u/WestcoastAlex

Another day in clown world as the police have dropped the “anti-Semitism” charges, but intend to proceed with charges that the chant of *All Zionists are terrorists* is offensive and intended to be offensive, whilst also obstructing submissions of evidence of terrorist activities carried out in the name of Zionism.

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A major hate speech prosecution has taken an unexpected turn as police retreat from antisemitism claims in the closely watched case.

Victoria Police has abandoned claims that pro-Palestinian activist Hash Tayeh was motivated by antisemitism in a landmark hate speech prosecution over chants declaring “all Zionists are terrorists”.

In a submission filed to the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week and obtained by The Australian, prosecutors conceded they will not allege Mr Tayeh’s comments were antisemitic, despite previously arguing the chant effectively branded the majority of Jewish Australians as terrorists.

The case is being closely watched as a major test of Victoria’s offensive language laws amid escalating tensions surrounding pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

But in a significant narrowing of the prosecution case, police prosecutors will tell the court they are no longer seeking to link the chant to antisemitism or hostility toward Jews.

“The prosecution is not seeking to prove that the words were insulting because they were antisemitic,” the submissions state.

“Nor is the prosecution seeking to prove that the accused had a general intent to use words as insulting words because he is antisemitic.”

Mr Tayeh, former owner of the Burgertory fast-food chain, faces five charges under section 17(1)(c) of the Summary Offences Act over chants allegedly made during pro-Palestinian protests in Melbourne in 2024 and 2025.

His co-accused, Melbourne kunafa chef Jad Awwad Abu Alsendyan, faces two similar charges.

If proven, the offences carry a maximum penalty ranging from two months’ jail for a first offence to six months’ jail for three or more offences.

Prosecutors will say the magistrate does not need to decide what Zionism is, or whether Mr Tayeh was antisemitic, but whether the chant was insulting in public.

Material about the history of Zionism and distinctions between Zionism and Judaism are not needed to determine whether the chant, “all Zionists are terrorists”, was insulting under the law.

On that basis, police will seek to have large parts of the expert report excluded, saying it risks distracting from the only issues the court must decide on: whether the words were insulting, and whether Mr Tayeh intended them to be used that way.

The concession emerged in a dispute over expert evidence prepared for the defence by academic Andrew Thomas.

Dr Thomas was asked to address the historical origins of Zionism, distinctions between Judaism and Zionism, criticism of Zionism, and whether Zionist groups had historically engaged in acts that could be characterised as terrorism.

But prosecutors argued much of that material should be excluded because it was irrelevant to the actual legal issues in dispute.

“The question posed under (b), and subsequent discussion in relation to Judaism and Zionism, is not relevant to either of the two elements in dispute,” prosecutors submitted.

Instead, police say, the case turns solely on whether the phrase “all Zionists are terrorists” constitutes “insulting words” under the Summary Offences Act, and whether Mr Tayeh intended the words to be insulting.

Prosecutors also rejected attempts by the defence to rely on historical examples of Zionist militancy to contextualise the chant.

“The impugned expression in this case is ‘all Zionists are terrorists’. Those words are all-encompassing,” the submission states.

Police argued that references to “isolated and historical instances” of violence by Zionist groups decades ago were not relevant to whether the phrase was insulting in a modern context.

The submissions also reveal prosecutors are seeking to play protest footage showing the conduct and chants of surrounding demonstrators, arguing the broader atmosphere at the rallies is relevant context for determining whether the words were insulting. The charges relate to two separate protests: the “Our Babies Matter” rally on May 27, 2024, and the “Protest Until Ceasefire” demonstration on March 30, 2025. The matter is continuing before the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Separately, in February this year, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled Mr Tayeh breached the state’s racial and religious vilification laws by leading the chant during a CBD rally.

The tribunal found encouraging thousands of protesters to chant an “absolute statement” attaching “a heinous label (terrorist) to an undifferentiated group of people (all Zionists)” amounted to conduct likely to incite hatred against Jewish people.

According to a report by Haaretz, the 'israeli' army withheld information about the number of soldiers discharged for "mental health reasons" between October 2023 and October 2024, reportedly ignoring freedom of information requests for months.

