Australian Threat Level increase 5 Aug - revealing comments from ASIO
Reading between the lines and review of the antisemitism envoy agenda
Synopsis
The Prime Minister, Attorney-General and the head of ASIO gave a press conference today announcing the raising of the Australian Terror Threat Level to “probable” - same level it sat at for 8 years until November 2022.
There were some revealing words used during the conference.
In particular ASIO comments questions what was already known - why the urgent need for an antisemitism envoy? This article looks at that position and the implications.
Video Synopsis
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‼️Article Updated
Article updated: Sat 10th August (Sleekit Scotsman ☮️🏴 articles are updated periodically to add latest information on the subject of the article for relevance)
Sat 10th August: Comments on Defence Minister Marles’ pro-Israeli bias - demonstrated as BAU just prior to Oct 7: Australian Government Bias - at the topmost levels
Fri 9th August: added in:
section quoting Crikey article noting that the blatant anti-Muslim rhetoric in the Murdoch Media is a DIRECT contributor to social media Islamophobia and hatred in Australia - and barely mentioned; Online Media: Social and traditional - Biased with greater impact on Muslim Community
Review of antisemitism envoy - blatant bias of past statements and the rapidly expanding department that the ASIO data and observation suggests we did not need: Antisemitism Envoy: Extreme pro-Israel bias & Accelerated Agenda
Review of 2021 Israel Operations suppressing Palestinian’s and almost EXACTLY the same antisemitism fomentation from pro-Israeli groups that the now antisemitism envoy played prominent role in at the time: APPENDIX A: 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls - template response for October 7th
Contents
ASIO comments on the reality of Islamophobia and Antisemitism
Antisemitism Envoy: Extreme pro-Israel bias & Accelerated Agenda
APPENDIX A: 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls - template response for October 7th
Press Conference
The Australian PM, ASIO Director-General and Attorney-General gave a press conference to raise Australia’s threat level to the same level as November 2022 (held for 8 years)1.
Full conf below:
Some revealing commentary from ASIO and Albo (Dreyfus was fairly quiet - I assume he’s outranked by ASIO for one).
Key Takeouts & Commentary
Youth
In particular watching & report vulnerable young men and seek support (didn't the family of the boy that attacked the Bishop report him?). Eminently sensible and fair call.
Social Media laws urgent review
Looking at imposing age limits potentially, and perhaps increasing the e-safety commissioner's powers to remove and censor. On censorship - with the pro-Israel lobby pushing the IHRA definition at every turn (silencing criticism of Israel). Are we going to see something forced locally as the US Antisemitism Envoy essentially forcing Meta to capitulate?
It would be a bad outcome if this were part of reform. Watch this space.
Online Media: Social and traditional - Biased with greater impact on Muslim Community
Note that social media incitement had a cursory mention during the conference.
Notably we’ve seen in the UK the massive impact of reporting in Murdoch tabloids together with Twitter viral spread of misinformation leading to huge right-wing riots in the country.
In Australia more recently we’ve seen right-wing supremacists dressed in black appearing and marching2.
And the media is massively biased and hugely racist against the Muslim population.
Quoting a recent Crikey article on the glossing over of media impact on demonising Muslims3:
“In Australia it’s not merely the Murdoch tabloids and Sky News that provide a platform for racism; the notionally “quality” broadsheet The Australian operates as a platform for trolls and undertakes relentless wars against anyone deemed to have stepped out of line”
Of note - The Australian Newspaper has been providing column space LITERALLY DAILY to the pro-Israeli lobby leaders to write exclusively on the Israeli viewpoint of the crisis and against pro-Palestine protestors. This undoubtedly has had impact in driving anti-Muslim narratives in Australia.
See article below outlining the racism in the mainstream media in Australia including shockingly racist cartoons - as an earlier view from December 2023 on the biased reporting agenda from the Murdoch media regarding pro-Palestine protest - which has consistently continued.
The question always comes up - can you imagine if the shoe were on the other foot? Which it has NOT been. This suggests if anything a much greater need for an Islamophobia envoy to crack down on this which is in the mainstream media never mind online.
Blatantly racist and bias Australian Media coverage of pro-Palestine protests:
Iranian Ambassador - Fair Call
Iranian Ambassador to Australia made some offensive comments on Israel - to say the least. Albo wasn't aware but if he did he needs summoned, dressed down. If he's expelled then Amir Maimon (Israeli Ambassador) should equally have been expelled a while ago.
Recap the Israeli Ambassador’s comments calling Palestinians “animals” on the ABC on 10 October - see interview directly following with the ABC presenter’s blustering justification.
"Lawful protest is fine"
Reiterated by ASIO Director-General after a journalist implied pro-Palestine protests were unlawful. In Sydney there is nothing unlawful I've seen, and a broad cross-section of society - and in particular a notably older demograph of protestor.
“Social Cohesion”
“social cohesion cannot be taken for granted” - ? If this is a comment on pro-Palestinian protests - given the mixed crowd in Sydney as above protesting lawfully - there’s no more demonstration OF social cohesion than the broad variety of protestors you get in Sydney.
Not that you would know - since the media has a complete blackout on protests unless there’s a good photo op of someone getting angry.
Here’s the head of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network - the unfairly demonised Nasser Mashni - giving a speech on antisemitism at one of The Hyde Park rallies - again, tellingly not something you’ll see in the media.
“don’t put a flag on your car and drive into a Jewish suburb, that’s not helping - they’re Australians as are we and they have a right to live here as do we together”
I would not be expecting any particular changes in any protest laws here.
Having said that - Albo went out his way to note “express views respectfully…” - “when the temperature of the security environment is rising - we must lower the temperature of debate, as our words and actions matter”’.
Which was the justification Minns made to change the Hate Laws in NSW on the face of accepting language used at the Opera House which was laterally found to be untrue4.
The change in Hate Laws was eminently welcome - what was more concerning was the unquestioning acceptance of the false narrative on wording, even slapping down one of his own MPs for suggesting they should wait until the police finished their forensic investigation of the tapes5. When they did - they concluded the offensive words were not said. No apology or acknowledgement from Minns. Article below covers the impact that this had at the time.
The impacts of accepting on face value a false charge:
Protesting Electoral Offices
Albo: Protest is fine, but you can't have people protesting electoral offices for months on end - this is not normal. He's talking about his own office in Marrickville which is
a) appropriate - he's the PM and
b) these are NOT “normal times”
I did find the graffiti on MP Julian Leeser’s office repugnant - but like graffiti on US comedian Seinfeld’s posters on his tour here (also repugnant) NOT because it was antisemitic (it wasn’t) - but political protest for their support for Israel as much as protesting Albo’s office, albeit the graffiti breaking a law committing vandalism.
In view of the fact ASIO mentioned this specifically also bound to be some action here to designate MPs offices as “protected areas” I’d suggest with different legislation.
On voices of dissent in Parliament - “We’re not in conflict in the Middle East”
Albo: "We are not in conflict in the Middle East - yet some of the comments by Senators and Members would imply this is the case.
If he’s referring to the Greens and two Labor MPs who happen to be Muslim calling him out he’s COMPLETELY missing the point - and very transparently blinkered.
Australia IS involved - why do you think people are protesting?!!!
Actions (or LACK of actions):
Weapons: Continuing to supply weapons to Israel
Political Support: Continuing to supply political support to Israel (through weak statements and posturing)
Rome Statute: Not upholding their obligations to international law by applying appropriate sanctions to Israel (as a Senator suggested yesterday and was lambasted not for the suggestion - but for being a “biased Muslim” in the Murdoch Media. Now if that isn’t language ‘raising the temperature” I don’t know what is…)
Continuing to allow pro-Israel influence at the top levels: Maintaining 11 Friends of Israel Parliamentary groups and continuing to take part in paid AIJAC trips to Israel (most recently 6 Victorian State Liberal MPs in June which went under the radar) - inappropriate to say the least
Wasting Parliamentary time on faux domestic issues (directly related to last point): Entertaining the whims of the local pro-Israel lobby and giving Parliamentary airtime to minor fomented distracting concerns rather than the crisis itself.
"We're not in conflict" is repeating the nonsense pro-Israeli lobby words of "Australians (because you speak for all of us) don't want to be involved in some faraway conflicts" …. Yet at the same time providing constant commentary and support for Israel in that conflict and actually having a published policy platform on Israel State policies6.
On protest: “Anti-authority beliefs are growing… trust in institutions is eroding… provocative, inflammatory behaviours are being normalised…”
This was comment made by ASIO and this IS concerning.
Given the fact the Government and Opposition are effectively colluding to support Israel - who is clearly committing war crimes outraging any decent person, backed up by multiple international organisations - OF COURSE there’s going to be protest against the Government and exasperation at our institutions. That’s the point - and outcome of democratic protest.
Indeed - at the Sydney Palestine rally yesterday 4 Aug that Greens Senator David Shoebridge spoke at - that was his very point - “what can we do about it if the Government won’t listen? Do exactly what you’re doing now - coming out for decent humanitarian protest”
So if there’s concerns here - that’s just silencing dissent for convenience.
