NSW parliamentary committee recommends ban on controversial slogan

A New South Wales parliamentary committee has recommended banning the public use of the slogan “globalise the intifada”, finding the phrase incites hatred and poses a risk to community safety.

The recommendation was handed down on Friday in a report by the Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety, following an inquiry into protest slogans that may glorify or encourage violence. The committee found the phrase carried a strong association with attacks on civilians and should be prohibited under state law.

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies welcomed the report, saying it drew a clear line between legitimate political debate and language that endorses violence. In a statement, the Board said calls for an intifada were historically linked to murder and terror attacks against Jews and argued claims that the slogan was benign were misleading.

The report recognised differing interpretations of the term “intifada”, which translates directly from Arabic as an “uprising” or “shaking off”. Yet it determined that, especially when combined with “globalise”, the expression is now commonly perceived as advocating violent action extending beyond the Middle East.

The report said this understanding had been reinforced by the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in NSW since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and by the December 14 terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, where 15 people were murdered during a Chanukah gathering. The committee said the attack demonstrated how global rhetoric could translate into local violence.

The panel concluded that current NSW legislation offers only limited tools to tackle the slogan, pointing out that racial vilification offences demand strong proof of deliberate intent. It highlighted a recent incident in which a protester using the phrase was detained but ultimately faced no charges.

The committee endorsed prohibiting “globalise the intifada” but declined to recommend bans on other common protest phrases, such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. It viewed these as carrying more ambiguous connotations and lacking the same direct threat to local communities.

The conduct of the inquiry attracted criticism for its rushed nature: launched just before Christmas, it ran to a compressed schedule, processed over 700 written submissions but published only about 150, and conducted no hearings of any kind. Civil liberties organisations and legal commentators questioned whether the process adequately protected political expression or allowed proper scrutiny of evidence.

The proposal did not receive unanimous support. Greens MP Tamara Smith and Nationals MP Paul Toole voted against the recommended ban, contending that the review had concentrated too heavily on individual phrases instead of wider principles of law. Smith separately criticised the inquiry’s limited scope and procedures.

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies urged swift action, saying the report struck an appropriate balance between free speech and public safety. The recommendations will now be considered by the NSW Parliament, with the government yet to indicate whether it will introduce legislation to implement the proposed ban.