Anti-Zionist Jewish protesters disrupt Question Time

A group of anti-Zionist Jewist protesters has disrupted Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, demanding that the federal government cut military and economic ties with Israel and reverse its support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Chants of “Jews for a free Palestine” and “stop arming Israel” began from the public gallery during a question from LNP MP Ted O’Brien to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and continued throughout Albanese’s response. Albanese and other MPs ignored the chants as the protesters were ejected from the room.

In a media release, the group called on the federal government to “immediately stop arms trade and military contracts with Israel, including the manufacture of military parts, investigate Australians who fought in the Israeli military in Gaza for their complicity in war crimes, impose sanctions on Israel, expel the Israeli Ambassador, grant refugee visas and assistance to Palestinians forced to flee Gaza or those facing state and settler violence in Occupied Palestinian Territories, [and] acknowledge the Palestinian right to self-determination, sovereignty, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees”.

“Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza are happening with impunity of world leaders, including the Australian Government,” the protesters said in the release. “Albanese has the chutzpah of claiming to care about Jewish safety, yet does not respond to Jewish constituents' emails and calls asking that his government take a hard line on Israel. Albanese has shown that he doesn’t care about his constituents or about Gaza, so today we took our protest to Parliament House.”

“Over the past nine months, it has become clear that Israel is a rogue state that acts without compliance to [sic] international human rights, international law or with regard to the dignity of human life. A large and growing number of Jews in Australia have been calling for a ceasefire for many months, and saying that Israel’s actions are completely incompatible with our Jewish values.”

The protest will likely not be the only time the Gazan genocide disrupts business as usual in Canberra this week. Parliament is due to vote on a Greens motion recognising the Palestinian state, likely on Wednesday or Thursday. On Sunday, Insiders host David Speers claimed Labor Senator Fatima Payman was considering crossing the floor to vote for the motion.

Voting for the motion would put Payman in violation of Labor party rules forbidding MPs from deviating from party votes, possibly resulting in her suspension or expulsion from the party. While Payman has recently expressed support for a Palestinian state and a ceasefire in Gaza, she has given no definitive indication of which way she will vote.

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