Australia the ‘Tolerant’ Country Allowing Extremism

I don’t claim to be an expert in Middle Eastern relations, but one thing is clear, some members of one religion wish to completely annihilate all members of another religion. “From the river to the sea!”, they shout, in reference to the establishment of a Palestinian State from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people in the process. To be clear, I’m not here to side with one religion over another. My ethical stance is clear. Everyone should be allowed to peacefully practise their religion – “peacefully” being the operative word. The moment people are no longer peaceful, well, they’re no longer practising religion. They’re practising extremism or fanaticism. Case in point, the events that unfolded on the forecourt of the Opera House this week. “F*** the Jews!”, “Shame Israel!”, “From the river to the sea!”, “G*s the Jews!”. Yes, this is Australia – the tolerant country – in 2023. We are harbouring extremists.

The NSW Government lit up the Opera House in Israeli colours, and the fanatics came out of the woodwork, lighting up flares and burning and stomping on Israeli flags. Not only that, the police allowed this to unfold. Jewish people were not welcome. Actually, one Jewish person who was waving the Israeli flag got arrested, not because he committed a crime, but for “his own safety”. While the fanatics were allowed to shoot off flares and shout out religious and racial epithets unchallenged, peaceful protesters, or even people there to peacefully support the Jewish community, were not allowed. Burn the flag, you’re okay. Wave the flag, you’re breaching the peace!

Don’t worry, some politicians came out in support of the radicals. Senator Lidia Thorpe, former Greens Senator, for some reason, she’s still on the Greens website. “In 2023, Lidia left the party to advance the Blak Sovereignty movement. By the way, you spelt ‘black’ wrong. Yeah, I know, it’s on purpose. But you see, spelling was something the evil colonialists thrust upon us. Anyway, on X, just after Hamas had invaded Israel and killed innocent people, she wrote, “I stand with Palestine”, with a map of Israel over the last few decades, and the writing, “Unprovoked They said”.

Another Greens Senator, and Greens Deputy Leader Mehreen Faruqi, who migrated here from Pakistan, also sent out a tweet in response to the Parliament House being lit up in Israeli colours. She tweeted, “One colonial government supporting another. What a disgrace. #FreePalestine”. What exactly is she trying to say? Is she condoning the attacks on Israel because it’s a colonial state? Is she implying that it’s okay to attack Australia, because we’re a colonial state as well? Noting that modern Australia gave her citizenship here. This is probably a good time to point out that all those people protesting on the forecourt of the Opera House who were calling for the death of other Australian citizens because of their religion, they were also granted residency here as well. Perhaps Australia needs to do a bit of reflecting on its immigration policy.

To be fair to the Premier of NSW, Chris Minns, he did announce the following…

Anyway, as I said, I’m no expert, and I’m not here to favour one religion over another. I’m all for peaceful religious practice, and peaceful protests, but this is not peaceful. We can’t accept this extremism in Australia.

SYDNEY PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTEST ORGANISER FLAGS LEGAL CHALLENGE AFTER PREMIER VOWS CRACKDOWN ON WEEKEND RALLY
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-11/nsw-protestors-minns-legal-challenge-rally-sydney-weekend/102961840

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE RALLY: POLICE DEFEND ARREST OF MAN CARRYING ISRAELI FLAG AMID OUTRAGE OVER ANTISEMITIC CHANTS
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/police-defend-arrest-of-man-carrying-israeli-flag-after-antisemitic-chants-heard-on-steps-of-sydney-opera-house

LIDIA THORPE STILL ON THE GREENS WEBSITE
https://greens.org.au/vic/person/lidia-thorpe

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn