A pro-Palestine activist Greens staffer has been reprimanded by the far-left party’s deputy leader for a post where he said an attack on a synagogue in Melbourne may have been a false flag operation.
Antoun Issa, chief of staff for Mehreen Faruqi and former journalist at left-wing corporate media outlet Guardian Australia, made an Instagram post on Monday telling his followers bear in mind that full details had yet to be revealed about the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea on Friday.
“It could very well be a White supremacist or someone enraged by the genocide or a Zionist false-flag (they’ve done this before),” said Mr Issa, possibly referring to the Lavon Affair false flag operation carried out by Israel in 1954, or the 1950-51 Baghdad bombings for which two Iraqi Zionist activists were executed.
“But I suspect Albo’s trying to weaponise the moment to further a Zionist agenda to criminalise criticism of Israel under the banner of ‘anti-Semitism’.”
After The Age informed Ms Faruqi about the post she called Mr Issa’s comments “inadvisable and inappropriate”, and said: “I do not agree with it, and have counselled my staff member about it”.
“In hindsight, I regret this post and it was inappropriate. This post was intended to be an academic exercise about the risks of ascribing blame for a crime before the police have come to their conclusions, especially given the prevalence of White supremacy and far-right extremism,” said Mr Issa, who has written extensively in the past about his experiences growing up as a homosexual in a traditional Lebanese family in the working class migrant-heavy Labor seat of Calwell in north-west Melbourne.
Sarah Schwartz from non-Zionist left-wing group the Jewish Council of Australia told The Age she condemned “conspiracy theories spreading online about the synagogue attack being an ‘inside job’,” and said there were “already enough people, including our politicians, trying to politicise this act of hate for their own agendas”.
On Monday Victoria Police said the arson attack on the synagogue was being investigated as a terrorist attack, following days of intense pressure from the Jewish lobby and the Coalition.
“The joint management team from Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police met with ASIO this morning and made this determination,” police said in a statement.
“As such, the investigation will now formally transition from the Arson and Explosives Squad to the Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT). The JCTT involves members from Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, and they will be supported by detectives from the Arson and Explosives Squad.”
However, no arrests have been made, and police also said “the motivation for the fire remains unclear”.
Header image: Left, the Ripponlea synagogue on fire. Right, Antoun Issa (X)
