But former Greens councillor and lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan, who attended the rally and live-streamed it, rejected any notion of anti-Semitism.
“It’s disingenuous, offensive and ridiculous to claim that all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, and we need to stop with this nonsense of conflating criticism of Zionism with criticism of Jewish people,” he said.
“There were quite a few – I’d say there were at least a dozen – anti-Zionist Jewish Australians who were also participating in the protest last night.”
Sriranganathan said claims of anti-Semitism were intended to discourage people from criticising Israel.
“When we know that Israel is starving and massacring and bombing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, we have to be very clear that it is not just legitimate but a responsibility to speak out against genocide,” he said.
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“Sure, some people who are sympathetic to Israel are going to criticise us for that, but I think that’s what makes it all the more important to be really vocal and strong in our opposition to what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is doing.”
Sriranganathan described the protest as loud, but ultimately peaceful, and said nobody was targeted because of their Jewishness.
Steinberg disagreed.
“This was a Jewish event. They attacked a Jewish event, and therefore it’s anti-Semitic,” he said.
“They verballed and abused Jewish people walking into that event, so therefore it is anti-Semitism. The Jewish people who were there felt unsafe and unwelcome in Queensland, and that is not acceptable.”
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said he became aware of the protest on Sunday morning.
“I want multicultural groups to be able to celebrate what makes them special, and to be able to be part of the state,” he said.
“I want people to be able to come to a country, make a contribution, fall in love with it, and still be proud of where they come from.”
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