Tuesday 10th of February 2026
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praise the lord, tony abbott's blood is boiling on rightwing radio....


Former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested police who punched protesters yesterday should receive a commendation, and officers at future demonstrations should be armed with tear gas and rubber bullets to safeguard against the “pro-terrorist protests we’ve seen too often” on Sydney’s streets.

 

Police who punched protesters should be praised, says Abbott

By Daniel Lo Surdo

 

Speaking on 2GB, Abbott praised the “strong” police action taken against demonstrators, and the officers for “retaking control of our streets”.

“My blood has boiled for the last two years to see the way these intimidatory pro-terrorist protests have taken over our city streets, week after week, and I just think that we needed to see a bit of strength from the authorities,” Abbott said. 

“As for thoughts that the police who punched a protester who dragged one of their colleagues off a bike, I think those police should be given a quiet commendation, not face an investigation.

“If this continues, I hope we’ll see an absolutely escalated police response. I think we need to see more police forces. I think we need to see tear gas and rubber bullets if need be – these people who are trying to intimidate the Australian community need to know that it is the forces of law and order who are in charge.” 

The former PM also called on the Labor MPs at the demonstration – Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy – to be suspended from caucus, though didn’t suggest they should be sacked.

Labor MPs at protest should be sacked if they broke laws, says SloaneBy Daniel Lo Surdo

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has challenged Minns to sack the four Labor MPs who attended the Town Hall demonstration last night, if they are found to have flouted restrictions imposed on the protest, as she lamented the “incredibly confronting” yet “entirely predictable” scenes.

Sloane accused the Labor MPs at the demonstration – Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy – of “whipping up a frenzy” at Town Hall, accusing them of “ignoring” the legislation designed to ensure peaceful protesting in the state.

“The premier should hold his team members responsible, and if they have flouted those laws, he should sack those team members,” Sloane told 2GB.

“His own Labor caucus, who defied him, who defied the police and stood at the front of that rally. They are supposed to be lawmakers.”

Sloane cautioned against a planned protest at a Sydney police station this evening, as she railed against the “out of control” scenes on Sydney’s streets. She also expressed sympathy for the officers stationed at the demonstrations, as they “put themselves in the middle of something they knew they could not contain”.

Minns has previously dismissed suggestions the MPs would be sacked, articulating his opposition to their views but finding that, provided their actions didn’t break any laws, a sacking wasn’t justified.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/herzog-visit-live-updates-israeli-president-continues-sydney-visit-after-chaotic-scenes-in-cbd-nsw-police-claim-actions-against-protesters-justified-20260209-p5o0uz.html?post=p59wxb#p59wxb

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

war crimes....

As Israeli President Isaac Herzog begins his visit to Australia, the Federal Government faces mounting legal pressure over its obligations under international and domestic law, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.

THINGS BECAME rather ropey in the days leading up to the invitation of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia on 9 February.

The decision came amidst the anguish following the Bondi Beach attacks of 14 December 2025 on attendees of a Hanukkah event by two gunmen, leaving 15 dead. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese clearly thought the invitation a sensible measure at the time.

For months, Albanese's government had been snarled at by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly providing succour to antisemitism. The wretched thesis was that Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian State at September’s UN General Assembly meeting had somehow stirred it.

Albanese appeared to believe that dealing with the gargoyle of antisemitism and engendering goodwill could be achieved by inviting Herzog. “We need to build social cohesion in this country,” he insisted. The Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) also supported the invitation, describing it as sending ‘a powerful message of solidarity and support... following the tragic events at Bondi and the surge of antisemitism across the country’.

Such claims of fluffy approval ignored the serious and blindingly obvious prospect that legal grounds might arise regarding Herzog’s visit, not to mention the public protest and agitation it would provoke. Australia, being a party both to the UN Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, must always be wary of the injunctions of membership. A determined opposition, armed with legal arguments and indignation, made clear its intent to prevent the visit from proceeding unchallenged.

