demanded the City of Sydney cancel the forum<\/a>. <\/p>\nThe urgent calls come after a decision by City of Sydney councillors on Tuesday night to refuse to debate a motion raising safety concerns from the Jewish community about the \u2018Why It\u2019s Right to Say: Globalise the Intifada\u2019 forum at the East Sydney Community and Arts Centre on May 5. <\/p>\n
Mr Frydenberg said the \u2018globalise the intifada\u2019 slogan was \u201creckless\u201d, \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201cunAustralian\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis event planned to be held in a City of Sydney Council owned building must not go ahead and governments federal, state and local must take action and intervene,\u201d Mr Frydenberg told The Daily Telegraph. <\/p>\n
\u201cGlobalise the Intifada is an explicit call for violence and it\u2019s unthinkable that people in positions of authority who have a profound responsibility to maintain the safety of their citizens could simply standby, shrug their shoulders and let such a festival of hate go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Frydenberg said the Bondi massacre \u2013 Australia\u2019s worst ever terrorist incident \u2013 did not happen in a vacuum. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt followed more than two years of escalating attacks in word and deed on Australia\u2019s Jewish community. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tragic wake up call for our country and for our leaders who had ignored the warnings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this planned event saying it\u2019s okay to chant Globalise the Intifada goes ahead it will send a chilling message that nothing has been learnt and little has changed. Australia and Australians will be less safe as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
While pro-Palestinian activists say the word intifada merely means an \u201cuprising\u201d, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has said \u201cintifada has a specific political meaning in the Arab-Israeli conflict, referring to violent campaigns of terrorism targeting civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n
Eight-time Olympic medallist swimmer Dawn Fraser has joined calls for the state and federal government to step-in to stop the forum from going ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much hatred for the Jewish community \u2026 it should be stopped, and the government is not doing enough on it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the government is doing enough to stop the hatred in this beautiful country of ours \u2026 It\u2019s a beautiful country, but we should be very careful of who we let in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former prime minister Tony Abbott also weighed in saying: \u201cIf the NSW government can arrest people for booing a Welcome to Country they sure should outlaw calls for global violence against Jews.\u201d <\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s first Indigenous Olympic gold medallist and ex-Labor senator Nova Peris said: \u201cI\u2019m disgusted that a public facility under the control of the City of Sydney Council would allow a forum promoting the phrase \u2018globalise the intifada\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is completely inappropriate and deeply damaging to the social cohesion our country is trying to restore, especially after the explosion of antisemitism we have witnessed since October 7, 2023,\u201d Ms Peris said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the anti-Jewish celebrations on the steps of the Sydney Opera House to vandalism, arson, and violence targeting Jewish Australians, we have seen a dangerous escalation of hate that should alarm every decent Australian.\u201d<\/p>\n
It can also be revealed that NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has written a letter to City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore demanding that the forum be \u201cimmediately cancelled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Sloane has received more than 900 complaints from NSW residents about the event. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe NSW Parliament\u2019s Committee on Law and Safety has found that the slogan, \u2018globalise the intifada\u2019 may be perceived to incite violence against Jewish people, and the NSW Government has indicated it will legislate to ban the chanting of the phrase,\u201d the letter said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is therefore deeply concerning that the City of Sydney is permitting a council-owned facility to be used for a forum on why it is right to say, \u2018globalise the intifada\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Sloane added: \u201cChris Minns has not shown leadership on this issue. He should speak directly to Clover Moore and call on her to cancel this event.\u201d<\/p>\n
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said: \u201cThe fact that a motion raising concerns about the use of council facilities for this dangerous and divisive event could not even be seconded speaks volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hosting of an event which calls for violence against Jewish Australians by the City of Sydney Council is not a minor matter \u2013 it is a disgraceful and deliberate abdication of responsibility,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe failure of Clover Moore and her Council colleagues (with the exception of Cr Gannon) to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their Jewish residents will always be a black mark on their record.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow is it possible that incitement to violence against Jewish Australians is still being tolerated, particularly after Bondi?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jewish non-profit advocacy group StandWithUs Australia has also announced it was intending to \u201cpeacefully\u201d protest outside the forum at East Sydney Community and Arts Centre next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not organising counter-protests for the sake of confrontation. Our position is clear. We are doing everything we can to have these events cancelled. That is our first priority,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n
A NSW Police spokesman said police were aware of next week\u2019s forum and would monitor the situation accordingly.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was one of the 15 killed in the Bondi massacre, has revealed she has not received any response from City of Sydney or the Lord Mayor to a letter she sent on April 20 outlining her concerns about the forum.<\/p>\n
Ms Gutnick has also written a letter to independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, asking for her support to help stop the event from happening. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something my community, my family, and I are living with every day. When language that is widely understood as a call for violence is given a public platform, it directly shapes how safe people feel, how communities function, and how individuals move through their daily lives,\u201d she wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n
Ms Gutnick, who has not received a response from Ms Spender, told The Telegraph: \u201cAllegra Spender \u2013 now is time to stand with your community. As you correctly said last year \u2013 this hate is not for the Jewish community to solve alone. We hope you call out this horrible event.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prominent Australians have called on federal and state governments to urgently step in and stop a forum at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2574,2570,23,133,2563,2558,1557,2561,2586,2590,2578,2296,2575,2560,2583,2582,2559,2569,1366,2584,2572,2564,2591,2577,1247,2565,2555,2576,355,2021,120,2567,2580,489,2566,2573,2588,2562,2587,2585,2556,247,2557,2568,2581,2589,2554,2579,2571],"class_list":{"0":"post-1487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sydney","8":"tag-adipiscing-elit","9":"tag-anti-jewish-celebrations","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-beautiful-country","13":"tag-chilling-message","14":"tag-chris-minns","15":"tag-clover-moore","16":"tag-council-facilities","17":"tag-council-owned-building","18":"tag-council-owned-facility","19":"tag-daily-telegraph","20":"tag-dangerous-escalation","21":"tag-david-ossip","22":"tag-dawn-fraser","23":"tag-deliberate-abdication","24":"tag-divisive-event","25":"tag-explicit-call","26":"tag-federal-government","27":"tag-global-violence","28":"tag-gold-medallist","29":"tag-governments-federal","30":"tag-joined-calls","31":"tag-josh-frydenberg","32":"tag-justin-lloyd","33":"tag-kellie-sloane","34":"tag-medallist-swimmer","35":"tag-minor-matter","36":"tag-new-south-wales","37":"tag-nsw-police","38":"tag-oceania","39":"tag-peris-jovaldir-ferreira","40":"tag-political-meaning","41":"tag-prime-minister","42":"tag-pro-palestinian-activists","43":"tag-profound-responsibility","44":"tag-public-facility","45":"tag-reuven-morrison","46":"tag-safety-concerns","47":"tag-social-cohesion","48":"tag-state-governments","49":"tag-sydney","50":"tag-sydney-opera-house","51":"tag-terrorism-targeting-civilians","52":"tag-terrorist-incident","53":"tag-tony-abbott","54":"tag-tony-gough","55":"tag-urgent-calls","56":"tag-violent-campaigns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}