Edited footage of protesters chanting "gas the Jews" at a rally outside the Sydney Opera House in October was shared on social media, but NSW Police said an extensive investigation found no evidence of it happening.

Edited footage of protesters chanting “gas the Jews” at a rally outside the Sydney Opera House in October was shared on social media, but NSW Police said an extensive investigation found no evidence of it happening.

  • AlmightySnoo 🐢🇮🇱🇺🇦@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1949·
    1 year ago

    "As a result of that examination, the expert has concluded with overwhelming certainty that the phrase chanted during that protest, as recorded on the audio and visual files, was “Where’s the Jews?” he said.

    “Not another phrase, as otherwise widely reported.”

    When asked whether there was evidence of other antisemitic phrases being used at the rally, Lanyon said “certainly”.

    “There is evidence of that, and those are offensive and completely unacceptable,” he said.

    “But I think the major contention has been about the phrase that was chanted, and quite emphatically, our expert has said that it is 'Where’s the Jews?'”

    Thank goodness, “where’s (sic) the Jews” instead of “gas the Jews”, just two days after the Oct 7 killings and mass rapes by Hamas, definitely makes it much better /s

    • Deceptichum@kbin.socialOP
      4220·
      1 year ago

      How dare they ask why Jewish voices aren’t also against Israel’s horrific response at a rally aimed at our governments blind support for Israel and the now obvious to everyone genocide of Palestinians.

      Instead there was only lies spread to say they were calling for genocide of Jewish people.

      • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
        712·
        1 year ago

        If that’s the reason why they were yelling that, it’s racist even if it’s not genocidal. Substitute any other ethnicity or race into that sentence. Demanding that Jews attend a protest or swear a loyalty oath is racist – the same way it would be if a bunch of people were yelling “where’s the Blacks?” or “where’s the Muslims?”

      • AlmightySnoo 🐢🇮🇱🇺🇦@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1734·
        1 year ago

        You’re grasping at straws, you clearly didn’t read the article (and don’t want to), so I quote the relevant passage for you as you seem to only have read the headline:

        When asked whether there was evidence of other antisemitic phrases being used at the rally, Lanyon said “certainly”.

        That + repeating “where’s the Jews” during a rally immediately 2 days after Hamas’ killings and mass rapes on October 7th is definitely indefensible and certainly is incompatible with how you want it to be interpreted.

        You hoped that this article would be a gotcha moment but you seem to not have read anything beyond the headline, because the article is actually still pretty damning.

        • Deceptichum@kbin.socialOP
          3910·
          1 year ago

          Mate, I know what happens in my country.

          Hundreds of Australians have marched in solidarity with Palestinians after the Israeli government formally declared war against Hamas in response to its surprise attack.

          https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/09/pro-palestinian-rally-in-sydney-calls-for-australia-to-drop-support-for-israel

          These were nationwide protests against Israel’s oppression. And they were justified, everything everyone said would happen has happened.

          The reason “Gas the Jews” was lied about was because it would provide legal recourse to arrest those protesting. It was a deliberate attempt to abuse the justice system to silence victims. This lie led to further protests being cancelled and was spread worldwide to create a narrative that Palestians wanted all Jewish people dead.

          https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/12/13/viral-footage-gas-the-jews-police-factcheckers-unverified/

          Soon after the protest, organiser Fahad Ali posted on X that he had heard “anti-Semitic chants from a group of idiots who were in a minority”, and who he asked to leave. A further post from the organiser Palestine Action Group’s Facebook page also acknowledged that a “group of young boys, mostly in their teens chant[ed] ‘fuck the Jews’ “.

          Ali confirmed to Crikey this week that he heard the other chant but did not hear “gas the Jews”, nor had he seen any evidence it was chanted.

          As for your “well there was other antisemitic remarks made” argument.

          There is no defence for editing video footage with faked audio and using that to influence political decisions to further oppress an oppressed people.

          • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
            46·
            1 year ago

            The reason “Gas the Jews” was lied about was because it would provide legal recourse to arrest those protesting. It was a deliberate attempt to abuse the justice system to silence victims.

            But the article says it was used to change the hate crime laws. That makes it sound like it wasn’t covered by laws at the time this allegedly happened.

    • quindraco@lemm.eeEnglish
      82·
      1 year ago

      If you think “where’s” and “gas” are morally equivalent words in that sentence, good news, your local neonazis are most likely recruiting and very excited to hear more about your opinions.

    • ABCDE@lemmy.worldEnglish
      139·
      1 year ago

      mass rapes by Hamas

      Was there evidence of this?

      If 7/10 were killings, what has been committed by Israel since?

        • ABCDE@lemmy.worldEnglish
          105·
          1 year ago

          Israeli investigators say

          There was a very quick narrative formed around the supposed rape of children which shifted the Overton window significantly for even moderates in Israel.

          An investigation isn’t evidence of it. Both links are paywalled by the way.

          • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
            66·
            1 year ago

            I assume you mean the Times articles (there are 5 links in that post). Edited to add archive links to those two articles.

            An investigation isn’t evidence of it.

            From the large investigation article:

            A two-month investigation by The Times uncovered painful new details, establishing that the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.

            Relying on video footage, photographs, GPS data from mobile phones and interviews with more than 150 people, including witnesses, medical personnel, soldiers and rape counselors, The Times identified at least seven locations where Israeli women and girls appear to have been sexually assaulted or mutilated.

            Photos, videos, GPS data, witnesses, and expert testimony are evidence.