PETITION: Protect The Jews in Australia

13,699 signatures

Goal: 20,000 signatures

Sign this petition to call on authorities to take immediate and decisive action to protect Jewish places of worship, bring those responsible for these attacks to justice, and send a clear message that antisemitism will not be tolerated in any form.

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⚠️ DO NOT FALL FOR IT

I don't know who needs to hear this, but Jacinta Allan's newly announced measures "to combat antisemitism" are not really about protecting Jews.

In fact, leftists and Islamists are exempt!

Sign the petition: https://t.co/Z5GvPbQWps pic.twitter.com/73REiZEzD7

— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) December 17, 2024

Victoria's proposed ban on face coverings at protests may do little to deter violent anti-Israel extremists, with radical left-wing protesters and Islamist demonstrators already wearing medical masks and religious head coverings, which will reportedly be exempt from the proposed changes.

Premier Jacinta Allan announced the new restrictions on Tuesday, intending to give police more power to control protests after a terror attack on a Melbourne synagogue.

The ban will prohibit protesters from covering their faces with masks and balaclavas, and symbols of listed terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas, will also be banned.

However, critics are questioning the effectiveness of the proposed changes, noting that the groups most responsible for violence, threats and intimidation — radical left-wing and Islamist extremists — already utilise face coverings that will remain largely unaffected by the legislation.

“Face masks aren’t a free pass to break the law. There should be no place to hide in this state if you’re a racist, stirring up hate on the streets,” Allan said, but her comments fail to address that left-wing activists, who already don medical masks long after the COVID-19 pandemic to obscure their identities, will still be able to evade detection.

The proposed police powers to ban the use of facemasks/coverings and balaclavas at protests have a specific exemption to allow the use of face-coverings/masks for religious, cultural, and health-related reasons. The most common masks used during pro-Palestinian protests are what… pic.twitter.com/CWaFb4tB0S

— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) December 17, 2024

The ABC reports that the government’s new laws would exempt medical masks from the ban, meaning many violent protesters could continue to cover their faces without fear of repercussion.

Equally, many radical Islamist protesters already wear religious head coverings to conceal their faces — another loophole in the legislation. Given these exemptions, the new ban seems ineffective in targeting the individuals most responsible for antisemitic violence, particularly at protests against Israel, which have become increasingly hostile towards Australia’s Jewish community.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has unveiled a raft of proposed police powers to crack down on protests in the state, following what she deemed a period of protests that have caused division and disruption on the streets of Melbourne. The new powers include banning terrorist… pic.twitter.com/sjg2B3SS7K

— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) December 17, 2024

“Victorians have witnessed extreme, dangerous and radical conduct in numerous public demonstrations over the past year,” Allan said, acknowledging the growing threat of extremist behaviour. But by focusing on face masks and not addressing the radical left root of the issue — the ideologies behind the violence — the measures appear to offer little real protection to Jewish Australians or other minority communities targeted by these protests.

The legislation also includes provisions to prevent protests at places of worship, including synagogues and mosques, which Allan said had been targeted by extremist protesters. “We will legislate to protect the right for people to gather and pray free from fear,” she said, yet, once again, those most likely to cause harm may still operate freely, given the exemptions for face coverings.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has criticised the delay in action, but many argue that even with these new powers, the government has not tackled the tactics most commonly used by the extremists it seeks to curb.