Police were aware members of the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir would likely attend the Opera House anti-Israel protest in October 2023, held just two days after Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna told the Royal Commission into anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion “there was intelligence that that may occur” ahead of the rally on October 9.

The Australian Government officially listed Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group in 2026.

Counsel assisting the commission Richard Lancaster SC questioned Mr McKenna on how the intelligence information had informed the safety assessment of the protest.

“The threat assessment, which we had done by our counter-terrorism special tactics command, would have been informed by intelligence partners, and when we had nothing specific about terrorism, then you probably consider more likely street level issues to occur,” Mr McKenna said.

‘Outrageous’ police act after October 7

Police told Jewish Australians to “avoid their own Sydney CBD” during the “despicable” October 9 Sydney Opera House protest, the royal commission was told.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the pro-Palestine march from Town Hall to the Opera House was “incredibly insensitive” with “a lot of celebration” in regards to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

“I thought it was quite an extraordinary and outrageous admission from police (and) I can’t recall any group, particularly any religious or racial group, ever being provided advice that they should avoid their own city CBD for their own safety and wellbeing,” he said.

“It was effectively the police saying, ‘we can’t keep your community safe’ and as I’ve said in my statement, in my view, it was effectively the police transferring control of the CBD to the protesters and I thought the matter was very serious.”

Mr Ossip said the police’s view was there should be no counter protest, as it would be “inflammatory”.

Mr Ossip said the anti-Israel protest brought “international disgrace” upon Australia, with one attendee reportedly yelling “I am going to kill them all”.

“It was amongst the clearest examples of anti-Semitism in recent years,” he said.

The pro-Palestine protest held on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House as the sails were lit up in solidarity with the Jewish people following Hamas’ terror attack shattered Jews’ “physical and psychological sense of safety in this country”.

“F**k the Jews” were among the chants heard by Jewish Australians during protests at the landmark on October 9, 2023.

This was two days after Hamas militants launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing about 1200 people.

Mr Ossip said the Hamas terror attack had a “profound psychological impact on the Jewish community” and the decision to light the Opera House with Israeli flag colours “was a source of reassurance and comfort”.

Mr Ossip said while “members of the Jewish community were understandably planning to go down to the Opera House for a vigil”, their plans were disrupted by the protest that involved flares and anti-Semitic chants.

“It was a work day, children were attending school in the CBD,” he said.

“We’re also aware of workplaces sending around communications, effectively providing permission, to members of the Jewish community to leave the CBD because of concerns about what would transpire that evening.”

Police conduct called into question

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC said the commission had heard evidence that “the conduct of the police on October 9 gave some members of the Jewish community the impression that the police were protecting anti-Semitic demonstrators”.

Mr Lancaster shared the experience of witnesses and said protests must be understood as a vessel for expressing “freedom of speech”, not a path to encourage violence.

“Interpersonal violence does not become lawful or acceptable in the context of a protest, incitement to violence and racist vilification does not become lawful or acceptable in the context of a protest,” he said.

“Anti-Semitism does not become acceptable in the context of a protest.”

Mr Lancaster acknowledged the Sydney Opera House protest and a neo-Nazi protest in front of parliament on November 8, 2025 had both been “critical event(s)” for the rise of Jewish hate in Australia.

He described witness accounts of “the Star of David going into a rubbish bin” and images of a “neat line of white men in black outfits”, with Jewish Australians experiencing a “loss of a feeling of safety”.

‘Inflated’ protest intensity

Mr McKenna said the news coverage of the protests positioned the protest as “more significant” than it was in reality, when speaking to “public safety” implications.

“A flare was thrown over the heads of police officers” which stopped after officers spoke with protest organisers, the commission heard.

Mr McKenna said “hours of a protest” were “reduced to seconds or minutes on a newsgrab that… probably inflated it to make it more significant than what we would say it was”.

“There is no doubt that watching this on television, watching this on the news, it looked terrible,” he said.

“But when I speak to the police officers who were on the ground, they did not have concerns about this protest getting out of control.”

The acting deputy commissioner said the successful management of thousands of NSW protests has “almost been detrimental to community expectations”.

“So when something does happen, it is out of the norm of what people are used to seeing in NSW, and it actually heightens it or conflates it to be often something a lot bigger than what it actually was.”

Mr McKenna maintained police have to take a “neutral approach” when dealing with the organised protests in Sydney.

“So what some people may consider offensive, distasteful, abhorrent even, we are in the unenviable position of sometimes facilitating that because at law, it is permissible,” he told the commission.

Opposition to protests by police is fairly uncommon with NSW Police only doing so and facing the Supreme Court three times in Mr McKenna’s two years in his position.

Clash over Hamas attack

Counsel for Palestine Action Group Dominic Toomey SC and Mr Ossip clashed on Tuesday over details of the “war” between Israel and Palestine.

“You are aware, aren’t you, that Israel Defence Force fighter jets began conducting air strikes in the Gaza Strip at around 5.30pm Sydney time on the 7th of October (2023)?” Mr Toomey questioned.

“I just have to make the point; this is a royal commission on anti-Semitism. We’re dealing with the protest where protesters shouted out ‘F the Jews’ and ‘where (are) the Jews?’, and ‘I’m going to kill them all’,” Mr Ossip said in response.

“And I’m a bit confused as to why are we getting caught up in the minutia of the timeline of a foreign military operation, even though I do reject the premise of your question as well.”

Mr Toomey said the Palestine Action Group protesters organised the “rally for a free Palestine and no war on Gaza”, not in celebration of the Hamas attacks.

“I want to suggest to you that you have seen nothing that has emanated from the organisers of the rally, namely the Palestine Action Group, which would suggest in any way that the rally was being convened to celebrate those despicable attacks,” he said.

Mr Ossip said the timing of the march was “unfathomable”.

“Well, women were still being raped while children were being kidnapped, whilst families were being burnt alive,” he said in response to Mr Toomey’s questioning.

“It’s impossible to avoid the connection between the events of 7th of October and the calling of this rally.”

More to come

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