PROTECT THE RIGHT TO POLITICAL EXPRESSION
Justice for Palestine Magan-djin
Total signatures: 4,678 at close on 15 September 2026
Eligibility: Residents of the State of Queensland
Petition
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.
The Petition of residents of the State of Queensland draws to the attention of the House of the need to repeal the political expression provisions of the Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Act 2026.
Queensland’s Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Act 2026 has introduced provisions that criminalise political expression.
These laws have been used to arrest and charge people participating in peaceful Palestine solidarity protests, including students, faith leaders, Indigenous people, Jewish Australians and Palestinian community members.
The right to protest, advocate for human rights, and criticise governments is fundamental to a democratic society. No one should face criminal penalties for expressing political views, including opposition to war crimes and genocide.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to:
- Repeal the provisions of the Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Act 2026 that criminalise political expression.
- Withdraw all charges brought solely under these provisions.
- Protect the democratic rights of all Queenslanders to protest, advocate for rights and participate in political debate.
Thanks everyone. We did as best we could under the circumstances of opposition by the LNP government and silence from the Labor opposition.
How I became accused of anti-semitism
In 1971, my study partner in Medicine told me that his dad, a successful businessman, was excluded from the prestigious golf club at St Lucia in Brisbane because he was Jewish. The club’s board and patrons were clearly antisemitic. I was appalled to hear this, having been a caddie for respected doctors and lawyers at the club in my early teens.
Two of my siblings met their partners on a kibbutz in the Golan Heights in the late 1970s.
In those days, an antisemite was a person who hated Jews. I did not qualify for the antisemite tag, at least not knowingly. I loved going to St Kilda in Melbourne to visit Jewish shops, eat cakes and, on two occasions, visit Wendy Lowenstein and her husband.
For as long as I can remember, I have been anti-Zionist, but so were my political mentors, Lenin and Trotsky. I believe Marx would have been anti-Zionist if he had lived long enough to see that racist philosophy rear its ugly head.
In recent years, I have become increasingly frustrated and angry at the regime in Tel Aviv and its casual and fanatical treatment of the Palestinian people. A Palestinian friend’s sister’s house in Nablus was raided by 26 Israeli soldiers; her husband was abducted, her children terrified and her house trashed. What for? Because her husband delivered olive oil and flour for UNRWA to refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In 1982, Israeli soldiers under their commander, Sharon, the Butcher of Beirut, helped the Christian Phalange murder thousands of Palestinian refugees, killing children and raping women.
Yet I was still not anti-Jewish because many Jews, like Bernie Sanders, came out against these atrocities. I joined a Palestinian human rights group under the patronage of Senator George Georges. We organised dinners and the occasional protest, and years later we supported the call for BDS. This divided some, including the Greens.
Tomorrow, on 4 May 2018, Israel will play host to the second-biggest bicycle race in the world, the Giro d’Italia. The first stage is to be held in occupied Jerusalem, and in a couple of weeks Trump’s order to move the US embassy there will take effect.
Over the years, I have been trolled on the internet by pro-Israeli people. A couple of years ago, I was even bashed up in Brunswick Heads at a sporting event by Krav Maga* thugs.
I also notice that Bob Hawke, Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump all wear the Jewish skullcap, the yarmulke, at Israeli functions even though they are not Jewish. No one would dare call them antisemites, even though they refuse to condemn the barbarous slaughter of Palestinians (themselves descended from Semitic peoples) during the Great March of Return this year.
So now, why am I an ‘antisemite’?
Well, because in days long ago, antisemites were people who hated Jews, but now an ‘antisemite’ is a person who is hated by Israelis.
**Ian Curr**
3 May 2018
References
*Krav Maga = Krav Maga is an Israeli close-combat/self-defence system, and forms of it have been taught within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
* Émile Zola’s famous 1898 open letter “J’Accuse…!”, written during the Dreyfus Affair to denounce antisemitism and injustice in France.
#JusticeforPalestineMagan-djin