This is effectively what was happening prior to the UK General Election with the UK Security Minister in the Conservative Government seeking to change the definition of “extremism” and thus protest.
And in terms of bias and agenda - the Security Minister Tom Tugendhat wrote an article in 2017 challenging the United Nations Security Council Resolution UN23347 calling out Israel’s settlements as illegal saying “the UK was wrong to back this”.
Australian Government Bias - at the topmost levels
Noting the UK Security Minister’s bias to Israel, here in Australia concerning is the record of our own Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles.
Marles is one of only two MPs in The Australian Parliament to have taken paid Israel lobby trips to Israel, in 2010 and 2016 (the other is Bill Shorten - who attended the inaugural AIJAC trip in 2003 with ex-PM Scott Morrison and current NSW Premier Chris Minns8).
In September 2023 - a month BEFORE the Gaza crisis occurred - Marles attended the Zionist Federation of Australia plenary conference (together with current Australian antisemitism envoy Segal - noting universities must adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism).
Marles gave an “off the record” Q&A on the Labor Government’s recent announcement they would be (correctly) referring to Gaza and the West Bank as “occupied territories”.9 Presumably off-the-record is his opposition to this.
And this off-the-record discussion at the the Zionist Federation of Australia plenary conference before the crisis is clearly just BAU support for the pro-Israeli lobby.
ASIO comments on the reality of Islamophobia and Antisemitism
This was an interesting comment.
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are "being treated almost equally but not quite" - and we've seen the violent Islamophobia in the UK which is much worse than any antisemitic attacks (thank goodness hopefully nothing like that here).
So if that's the case 50/50 …
With advice from the experts in counter-terrorism as the PM puts it to raise the threat level with actual field knowledge rather than proprietary surveys and qualitative statements - that there is little difference in Islamophobia/Antisemitism - why was it so urgent to appoint an antisemitism envoy? (other than happening to occur a week before a global meet of antisemitism envoys in Argentina)
Noting there is now another exceptionalist avenue direct to Government - we should not expect any special demands from pro-Israeli groups in the face of the terror threat change or further claims of the "acute antisemitism problem"
Antisemitism Envoy: Extreme pro-Israel bias & Accelerated Agenda
Another concern here is that the person chosen for the role of antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal is blatantly pro-Israel and clearly biased in the current crisis.
She has a clear position on the implementation of definitions of antisemitism to shut down criticism of Israel - use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism (which can rule out criticism of Israel) and criticism of Zionism - which is clearly different from antisemitism.
Some of the historical comments from Segal are shocking:
Chronologically:
Equating antizionism with antisemitism (May 2021): Comment at NSW pro-Israel rally supporting Israel in the murderous Operation Guardians of the Walls airstrikes10.
“… we are Zionists…we must drive anti-Zionism and antisemitism back into the darkest and most disreputable corners of our society from where they emerged..”
The parallels in terms of Israel’s response AND the pro-Israeli lobby response in Australia (and the UN formal report on Israel’s violence) mirror EXACTLY October 7th on a smaller scale. Remember the outrage when the Secretary-General commented that October 7th “didn’t happen in a vacuum?”.11 This literally is the empirical evidence of a duplicate pattern of behaviour.
See APPENDIX A for more detail here: APPENDIX A: 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls - template response for October 7th
Protesting the Albanese Government’s decision to correctly refer to “disputed” territories (introduced under Morrison’s Government) as “occupied” (Aug 2023) - as the common global reference and correct definition used by the UN. Why is this even controversial?
Protesting the Albanese Government’s decision to refer to as settlements and settlement building as “illegal” (Aug 2023) - which they are and have been established thus since 201612. Again - why controversial?
Pushing fact IHRA definition of antisemitism should be used by Universities (Sep 2023)13 . This is now effectively is a pincer-movement to implement together with Julian Leeser’s Bill under review by the Senate for a Royal Commission into Antisemitism in Universities, plus with his co-Chairing “Parliamentary Friends of IHRA”).
And on the war itself - November 2023 comments:
“there can be no ceasefire until Hamas is defeated”14
Joint signatory to statement with Zionist Federation of Australia:
rejecting Government calls for Israel to stop attacking hospitals
rejecting as “libel” the statement that “any Israeli attack on Gazan hospitals that Hamas operates from would amount to war crimes” - noting there has been no independent evidence of this other than statements from the IDF themselves15
Finally as the Chair of the staunchly pro-Israeli Executive Council of Australian Jewry until late last year - Segal is aligned with a published policy platform that:
Rubbishes all UN investigations into Israel
Calls for the disbanding of UN investigative bodies into Israel
Advocates for moving Australian Embassy to Jerusalem
Blocks “premature” creation of a Palestinian State
This is clearly an inappropriate agenda to bring to the role to say the least - never mind the questionable justification for this in the first place even before this was backed up by the ASIO Director’s comments.
