MEDIA RELEASE
26 October 2026
The Jewish Council of Australia condemns the political threats made by Opposition Leader Jess Wilson on Sunday and rejects her misleading connection between protest of Israel’s genocide and the horrific Bondi attack.
In her comments, Wilson vowed to drastically restrict the Victorian public’s right to protest with new ‘move on’ laws, a bureaucratic permit system for holding demonstrations, and bans on phrases including “globalise the intifada”. Wilson also promised to withdraw funding from organisations that ‘promote antisemitism,’ leaving open how that would be defined.
Queensland’s similar ban on pro-Palestinian political phrases has been widely criticised by legal scholars for violating the Constitution and is currently being challenged in the High Court.
The Jewish Council has documented in its submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion the dangerous irony of how laws and policies introduced in the name of Jewish safety including those in Queensland have led to Jewish Australians themselves being arrested, including 73-year-old clinical psychologist and child of Holocaust survivors Stephen Heydt.
Bart Shteinman, Executive Officer at the Jewish Council of Australia said:
“It is blatantly irresponsible for politicians like Jess Wilson to be linking legitimate and peaceful protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza to the Bondi terror attack. We unequivocally condemn her mislabelling of peaceful protest as antisemitic.
Growing numbers of Jewish Australians are regular attendees of protests condemning Israel’s genocide and advocating for Palestinian rights to peace, freedom and safety. It is not antisemitic to protest a live-streamed genocide.
It is ridiculous that the Victorian Opposition Leader is looking to Queensland as an example – where similar laws are being challenged in the High Court and are leading to Jews themselves being arrested – all in the name of Jewish safety.
Antisemitism is a real problem in Australia and it is growing, but we vehemently disagree with the Opposition Leader about its cause. The growth of the far-right, neo-Nazi and conspiracist movements, Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the conflation of Jewish identity with Israel are primary drivers of antisemitism, not peaceful protestors.
If Wilson is genuinely concerned with fighting antisemitism, she should explain why her party has not ruled out doing preference deals with One Nation, which has run holocaust deniers for Parliament and has extensive links to neo-nazis and white supremacists. Or explain why the Coalition has resisted gun reforms that would make the Jewish community, and all communities, more safe.”
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