Over the last couple of years, the spiritual landscape of Australia has been laid bare, and it is not a pretty sight. Australia’s spiritual decline coupled with its treatment of the Jewish people have many Australian Christians concerned about the direction of our nation. The latest display of public Jew-hatred was in response to a visit from Israeli President Isaac Herzog. His supposed crime, according to the pro-Palestinian mob, was to dare to visit Sydney in order to comfort the Jewish families who continue to grieve the loss and injury of loved ones as a result of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack on 14 December 2025.
The Sydney protest, held on 9 February 2026, contained the usual elements: antisemitism, Palestinian flags, disgusting signs, mob mentality, and lawless behaviour. The latest jingle was also on display, with one protestor holding up a sign reading: “From the river to the sea, Herzog to the ICC.” The ICC is obviously a reference to the International Criminal Court, with protestors continuing to maintain that Israeli officials should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Roundly criticised for her appearance at the protest was the 2021 Australian of the Year, Grace Tame. Since its inception in 1960, the Australian of the Year Awards have provided a focal point for Australia Day celebrations and a forum for the recognition of outstanding achievement by Australians of all ages. At the time, Grace was a worthy recipient of the award as it publicly recognised her advocacy for survivors of sexual assault. Grace’s work is, sadly, the result of her own experience. From age 15, Grace was groomed and raped by her 58-year-old mathematics teacher, who was found guilty and jailed for his crimes.
Given the abuse Grace suffered and her obvious dedication to acting as an advocate for sexual abuse victims, you would think that Grace would be a vocal supporter of the Israeli victims of sexual abuse on October 7. Not so. Instead, at the protest, Grace stood before the pro-Palestinian mob with yet another new chant: “From Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada.” The name “Gadigal” is a reference to the traditional indigenous custodians of the land on which the protest occurred. Although the pro-Palestinian mob continues to claim that the phrase simply promotes peaceful resistance against supposed Israeli occupation, they mean exactly what we see today—assaults on Jewish people wherever they may be found—from Gadigal (Sydney) to Gaza.
When pressed about Miss Tame’s call for violence against Jews, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continued to demonstrate that he is a weak and cowardly leader. Instead of denouncing the Australian of the Year recipient, Albanese claimed he wanted to “turn the temperature down” and avoid politicising the event. In other words, because Albanese relies very heavily on the Muslim vote in Australia, he does not want to be seen to be siding with Jews and Israel. This highlights the fact that Australia is firmly in the grip of the Red-Green alliance (the radical left and Islamists). At a theoretical level, the alliance makes little sense, particularly since both sides hold vastly different beliefs. However, that is overcome by the similarities in their all-encompassing ideologies and commitment to political and militant action.
Anthony Albanese, far from being the statesman he supposes himself to be, is simply the latest leader to succumb to manipulation. Because throughout the history of the Palestinian cause, Islamists have used naïve Western progressives to advance their agenda. For instance, most people who support the Palestinian cause would be unaware that Yasser Arafat consulted with master propagandist General Nyguen Giap of Vietnam, who told him to advertise the Palestinian cause as one of “human rights” as opposed to one of eradicating the Jewish state in order to replace it with yet another Arab and Muslim one. He was quoted as telling Arafat: “Stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights. Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand.”
Ever since, the narrative promoted by the Palestinian cause is that the Arabs have never attacked the Jews—they have always “resisted” them. So, what the pro-Palestinian mob fails to realise is that they have been completely fooled by a cleverly devised propaganda campaign which continues to rely on the decades-old narrative that Palestinians are the victims, never the perpetrators.
The fallout from the recent protests has been swift. Australian Jewish Association President Robert Gregory called for Miss Tame to be stripped of her Australian of the Year title. He said, “Whatever else Grace Tame may have achieved, she has failed to uphold the responsibility that comes with that title. Stripping her of the Australian of the Year honour would be an important symbolic step. Failure to act sends a message that hateful and violent rhetoric is tolerated in Australia.”
I concur, as do many other Australians who are clearly repulsed by Miss Tame’s actions. Grace Tame may have deserved the honour for her advocacy in assisting sexual assault survivors. However, to completely ignore the abuses which occurred on October 7 and then use her influence to call for violence against the Jewish people (which would broadly include Jewish women) demonstrates a distinct lack of moral clarity.
Meanwhile, in my home state of Queensland, the government is set to take definitive steps to ban phrases and symbols, which have become a rallying cry for those who harbour hatred of Jews. The reforms include:
- increasing penalties for displaying terrorist symbols from 6 months to 2 years’ imprisonment.
- banning the display of symbols such as the Hamas flag and emblem, the Islamic State flag, the Hezbollah emblem, and Nazi symbols.
- prohibiting the public distribution, publication, display, or recitation of phrases such as “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to the sea.”
- increasing the penalties for impeding or harassing people attending a religious service.
- increasing the penalties for wilful damage to a place of worship.
However, although the move has garnered support from the Jewish community, pro-Palestinian groups are, as usual, unhappy. The group Justice for Palestine Magan-djin (Magan-djin is an indigenous name for Queensland’s capital, Brisbane) is considering challenging the reforms, arguing that the phrase “from the river to the sea” is not offensive. In defending their stance, spokeswoman Remah Naji was recently quoted as saying, “This is a call for equality of all people, regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity, who live in the geographical area of the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”
The reality is that the popular chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is grounded in spiritual delusion. Not only does it distort biblical truth, but it also opposes the plan of God detailed in the Abrahamic Covenant. Additionally, whether the pro-Palestinian mob realises it or not, chanting the phrase is also a direct challenge to the legitimate rule of the earth’s future King, Jesus Christ. When Jesus returns to the earth, the capital of His kingdom is Jerusalem, but His reign extends throughout the earth itself. Zechariah 14:9 clearly says: “And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—’The LORD is one,’ and His name one.”
You see, the pro-Palestinian mob aren’t the only ones to have clever geographical chants. In the Millennial Kingdom, when truth is firmly established throughout the world, the redeemed will be glad to recite the words of Psalm 72:8 as they exalt Jesus as King over all the earth: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
When the earth is filled with His glory, there will be no more protests, no more antisemitic slogans, no more violence against Jews, and no more flags in support of terrorist organisations. What a day that will be!
