Protest Against Visit of Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, in Sydney 9 February 2026

The Jewish lobby has always been very strong in Anglo politics and it is a brave politician that opposes them, given their economic clout.

The Sydney Peace Foundation had supported the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and in 2003 awarded the Sydney Peace Prize to Hanan Ashrawi. She was a Palestinian Christian, academic, poet and member of Parliament who had worked in Education for the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, but later left it due to objecting to its corruption. The then CEO, Prof Stuart Rees had checked with the Foundation’s sponsors that they would continue to back the Foundation if a Palestinian were given the Prize. They assured him, Yes, but the Jewish lobby protested loudly and demanded that he withdraw the Prize. He declined to do so, saying that the Sydney Peace Foundation would have no credibility if it withdrew an announced prize. But almost all the corporate sponsors who had promised to continue their sponsorship withdrew. That is power.

Jewish schools get the tax deductibility of all religious schools and raise the Israeli flag. The official organs have been very silent throughout the Gaza genocide, and are keen to talk about centuries old antisemitism, while ignoring the genocide and the opprobrium associated with it. It remains the ‘elephant in the room’.

Meanwhile the number of Middle Eastern Muslims has been rising, and some significant politicians in Western Sydney are depended on the Muslim vote for their seats. Australian Muslim leaders are contributors to our multicultural society, but we might wonder what they think of the Israeli flag being raised. One might also wonder what would happen if an Islamic private school raised the Palestinian flag and sang their anthem. Since the time of ISIS recruitment some radical preachers have been quietly doing harm. (I saw a film made about this, but I have not been able to find it anywhere online now. It alluded to a certain preacher, but did not name him. It was briefly in Australian cinemas).

The Bondi Terror attack was a tragic demonstration of the extent to which radical forces build up, unnoticed by existing law enforcement organs. It was a failure of both Australia’s gun laws and its intelligence services, so Anthony Albanese wanted to have an Inquiry into these failures, done by a retired security chief.

The Jewish lobby was outraged and demanded a Royal Commission, blaming Albanese for the terror attack. They had been smarting from Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian State and pressured him to hold a Royal Commission on anti-Semitism, rather than the shorter and more practical security inquiry. They then invited the Israeli President to Australia. This invitation was then taken up by Albanese. Apparently it is common practice for groups to invite prestigious people, and then the Government takes over the invitation. Labor for Palestine, a group within the Labor party claimed that there was a picture of Hertzog signing a bomb to be dropped on Gaza in December 2023. Herzog had been elected President in 2021. His father had also been President and he had been head of the Labor Party in the Knesset. The Israeli President is separated from the government and is in a similar role to Australia’s Governor-General. Hertzog had been in Opposition to Netanyahu in party politics, but as President naturally supported him as the Prime Minister of Israel . When the International Criminal Court (ICC) cited Netanyahu and his Defence Minister for genocide, Herzog criticised the ICC. Herzog spent a lot of time maintaining ties with the Jewish diaspora world-wide, frowned on marriages with non-Jews, and worked to improve relations between Israel and other countries, notably Turkey, the US and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

After the Bondi terrorist attack NSW Premier Chris Minns was quick to announce a State Inquiry and to pass the ‘Terrorism (Police Powers) Act 2026 that empowered Police to act with impunity at demonstrations.

Herzog was to address Australian Jewry at the International Convention Centre (ironically also I.C.C.), at Darling Harbour on 9 February.

Last July, the Palestinian Action Network had been banned by the Police from holding a March across the Harbour Bridge, but appealed the Police decision in the Supreme Court, had a significant victory in August 2025, and held a major ‘March for Humanity’ on a very wet and windy day, 3/8/25 which was attended in huge numbers.

They similarly applied for permission to hold a rally outside the Sydney Town Hall at 5.30pm on 9 February and to march to NSW Parliament. The Police banned the March, and the PAN again appealed to the Supreme Court. This time they lost, but the decision was not handed down until 5pm, just before the rally was about to start.

I went to the rally, entering from Bathurst St behind the cathedral. The Police were very aggressive, forming a cordon and certainly giving the impression that they were sparring for a fight. Town Hall Square was very full and the sound system was not good, so it was hard to hear some of the speeches. Grace Tame spoke extremely well and very clearly. Perhaps she used the microphone more skilfully. People around me also could not hear, judging by the way they joined in on the chants, but were otherwise silent. Chants were ‘Free, Free Palestine, ‘Arrest Herzog’ and ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall be Free’. (It was interesting that this last chant is to be considered to be a terrorist slogan with an appropriate penalty while the Israeli government merely implements it for their settlers with no slogan at all). The Cathedral rang its bells so frequently without apparent reason throughout the rally, which made it seem a deliberate strategy. There was a mood that we were going to march, as we had not come merely to hear speeches. The speeches went on too long and seemed repetitive , though not hearing well it was hard to be sure about this last. At about 7pm, after an hour and a half Josh Lees, the chief rally organiser said that there were ‘conversations’ ongoing about whether we were marching. I presumed that he meant conversations with the demonstrators, but this was not so. He was apparently referring to conversations with the Police. Presumably the speeches were continuing to allow the negotiations.

I concluded that the Police had won, that there would not be a march and left at about 7.10pm, so I missed the confrontation, which happened at about 7.25pm

It seems that the Police strategy was to keep the rally within the precinct of the Town Hall until the Jewish rally was over so that there was no possibility of the rally participants meeting the Jewish rally.

The Jewish meeting was told by a uniformed policeman to sit down for half an hour so that the protest rally could be cleared, so it seems clear whose side they were on. The Police had tried to stop the late arrivals even entering the protest rally, which had led to chants of ‘Let them in.’

The Police then said that here would not be a march, and everyone had to leave from behind the Cathedral via Bathurst St and were not allowed to go via George St. This seems to have been the catalyst for resistance as the Police tried to clear the Square.

The Police had been sparring for a fight, arrested 17 people and pushed other to the ground and on the ground. They used pepper spray and horses. I was shocked when a patient, a 70 year old woman came to me as a patient the next day and said that she had stood up on a plantar box to see what was going on and was thrown to the ground. She had grazes on her hand and arm and bruising of her chest wall. Below is some footage of the confrontation. A 2 hour comprehensive film of the rally is available at ConsortiumNews.

There has been a lot of discussion about Police powers since the rally, but it’s certainly frightening to know that there are considerable elements of the NSW Police that are willing to attack citizens with immunity from prosecution, very similar to ICE in the USA. It seems that the ‘Riot Squad’ see themselves as an elite in this role.

Time to renew subscriptions to the Council for Civil Liberties!