'It must stop': Former prime minister Tony Abbott calls for stronger action to stamp out 'pro-Hamas' protests, antisemitic attacks

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has claimed stronger action is needed to crackdown on antisemitism in the wake of fresh attacks on the Jewish community.
On Tuesday, Mr Abbott called for a blanket ban on 'pro-Hamas' protests from carrying on across Australia and urged police to take harder stance.
After visiting the synagogue in east Melbourne which was the target of last week's attempted arson attack, Mr Abbott told Sky News host Peta Credlin Jewish Australians had been 'under relentless attack' since October 7, 2023.
'It must stop - and all we've had up till now is largely impotent hand wringing from people in authority,' Mr Abbott said.
'Just as the police cracked down hard on the freedom protests during the pandemic, there's nothing to stop them cracking down hard these pro-Hamas, Jew-hatred protests. They've been going on for far too long.
'We can't tolerate it. They must be stopped. They must never be allowed to happen again and if the police object, the Premier should just say: 'I'm sorry, this is an instruction from the elected and accountable government to officialdom, go and carry it out'.'
Mr Abbott said it was not a question of freedom of speech and the right to protest, as demonstrators had gone after and blatantly intimidated 'decent, law-abiding Australians'.
Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina echoed those sentiments, telling Sky News the police force had become muzzled and 'over risk-averse'.
Mr Bezzina said police were 'sitting in buses around the corner' during protests in Melbourne last week.
The former detective added police should be able to 'react on the spot' if a splinter group of 20 agitators descend on a restaurant, as they did during that protest.
There were a series of problems arising from lack of action until after the incident, he said, claiming it was a 'bad look' and could lead to an unnecessary mental or physical injury.
Mr Bezzina said Victoria's lack of protest permit laws was partly the problem, as there was no accountability, and suggested splinter groups be traced back to the main demonstration which is held responsible for intimidation and disruptive activity.
'Now when you apply for another permit you're not going to get it because you're not controlling your own people, it's not for us. So ultimately there is no accountability , they run riot,' he said.
' My particular question is, what have you achieved? Apart from inconveniencing the community, the good people of this state, what have you achieve globally, internally?'
Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali said the increasing trend of antisemitic incidents in Australia was more than just criminal activity.
'We're looking at political violence. We need to know where the mother bee of this is,' she said.
Ms Ali said the problem began with educational institutions and universities, which were 'not providing education anymore'.
'We're not teaching the disciplines of math and science and history and civics and Western civilisation and humanities and classics. Now we have something called 'studies',' she said.
'These are all grievance studies. You get a degree in resentment.'