Antisemitism Envoy: Rapidly expanding taxpayer funded department
There was some outrage at the expanding footprint of this empire within the Government with two executive level roles advertised and other admin roles, after a trip to Argentina to meet with other envoys.
This is essentially embedding the pro-Israeli agenda into the Government by stealth - over and above the different Parliamentary “Friends of Israel” groups and the paid for lobby flights to Israel.
This is basically a whole new Department - for something that ASIO is calling out as being treated equally to Islamophobia.
Recap there is a Bill in the US to introduce this very structure permanently into the US Government the “Countering Antisemitism Act”. This is formally going through a bipartisan Congress at the committee stage - and will effectively institutionalise support for Israel.
This has just “slipped in” the back door here.
“Misinformation” - Definition?
A final theme from the ASIO director’s announcement was the difference between "spreading misinformation" and a statement of facts - the findings from multiple international organisations on Israel’s conduct.
Who defines "misinformation"? There's massively contradicting narratives from Israel (and thus parroted by the pro-Israel lobby here) against the rest of international consensus from the UN, ICC, ICJ - which the Australian Government is bound to. Are these to be presented also as "untruths"?
I do hope this lot don’t have a say…
Watch this space for exceptionalism and measures to silence dissenting voices. But as with the threat level - "alert but not alarmed".
Antisemitism Envoy: Building this new department rapidly with worrying dialogue and implications for pro-Palestine free speech.
APPENDIX A: 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls - template response for October 7th
The person chosen for the role of antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal is blatantly pro-Israel and clearly biased in the current crisis - and has a clear position on the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism (which can rule out criticism of Israel) and criticism of Zionism - which is clearly different from antisemitism.
In reviewing Segal’s past comments in support of Israel and interesting parallel comes up with October 7th.
May 2021 Operation Guardians of The Walls - parallels with Oct 7th Israel response
In May 2021 Hamas fired rockets on Israel. In response, Israel launched massive airstrikes (“Operation Guardian of the Walls”) which killed 274 Palestinians, injured 7000 - bombing schools, hospitals and medical facilities.
The UN Human Rights Council delivered a damning independent report on the operation after a 2 year investigation one month BEFORE October 7th16.
In addition to noting the indiscriminate bombing killing Palestinians in Gaza, they also noted brutal attacks in the West Bank, including indiscriminate arrests, and the police standing by whilst Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians.
They also noted brutal suppression, and form.
Israeli security forces used live ammunition to suppress demonstrations held across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, killing 15 Palestinians, including 3 children, and injuring 774, including 64 children.
Israeli security forces reportedly used lethal force, including live ammunition, to supress protests when there was no danger posed to the lives of members of Israeli security forces or civilians present at the scene.
The Commission observes that the routine use of excessive force by ISF in these demonstrations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been documented in United Nations reports for decades.
Remember - this was released the month before October 7th… and the parallels with the response to October 7th on an exponential scale are shocking.
In 2021 a Palestinian Children’s human rights group reported that with 78 child deaths that the was the deadliest year for Palestinian children deaths since 2014 (Operation Protective Edge - actively investigated by the ICC since 202117 and for which as at August 2024 they are seeking arrest warrants for Gallant and Netanyahu).
78 child deaths in 2021
15,000+ child deaths in 2023/2024
2021 Operation: Pro-Israel response and Jillian Segal’s Comments
Back to 2021 and the response from the local pro-Israel lobby to the brutality outlined in Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls.
The lobby arranged a rally “NSW Peace & Solidarity with Israel”.
The key theme - confronted with Israel’s violence - was a blind-to-Israel’s actions focus on “the rise of antisemitism”.
Sound familiar?
Exactly the contrived fomentation we’ve seen since October 7th with the “Never Again is Now” rallies - sickeningly leveraging the Holocaust in addition to trying to conflate humanitarian protest against Israel with antisemitism.
An EXACT repeat of 2021.
Our now antisemitism envoy’s speech at the rally was telling:
""we are Zionists… we must drive anti-Zionism and antisemitism back into the darkest and most disreputable corners of our society from where they emerged"
“We” are not all Zionists as many Jewish groups internationally keep saying - and this ideology logically cannot be equated with antisemitism. A dangerous precedent.
RELATED ARTICLES
Articles:
Summary of Sleekit Scotsman ☮️🏴 Substack Related Articles referenced in this article:
Blatantly racist and bias Australian Media coverage of pro-Palestine protests:
The impacts of accepting on face value a false charge:
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