Australian police stated at a press conference on Friday that their investigation into a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House last October did not find any evidence of protesters allegedly chanting “gas the Jews”. However, the investigation did say other antisemitic slogans were used. The demonstration took place following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
The demonstration involved 1,000 pro-Palestinian supporters marching to the Opera House, an iconic Australian landmark. At that time, the Opera House bore the same colours as the Israeli flag in the aftermath of the Hamas attack. The footage shared by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) appeared to show a small group outside the Opera House lighting flares and chanting “gas the Jews” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commented at the time that the images shared were horrific: “We are a tolerant, multicultural nation. I understand that people have deep views about issues relating to the Middle East conflict, but here in Australia, we have to deal with political discourse in a respectful way.” AJA has since posted witnesses of the “gas the Jews” chant not only at the Opera House but at the Town Hall.
After the protest, the Minns Government brought forward on 21 November 2023 the Crimes Amendment (Prosecution of Certain Offences) Bill 2023. The purpose of the bill is to improve the prosecution process for the offense of publicly threatening or inciting violence against a person or group based on attributes such as race and religion.
For the investigation, the police hired an independent biometric science expert to analyze the audio-visual records. Upon analyzing the video and audio recordings of the protest, no evidence was found to support the claim that protesters chanted “gas the Jews.” However, the investigation determined that the unsettling phrase captured in audio and video recordings was “Where’s the Jews?” Additionally, the evidence revealed the utterance of other offensive slogans, such as “F*** the Jews.”
Police stated that, “[T]here is a compilation video that has a number of audio and visual files…they are simply cuts from a more parent file. When examined, the parent file and the video compilation have the same audiovisual, and from that the expert has concluded they were the words that were used.”
While the Australian National Islams Council (ANIC) commented that they welcome such findings of NSW Police, they also called for the Police to identify the perpetrators of the video and the “slanderous subtitles.” ANIC expressed that the video’s initial posting and wrongful attribution of words have significantly damaged and distressed Arab and Muslim communities in Australia.
