For the second consecutive week, more than 1000 students and members of Brisbane’s Muslim community took to city streets to protest Israel’s invasion of Gaza on Saturday, but Jewish leaders fear such demonstrations are inflaming anti-Semitism.
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Protest organiser and member of Socialist Alternative, Rebecca Barrigos, said rallies against the ongoing war between Palestine and Israel last week and this week were two of the largest Brisbane had staged in the wake of the Middle East conflict.
She said another was planned for Friday afternoon, with protesters to march on the city office of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in a bid to pressure the Abbott Government to cut its diplomatic and economic support for Israel.
“We think it’s very important to take our message of support to the streets of Brisbane because we see very biased reporting of the conflict, a lot of which neglects to report over 800 Palestinian civilians have been killed,” Ms Barrigos said.
“Last week was one of the largest demonstrations Brisbane has seen in solidarity with Palestine and I think that more and more, people in the West are becoming aware of the role Israel plays in the region and given the sheer scale of the massacre in Gaza we see some sympathy for Palestine.”
But Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies president Jason Steinberg expressed concern after the same group’s protest last week had publicly likened Zionism to Nazism.
“I think where you have posters and communication that says Zionism equals Nazism, it is clearly anti-Semitism and that should not be just of concern to our community in Queensland but concerning to the general public,” he said.
“You just have to look at what’s happening in France and Germany in the past few weeks where Jewish people have been attacked in Paris and Berlin just because they are Jewish.
“We don’t want that to happen here by having those messages vilifying Jewish people, it really is disturbing.”
Mr Steinberg also said the protesters neglected to mention that Israel was at war with a terrorist organisation in Hamas.
The latest conflict between the warring nations was sparked by the murder of three Israeli teenagers last month, allegedly by Hamas.
“Israel is engaged in a war with a terrorist organisation, Hamas, and Israel is the only democracy similar to ours in the Middle East and it should have the right to protect itself,” he said.
“We, as the Jewish community in Queensland, of course want peace in Israel and that I think is the most important thing.”
Queensland’s Jewish community is in the process of establishing its own rally about the Middle Eastern conflict, as is the Socialist Alternative, the group determined to keep pressuring the Federal Government over its support for Israel.
“Given the Abbott government’s complete support for Israel and that the Australian ambassador remarked we would not vote for an independent investigation into war crimes, we will keep the pressure up against this political complicity on the part of Australia’s political establishment,” Ms Barrigos said.
