In this New Politics long-read episode, we revisit a controversial essay published in July 2025, examining Australia’s anti-Semitism report and the growing politics of fear surrounding protest, free speech, and criticism of Israel. As new federal anti-hate and anti-Semitism laws are rushed through parliament in the wake of the Bondi attacks and highly publicised incidents in Melbourne, this episode asks a confronting question: are these laws about protecting communities, or about silencing dissent?
We explore the anti-Semitism report prepared by Jillian Segal, the proposed adoption of the IHRA definition, and the dangerous conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, exploring how legitimate criticism of the Israeli government, Zionism as a political ideology, and Australia’s foreign policy risks being criminalised.
Drawing on recent court rulings, including Federal Court commentary affirming the legality of criticising Israel and protesting against Zionism, this episode challenges the media narrative, exposes selective outrage, and interrogates the expanding police powers introduced under the banner of combating hate.
We examine cases of alleged synagogue arson, protest actions targeting Israeli-linked businesses, and media-driven moral panics, contrasting the rapid political response to accusations of anti-Semitism with the muted reaction to Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and violence against other communities.
At the centre of this discussion is Gaza, where mounting evidence of war crimes and genocide has intensified global protest movements, even as governments seek to redefine solidarity with Palestinians as hate speech. This episode argues that laws which suppress protest, criminalise political speech, and protect one state from scrutiny undermine democracy itself. Criticising Israel, opposing apartheid, and protesting genocide are not acts of hate; they are acts of political conscience.
If dissent is outlawed in the name of security, then the real threat is not extremism, but the authoritarianism that’s creeping into Australian law.
Photograph: Alessio Cavallaro.
Song listing:
‘La Femme d’Argent’, AIR.
