NSW inquiry chair to recommend proscribing ‘globalise the intifada’

The chair of a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry, Labor MP Edmond Atalla, said his draft report will recommend banning the phrase “globalise the intifada”, while leading Jewish groups have urged that other slogans such as “from the river to the sea” and “death to the IDF” also be prohibited.

The law and safety committee was asked to review “measures to prohibit slogans that incite hatred” with a specific requirement to consider the phrase “globalise the intifada”. The inquiry closed to public submissions last week, will not hold public hearings and, Atalla said, will not publish individual submissions — only expert and organisational submissions will appear on the committee website.

About 150 submissions have been uploaded to date, with six marked confidential. Atalla said his personal view was that banning the phrase was “not unreasonable”, adding he speaks Arabic and that he had “no doubt in my mind that the Bondi massacre was an act of intifada … by two [alleged] terrorists against the Jews.” The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies recommended creating a new hate speech offence for several phrases and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry endorsed a defence allowing a defendant to argue a “reasonable excuse”.

Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey warned the proposal raised “difficult legal issues” and advised content‑neutral laws tied to preventing particular, serious harm.

Key Topics

Politics, Edmond Atalla, New South Wales, Bondi Beach Attack, Ecaj