An event seeking to promote the use of the slogan “Globalize the intifada” went ahead in a park in Sydney after the city’s mayor blocked it from taking place at a state council-owned venue.
The event, which was officially canceled on Monday after fears that it would spark violence, attracted just about 150 people and was held without major incident, according to local news reports.
‘It’s a must that we globalize the intifada,” local political figure Ahmed Ouf told the crowd. “We have to break the internal chains and invite others.”
The forum was intended to defend the phrase against efforts to ban it, and had drawn strong criticism from politicians and Jewish leaders. Australian lawmakers have sought to proscribe the slogan in public debate since the deadly terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration at the city’s Bondi Beach in December, which killed 15.
In a statement on social media yesterday, Mayor Clover Moore said the event risked “contributing to hostility and fear.”
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But the organizers, a group known as the Stop the War on Palestine group, defied the order.
“We reject the implication… that our meeting risks public safety and respect for members of the community,” the organizers wrote on Instagram announcing the change of venue.
@CloverMoore cancelled room for “Globalise the Intifada”- but forum going ahead
????Charles Kernan Reserve, Abercrombie St, Darlington (near Redfern station)
???? 6pm Tuesday 5 May
Moore has folded to Murdoch media fear and lies about the forum and slogan ‘Globalise the Intifada’ https://t.co/UEQcu9fbzT pic.twitter.com/zRnQMeyBqS
— Teachers for Palestine NSW (@T4PalestineNSW) May 4, 2026
The phrase “Globalize the intifada” has become a flashpoint in public debate, particularly in the aftermath of the December 14 terror attack at Bondi Beach. Jewish organizations have warned that the language carries connotations of violence, with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) noting that the term “intifada” is associated with bloody, violent campaigns involving attacks on civilians.
The event’s organizers argue that the term “intifada” — Arabic for uprising — represents a legitimate call for political resistance and free speech. A flyer promoting the forum said efforts to ban the phrase were designed to “smear and repress the Palestine movement.”
The second Palestinian intifada, from 2000-2005, was marked by a strategic onslaught of Palestinian suicide bombers against Israeli targets, primarily killing civilians.
#GlobaliseTheIntifada public meeting now in a park in #Redfern because @cityofsydney canceled the booked venue pic.twitter.com/TFT2pOqTtU
— Green Left (@GreenLeftOnline) May 5, 2026
After the Bondi Beach terror attack, Australian lawmakers proposed tougher laws against hate speech, including a proposed ban on the slogan in New South Wales. The state of Queensland formally proscribed the use of the phrase in March, and NSW Premier Chris Minns has sought to do the same, calling the slogan “hateful, violent rhetoric.”
However, that effort was complicated last month when the NSW Court of Appeal struck down a set of anti-protest laws that had been proposed by the government, ruling that protecting people from “upsetting or inflammatory” speech was not a sufficient legal reason to burden constitutional rights.
Germany and Austria have both legislated severe restrictions on the use of the phrase, along with other inciting slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Last week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for police to prosecute people chanting it after two Jewish men were stabbed in London in a terror attack.
The event was held as the Royal Commission holds an inquiry into the country’s growing antisemitism problem. Members of Australia’s Jewish community have been giving personal testimony at a public hearing investigating the factors that led to the Bondi Beach attack, in which a father and son massacred 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah event on Australia’s most famous beach in December in an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack.
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