Not in My Name

The following speech was delivered by Antony Loewenstein at the Sydney/Gadigal protest against Isaac Herzog’s visit on 9 February 2026.

Everyone here, you should give yourselves a round of applause for coming. Despite what the government wanted us to do, we came here today in solidarity. Despite what you may be hearing in much of the media, there are growing numbers, huge numbers, of Jews around the world who oppose what is going on in Palestine every single day.

The idea that the president of Israel, who is deeply complicit in genocide, is somehow a friendly visit to Australia is absurd.

For more than two years—frankly, nearly 80 years—but certainly since October 7, we have seen mass starvation, death, killing, rape by Israeli soldiers on Palestinians. And somehow we’re being told, as the president of Israel said in the media on the weekend, that you all are brainwashed for supporting Palestinian rights.

The simple fact is that the Israeli actions endanger all of us, including Jews. All of us. Because what Israel is doing claims to be in our name, in my name. Believe me when I say it is not in my name, at all.

There’s been a nice little attempt by the media to whitewash the record of Herzog. I’m not going to go into the long record, but let’s be clear: the man has a long history of incitement, racism, calling ‘no innocents’ in Gaza, signing bombs.

This man, in Israel, may be seen as a Labor left man. Believe me, he is an extremist, which is very mainstream in Israel. This is a mainstream view. And one of the things that’s worth saying here is that we’re often told that every country has extremists, which is true. But the reality is, in Israel, amongst the Jewish population, according to polling,  a majority of Israeli Jews in the last 2+ years have supported starvation of Palestinians and removing ethnic Palestinians from Gaza. That is a mainstream view in Israel.

The question is: why are so-called mainstream pro-Israel groups here aligning with that view? Because they support it. They support the genocide in Gaza. Ultimately, that endangers all of us. All of us.

Herzog was in Bondi this morning, shamefully. He said he’s here to reiterate that Israel and Australia have shared values. I would love to know what those shared values are. I can guess. Is it occupation? Is it apartheid? Let’s be clear: the Anthony Albanese government, in the last two years, has continued to sell F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. None of that has stopped. None of it has stopped.

I am proud to be here today as an Australian, as a Jew, as an anti-Zionist. I say, in our lifetime, free Palestine.

Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist, film-maker and author of the global best-selling book, The Palestine Laboratory.