Resist

 

Governments, media organisations, online platforms, educational and tertiary institutions, and multiple subcultural spaces are increasingly subject to coordinated influence (and outright capture) by the State of Israel and its associated lobbying networks across the Five Eyes countries, Europe, and parts of Asia. Those targeted are not limited to Muslims and people of colour; they also include anti-Zionist Jews, left-wing activists, journalists, academics, and peace advocates whose positions challenge Israeli state policy.

Within this context, the recent online smear attacks directed at me by the Canadian writer Chris Bennett cannot be viewed in isolation. They form part of a broader, politically motivated campaign--escalating since October 2023--aimed at discrediting, silencing, and intimidating individuals and groups who have publicly aligned themselves with the Palestinian people. Events such as the Bondi incident function less as spontaneous crises than as engineered pretexts, leveraged to justify expanded repression, roll back international legal recognition of Palestinian statehood, and suppress dissent within countries such as Australia, where public opposition to Israeli policy has grown substantially.

This campaign unfolds alongside--and in service of--grave violations of international law. Following nearly two years of mass civilian destruction and genocide in Gaza, accompanied by serious allegations of war crimes extending beyond Palestine (i.e. Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Qatar), the Israeli government has intensified efforts to externalise repression, targeting critics globally while benefiting from the active complicity or acquiescence of Western corporate states. What is at stake is not merely regional conflict, but the erosion of international legal norms and the criminalisation of solidarity itself.

Resistance must continue.