Critics of a new assault on free speech in Australia say calling out Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu could now lead to jail time.
According to Sydney university professor Anne Twomey:
criticism of Israel, and the Israeli government, and suggesting it is engaged in genocide or something of that kind, would be enough to at least trigger the start of the process
She said the legislation could have a potentially chilling effect on “freedom of political communication”.
The Jewish Council of Australia has also criticised the government’s repressive move, branding it:
an attempt to slander and intimidate hundreds of 1000s of Australians who have been protesting against Israel’s genocide and egregious human rights abuses
Our executive officer Dr Max Kaiser explains in the Sydney Morning Herald today why Jewish safety has never existed in isolation and using antisemitism as a justification for censorship and expanded state power will make none of us safer.
Read in full at https://t.co/9R4CgETKJ9
— Jewish Council of Australia (@jewishcouncilAU) January 13, 2026
An attempt by independent senators to ensure the clear exclusion of criticism of Israel was not successful. And attorney general Michelle Rowland has clarified that, in theory, the new laws could indeed affect people who call Israel’s crimes in occupied Palestine genocidal.
Human rights groups, genocide scholars, and legal experts from around the world have concluded that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. The apartheid state‘s assault since 2023 has killed more than 70,000 people, including over 20,000 children.
Australia mimicking the crackdown in other Western nations
A terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration killed 15 people in December 2025. And since then, there have been dangerous antisemitic attempts to conflate Israel and Judaism (usually by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism).
This has included the arrest of a protester for wearing a pro-Palestine jacket, and security at a Sydney stadium asking a 15-year-old girl to remove a Palestinian football shirt in order to enter.
Cynical efforts by pro-Israel individuals have also sought to curb free speech in favour of Palestinian rights. And there have been open attempts to smear anti-genocide protesters by comparing them to Nazi antisemites.
Internationally, Jewish critics of Israel’s crimes have highlighted how dangerous the political weaponisation of antisemitism allegations is. But across the Western world, it has unfortunately become a standard feature of right-wing politics.
The possibility of Australia arresting people for calling out wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, however, is just next-level absurdity.
But then again, settler-colonial states will have each other’s backs.
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
This post was originally published on Canary.