Forensic analysis of video and audio from a pro-Palestine Opera House protest in October has found no evidence a potentially criminal antisemitic phrase was used, police say, but the Minns government has stood by its response to the rally, calling it “violent and racist”.
A video of the protest purported to show a small group of protesters chanting “gas the Jews” while outside Sydney’s most iconic building. However, police said an expert review had concluded the phrase uttered was “where’s the Jews”, although other antisemitic phrases had been chanted.
An expert in biometric science commissioned to analyse “significant volumes” of footage from the protest had concluded with “overwhelming certainty” the phrase actually chanted was “where’s the Jews”, Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on Friday. There was evidence other offensive phrases were also spoken, including “f— the Jews”.
Footage purporting to show the phrase “gas the Jews” being chanted was widely reported in Australia and globally. It prompted the Minns government to introduce a bill on November 21 that it said would “improve the prosecution process” for the offence of publicly threatening or inciting violence against a person or group based on attributes including race and religion.
Chanting “gas the Jews”, Lanyon said, “certainly could have” met the threshold for criminal prosecution.
NSW barrister and former police officer Mahmud Hawila, who has acted for a number of pro-Palestinian protest organisers, including Palestine Action Group Sydney, said “protest organisers and witnesses called into question the veracity of the allegations in the immediate aftermath of the Opera House protest”.
Read the article by Jessica McSweeney, Michael McGowan and Michaela Whitbourn in The Sydney Morning Herald.