NSW inquiry recommends ban on "globalise the intifada" only when it incites harm

A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry has recommended proscribing the phrase "globalise the intifada" when it is used to incite hatred, harassment, intimidation or violence, the inquiry chair, Labor MP Edmond Atalla, confirmed to Guardian Australia ahead of a final closed meeting on Thursday.

The Labor-led committee voted to table the report almost entirely unchanged. The draft recommendations call for the government to proscribe the phrase or to "clarify that the chanting of this phrase in a public place is unlawful", but to avoid a likely constitutional challenge the report says any law should include a causal element linking the words to a specific harm such as incitement of hatred, harassment, intimidation or violence.

The report says there would be defences for artistic, academic and educational uses, though it is not immediately clear how incitement would be determined. Atalla said the phrase's "historical context" would be relevant, adding: "'Globalise the intifada' as words on their own chanted probably mean nothing to a lot of people, but to the Jewish people, it threatens." The inquiry was open for public submissions for three weeks and received about 700 submissions, of which only 150 will be published and more than 500 will not be made public.

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