Read on for article<\/p>\n
A controversial Sydney forum defending the slogan \u201cGlobalise the Intifada\u201d has been forced out of a City of Sydney venue following public backlash, with organisers claiming the decision has \u201csent the intifada conference underground\u201d as they shift to a new outdoor location.<\/p>\n
The event, titled \u201cWhy it\u2019s right to say Globalise the Intifada\u201d, was organised by the antizionist group Stop The War On Palestine and had been scheduled to take place at a council-owned site tomorrow night before Lord Mayor Clover Moore intervened.<\/p>\n
The poster features a photo of accused Bondi shooter Naveed Akram.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Globalise-poster.jpg\")
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\u201cI have asked the City\u2019s CEO to withdraw the booking of an event in a city-owned venue that is advertised as: \u2018Why it is right to say Globalise the Intifida\u2019,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have long supported the principles of peaceful assembly, protest and freedom of speech. However, these rights must always be balanced with a responsibility to ensure public safety and respect for all members of our diverse community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the cancellation, organisers had already shifted the forum between venues, moving it from the East Sydney Community Arts Centre to the Darlington Activity Centre, near Redfern.<\/p>\n
Following the council\u2019s decision, new promotional material circulated online announcing a fresh location and format. The poster declares \u201cGlobalise the Intifada?\u201d and \u201cNew location\u201d, alongside the slogan \u201cRadicals out of Sydney!\u201d, and advertises a 6pm gathering at Sydney Park, near Princes Highway and St Peters station.<\/p>\n
The material states the council\u2019s cancellation had \u201csent the INTIFADA conference underground\u201d and promotes \u201cspeeches in front of a giant TV screen of actual Intifada\u201d, claiming this would ensure \u201cAustralian media and government understand what Intifada is\u201d. It also indicates police are expected to attend.<\/p>\n
NSW Premier Chris Minns as well as Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane had both urged the council to prevent the event from proceeding at a public venue.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Clover-Moore.jpg\")
At the centre of the controversy is the slogan itself. For most Jewish people, the word \u201cintifada\u201d is not just a neutral political term. It is tied to periods of sustained violence against Israeli civilians, so when it is used as a slogan, it can feel like a call to repeat that violence.<\/p>\n
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said it was concerning that the issue had escalated to this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should not have required a public campaign, weeks of commentary and approaches to the Lord Mayor by the daughter of a murdered Bondi hero for this to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA council holding an intifada event after a terror attack sounds like a sick joke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a royal commission happening now, and it should investigate what on earth is going on in local government and how public bodies are facilitating the sort of incitement that makes the royal commission necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the outdoor venue was announced, David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said the cancellation at a council venue was necessary to protect public safety and social cohesion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are greatly relieved that the Lord Mayor has exercised her discretion to cancel the \u2018Globalise the Intifada\u2019 event which was scheduled to take place tomorrow night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been engaging intensively with the council right up until this evening to explain why this event would have endangered public safety and grievously undermine social cohesion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is entirely appropriate that the City of Sydney Council has now refused to provide a venue for such an event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ossip said the slogan had already been formally recognised as dangerous in the Australian context.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is particularly the case in light of further inflammatory and dangerous social media activity today from one of the event\u2019s scheduled speakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe phrase \u2018Globalise the Intifada\u2019 has been recognised by a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry as a call to violence against Jewish Australians. It essentially means kill or maim a Jew wherever you find one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is synonymous with suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings.<\/p>\n
\u201cPost 14 December, no one can claim ignorance about where dangerous rhetoric and incitement like this can lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheina Gutnick, whose father was among the 15 people killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack in December 2025, welcomed the cancellation of the council booking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first step to genuine protection for our community,\u201d she said, describing the planned forum as \u201chorrific hate speech\u201d.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for StandWithUs Australia said the issue extended beyond a single venue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pleased the event has now been cancelled, but this cannot be treated as the end of the matter. The attempt to normalise slogans such as \u2018Globalise the Intifada\u2019 will not disappear because one forum was stopped. We will need to remain vigilant, clear, and united in pushing back whenever this language is used, excused, or dressed up as legitimate political debate,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n
The shift to an outdoor location is likely to raise further questions about how such events are managed outside formal venues, as the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion continues to examine the broader climate of rising antisemitism in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Browse > Home \/ Local, News \/ Sydney \u2018Globalise the Intifada\u2019 Forum Moves Outdoors \u2013 J-Wire Read on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5869,42,23,257,1957,5814,5870,2817,247],"class_list":{"0":"post-4608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sydney","8":"tag-alex-ryvchin","9":"tag-antisemitism","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-bondi-beach-terror-attack","12":"tag-hate-speech","13":"tag-intifada","14":"tag-nsw-jewish-board-of-deputies","15":"tag-royal-commission","16":"tag-sydney"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608","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=4608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}