a pro-Palestinian rally held on Saturday night in Lakemba, Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun, who worked as the Director of Public Relations at the Australian National Imams Council for three years, referred to the attack as a day of courage, pride and victory. Speakers told the crowd that resistance is the only response to occupation. 

Prime Minister Albanese condemned the protests in Lakemba and said there was nothing to celebrate. Foreign Minister Penny Wong echoed his position, saying “the targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages is never a cause for celebration.” 

Hamas also claims to have taken over 100 hostages, some of whom were taken from the music festival, back to Gaza.  

The decision to light up the Sydney Opera House in blue and white has, needless to say, been met with extreme controversy. 

A statement from Arab Council Australia addressed to NSW Premier Chris Minns was released today, saying that the “rush to declare support for Israel is a blatant disregard of Palestinian and Arab lives.”

Written by the CEO Randa Kattan, the statement also said the decision to light up the Opera House was “a total obfuscation of the reality on the ground and the relentless atrocities that Israel rains daily upon defenceless civilians.” 

Kattan said a symbol of peace would be a better call for equality, unity and cohesion. 

A statement released by the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) said “there has been a one-sided and double standard support of Israel with no regard for the lives, safety and suffering of the Palestinian people.”

A pro-Palestinian march organised by the Palestine Action Group marched from Town Hall to Bennelong Point.

Prime Minister Albanese called for the march to be cancelled, saying that he supports people’s rights to demonstrate their views, but maintaining that what has happened is “completely indefensible.” NSW Police have confirmed that they “will have a presence at the protest.” 

Council members from around Sydney have also expressed their political stances. 

Member for Newtown Jenny Leong posted on Instagram today that “it is appalling that tonight the Opera House will be lit up in support of Israel.” 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jenny Leong MP (@jennyleong.newtown)

City Hub spoke to a member and spokesperson of Autonomous Collective Against Racism (ACAR), who said “I’d like to see Anthony Albanese mention the 230+ Palestinian deaths in the first 8 months of this year that fill me with dread. I’d like to hear his condemnation of the hundreds of thousands of illegal settlements that Israel pushed this year, or the fact that 80% of Gaza’s children have PTSD.” 

“The people of Australia cannot possibly be so blind to the hypocrisy of the Labor party pushing for a referendum for First Nations peoples to be recognised in the constitution while simultaneously standing with a settler-colonial regime,” they continued. 

“Displaying the Israeli flag colours is not only a slap to the face of every Palestinian across the world, it’s evidence of the power of the Zionist lobby in this country and the chokehold it has on the Labor party.” 

The spokesperson confirmed their presence at the protest, saying “we will be there, in massive numbers and with flags flying.”

Activist member of the Palestine Action Group Sydney, Dalia Al-Haj Qasam, spoke to City Hub about the prime minister’s response, saying it was “unsurprising.”

“Over the years we have seen the West peddle the same narrative about Israel and its right to defend itself,” she said. “These claims are made in a vacuum and offer zero context about the reality on the ground.”

“It fails to capture the 75 years of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the 16 year crippling blockade on Gaza and the 56 year military occupation on occupied Palestinian land. On the daily, Palestinians are subjected to settler colonial violence, home demolitions and discrimination through a system of apartheid (to name a few).”

“Put simply, Israel is a colonial power with one of the world’s strongest militaries backed by the United States. It is not defending itself, and it cannot be defending itself from the people it itself occupies.”

She asserted that “Palestinian anti-colonial resistance is not terrorism.”

“It is rather ironic that Europeans who take up arms to defend their lands and people are labelled “freedom fighters” but Palestinians who do the same thing are labelled ‘terrorists,'” she added, referring to the acknowledgement of Hamas as a terrorist group by Israel, Australia and the U.S.

At the time of publication, City Hub is still awaiting comment from Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, Clover Moore AO, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, and the Sydney Jewish Museum.