Sources claim the data was withheld because the numbers "could hurt public morale."

Court-ordered figures eventually revealed that between October 2023 and October 2024, 7,241 soldiers and officers were discharged due to "mental health reasons." This is described as the highest figure in 'israel's' history. However, some military sources suggest the real number may be even higher than the official data.

The report also states that thousands of additional soldiers were reassigned from combat roles to rear or logistics positions due to burnout and psychological distress.

Post body from The Cradle

In 1882, the Palestinian population consisted of 85% Muslims, 9% Christians, and a Jewish community that made up 3% of the total population. This demographic structure did not change that significantly in 1947, since with the exception of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where the majority of the population was Jewish other populated centers, villages, and large cities of British Palestine such as Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Hebron, Acre, Tiberias, and Safed were either entirely Arab or had a mixed population with a Palestinian Arab majority and a Jewish minority.

By early May 1948 two weeks before the declaration of independence of Israel and the entry of Arab armies into the 1948 Arab Israeli Waran estimated 175,000 to 300,000 Palestinians had already fled or been expelled, representing roughly 25% to nearly half of the total refugees generated during the conflict.

This early displacement occurred in the context of the civil war that followed the United Nations partition plan (December 1947 to May 1948). During this period, Zionist militias such as the Haganah, the Irgun, and Lehi carried out military operations, attacks, and episodes of violence that contributed to the collapse of Palestinian communities. Also biological warfare was used by the Haganah in the city of Acre, involving the contamination of wells, aqueducts, and fountains with typhus and diphtheria bacteria, making it difficult for Palestinians to remain in those areas.

Furthermore, in March 1948, the Zionist leadership adopted Plan Dalet, whose objective was to secure the territory allocated to the future Jewish state. Its implementation included, in various cases, the occupation of towns, the destruction of villages, and the displacement of their inhabitants, contributing to population movements even before the entry of the Arab armies.

Taken together, these factors suggest that a substantial part of the Palestinian exodus resulted from internal dynamics of the conflict prior to May 15, 1948. In total, around 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, approximately 80% of the Arab population residing in the territory that later became the State of Israel.

Isn’t it logical that the Arab states declared war in 1948 and not before, given that this happened after the declaration of independence of Israel?

At that point, Israel claimed territories that had been part of Palestine, including major Palestinian villages and cities. Also political, economic, and geopolitical reasons such as the emerging humanitarian crisis caused by the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and also for security concerns, since there was now the possibility of a new state aligned with Europe and the United States in the region.

Furthermore, there was widespread public pressure across Arab societies demanding intervention, along with the collapse of trust in diplomatic solutions after the failure to implement the UN Partition Plan fairly in practice. Combined with concerns over borders, resources, and long-term territorial security, these factors led Arab states to believe they might face further expansion, annexation and displacement of other countries populations.

The expulsion palestines was inevitable, since the Zionist militias, leaders and the whole ideology would not allow the ancient Jewish territories to remain predominantly Palestinian, nor the major historical big cities that were Palestinian just a few decades ago.

Even in the West Bank, Palestinians show that while a non-violent and more cooperative approach may help avoid the large-scale and destructive violence seen in Gaza, it does not actually protect residents from settler violence or bombings, nor does it guarantee any meaningful degree of autonomy. Eventually, in a few decades, they will be demographically outnumbered and likely “voluntarily” migrate due to settlers, since there are around 600,000 settlers compared to about 3 million Palestinians.

The situation could become unsustainable in a similar way to what some argue is being planned for Gaza, although there it is physically more complicated because its only borders are with Egypt and Israel. Doing so could lead to war, unless the situation becomes so unbearable that the population leaves “voluntarily” through famine and the total destruction of civilian infrastructure. According to Ben-Gvir, such plans have been made; some compare this with what has already been tested in southern Lebanon, which forced more than 2 million people to leave.

In the end it is a completely lost cause for Palestinians, and "Palestinians and Palestine" will cease to exist by the end of this century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip_evacuations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_peace_plan