On 30 January, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), the Jewish Council of Australia, and the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) announced that a joint legal complaint seeking to have Herzog arrested or barred from entering Australia had been sent to Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). As Netanyahu would be unlikely to visit Australia without discomfort, given an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the complaint asserted that as “the Prime Minister of Israel is not permitted to visit Australia, the President should not be allowed to act as his surrogate”.

The complaint implores the Australian authorities to do any of three things: refuse or cancel any visa held by Herzog under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), which covers character and public interest grounds; refer him to the AFP for investigation under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (Cth) and Australian hate crime legislation; and ensure Australia’s compliance with international obligations to investigate and prosecute who enter the country who are reasonably suspected of committing serious international crimes.

In their body of evidence, the group cites the President’s “Entire Nation” declaration of October 2023 claiming that no civilians in Gaza were “uninvolved” in that month’s attack on Israel by Hamas; the grotesque denials of famine in August 2025, suggesting that images of chronic starvation featuring Palestinian children had been “staged”; and the broader endorsement of military operations entailing the commission of war crimes.

Reference in the complaint is made to a December 2023 visit by Herzog to the Nahal Oz military base, where he provided encouragement to troops two days before their “wanton destruction” and “flattening” of the town of Khuza’a in Khan Yunis.

The complaint also rejects any application of Head of State immunity, citing the Nuremberg Principles and international law as removing that shield when it comes to the commission of such grave offences as genocide and war crimes.

The complaint is certainly accurate in drawing attention to Herzog’s incitements to collectively punish an apparently complicit populace in Gaza.

South Africa’s filing of proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice, alleging acts of genocide in Gaza, cites Herzog's remarks from 12 October 2023:

“It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true... and we will fight until we break their backbone.”  

The submission also notes a social media post by Herzog showing him addressing reservists and writing messages on bombs destined to be used on Palestinians.

The September 2025 analysis by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which found Israel’s conduct in Gaza after 7 October 2023 to be genocidal in nature, also references Herzog’s October 12 2023 remark, further adding those words of blame that Gazans “could have risen up”. 

In the Commission’s view, the President had damned Palestinians to equal responsibility for the attacks on Israel on 7 October that year. Such a statement, along with those of a similar kind made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, constituted “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” under the Genocide Convention.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has also been reminded in a submission by the Australian Centre for International Justice, along with two Palestinian non-government human rights organisations, the West Bank-based Al-Haq and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, that Australia has obligations to investigate ‘credible allegations of serious international crimes’ and has domestic laws permitting ‘the initiation of an investigation’ into their commission.

Even if immunity was enlivened for the Israeli President, it would not prevent the AFP ‘from undertaking preliminary investigative steps, including seeking a voluntary interview with Herzog upon his arrival to Australia’.

The AFP states that Division 268 of the Criminal Code Act grants the Commonwealth ‘jurisdiction to investigate core international crimes that occur offshore. However, it is not usually practical for the AFP to do so’. With something of a shrug, the AFP would rather that the country where such alleged offences had taken place pursue the matter. (What a rosy convenience that would be.) 

Investigating such crimes would also pose problems, among them evidentiary matters regarding location, identifying and locating witnesses, the occurrence of crimes in an ongoing conflict and the unwillingness of foreign governments to assist.

Australian lawmakers also showed themselves reluctant to block the visit. The waters were tested in an attempt by the Greens Senator David Shoebridge on 3 February to suspend standing orders to move a motion seeking the Government’s rescission of Herzog’s invitation.

Shoebridge said:

“When someone is accused by the United Nations of inciting genocide, you don’t invite them for tea, you don’t give them a platform and you certainly don’t welcome them as a guest of honour.” 

His effort was thwarted by a large Senate majority. Herzog’s five-day visit, with all its combustible precariousness and legal freight, commenced today. A citizen’s arrest might be in order.

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/government-pressed-on-legal-implications-of-isaac-herzog-visit,20659

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.