Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has demanded an explanation from NSW police after officers broke up Muslim prayers at a chaotic protest in Sydney, also rebuking hard-left activists for defying laws designed to keep the protests peaceful and Jewish Australians safe.
Violent skirmishes broke out between demonstrators and police on Monday at a Sydney protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, which was criticised by pro-Palestine Labor backbenchers, the Greens and some independent MPs.
They said Albanese should not have invited a head of state who represents a nation accused of war crimes, and whose visit would compromise social cohesion.
In an interview on this masthead’s Inside Politics podcast, Albanese took a harder line on police actions at the protest than NSW Premier Chris Minns, who has repeatedly defended police. Nearly 30 people were arrested and 10 were charged. The police watchdog will investigate the actions of officers. Vision showed kneeling worshippers being pulled to their feet and then thrown to the ground.
“I’m concerned at the great deal of hurt which the Muslim community are feeling about the disruption of prayers,” Albanese said. “I think that is something that needs a full explanation. I know that that has caused a great deal of distress.”
In what turned into the latest flashpoint in more than two years of domestic brawling over the conflict in Gaza, the prime minister was condemned by a handful of teal independents this week for allowing the Herzog visit. The Jewish community asked for the head of the Jewish state to visit Bondi to mourn one of the deadliest attacks on Jews outside Israel in modern history.
The heat surrounding Herzog’s visit prompted NSW to use extraordinary powers to ban protests from the Sydney CBD to the eastern suburbs, where Sydney’s Jewish community is based. The rules give police more powers to move people on, to close specific locations and to search people.
The protesters were offered a nearby venue of Hyde Park, but Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees said that was inadequate because Town Hall was the most visible location. “We will not be shunted off to some park – out of sight, out of mind – on a dark weeknight,” he said this week.
Albanese described Lees as “far left” and sought to contrast activists from the many mainstream protesters who are peaceful and who hold genuine concern. The more hardline activists, Albanese said, had repeatedly shown disregard for social cohesion since October 7, 2023, including by picketing outside his Marrickville office and forcing it to be moved.
“The organisers were engaged with the police. They chose not to come up with or participate in a sensible way that would have ensured separation by having the meeting in Hyde Park and then walking to Belmore Park. It is beyond my comprehension why that would not be taken up, that suggestion by the New South Wales Police,” Albanese said.
“They need to comprehend that sometimes the actions don’t actually advance a cause. They undermine it, and that is what has occurred.
“You can have a strong position on the Middle East and on justice for Palestinians. And I support a Palestinian state being alongside the Israeli state, and my government is the first government to recognise Palestine. That doesn’t mean that you can’t empathise and understand that the Jewish community are really hurting in Australia.”
Albanese, who has also been criticised by conservatives for recognising a Palestinian state and for his response to the massacre, has passionately defended his decision to invite Herzog. He was compared unfavourably to Minns during the Bondi response. The NSW Labor figure was perceived to have acted with greater speed and more direct rhetoric, a charge Albanese rejects.
Herzog has no role in the military chain of command, although he has spoken in favour of the war effort, which one United Nations report found to constitute a genocide.
Herzog is a centre-left politician in Israel and “not a member of the Netanyahu government”, Albanese said, making him “the equivalent of Governor-General Sam Mostyn”.
“It doesn’t mean that, you know, I endorse all views or anything else. That’s not what it was about. Overwhelmingly, President Herzog, and I might say Ms Herzog as well, were comforting … women who were grieving. That … was very moving,” he said.
“Can you imagine the message that that would send to the world, frankly, that we denied the head of state of Israel the opportunity, upon invitation, particularly from the families at Bondi, to come and grieve with them?”
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Paul Sakkal is chief political correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and has won Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect via X or email.