Accessing information from authentic sources is a habit I developed for writing academic essays during my time at the university. Since October 2023, I became very much interested in what has been called ‘the local war’ by Australian Zionist leaders.
That is, the manipulation of disinformation and misinformation in raising awareness, or in obfuscating, the situation in Gaza.
The response to my research was that I began to receive daily online threats, including a photograph of a bomb in Rafah upon which the IDF had written my name, and which they claimed was dropped on a school.
Shayne’s X/twitter handle written on a bomb by the IDF
When a bomb was left at the home of my friend Theo in Botany, the AFP declined to investigate and the case was handed to a junior constable who ‘went on holiday’ then ‘got Covid’ according to the victim, Theo. It took eight weeks for the perpetrator to be charged – with stalking. Theo’s case became the subject of court suppression orders, and that was that.
Theo (left) was threatened with a bomb on his car for flying a Palestinian flag.
I posted on X a speculation regarding equivalence – what might have happened if it had been a Muslim that left an IED at the home of a Jewish person.
The CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry had been concerned for some time about my posts, which were all factual. For example, I found it interesting that 20% of Sydney Jews migrated here from South Africa after the fall of the apartheid regime.
He reported the post to the police as a bomb threat, so counter-terrorism police sifted through all my social media posts. All they found was regular warnings from me on X that I block antisemites (and all other bigots). My best friend of 44 years is a Jew and we have one heart on Palestine.
Not satisfied, the police then raided my home for a search. It was distressing to see a dozen armed men trampling the Holy Quran and prayer mat where I had been performing Asr prayer in Ramadan. Still, there was no evidence of the claim made against me, so they seized all my electronic devices for a 5-day forensic examination.
Finding what does not exist is impossible, so no charges were laid. But a week later the same police called to tell me to attend another interview as the investigation was ‘ongoing.’
The same CEO had, in January been asked by the SMH about his association’s involvement with an underground WhatsApp group dedicated to targeting the employers and associates of pro-Palestinian Australians.
He replied that it was ‘BS.’ However, the paper also published a screenshot of his co-chair in the chat claiming credit for the dismissal of ABC journalist Antoinette Latouff.
I’m not a lawyer so I can’t comment on harassment, giving police false information or the matter of credibility of those making misleading reports to police. But I have since relocated for my safety and suspended my X account.
Hash Tayeh, Mary Kostakidis and other advocates against the alleged genocide in Gaza face similar trials, despite their bona fides. For, while most people see a couple of hundred thousand defenceless men, women and children being slaughtered like fish in a barrel, others say criticising that massacre creates a threat to them redolent of the Holocaust in Europe during the World War II.
It’s a bizarre situation because Palestinian advocates would protest just as loudly if it were Jews – or any other cohort – being slaughtered in Palestine. Because it’s not about religion at all. It’s about the unimaginable suffering of 100,000 innocent children in Gaza.
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