Australia moves to ban the word 'intifada' after Bondi shooting

Australia has moved to ban the use of the word "intifada" at protests following the deadly Bondi Beach shooting, as authorities tighten restrictions on pro-Palestinian marches and slogans.

New South Wales officials have argued that the term is "incendiary", while the state's premier, Chris Minns, has also signalled tougher protest laws, widely seen as targeting large-scale demonstrations held in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Minns has called for a royal commission into the Bondi attack, as state and federal governments announced a package of measures framed as efforts to "combat extremism".

On Monday, the New South Wales parliament pushed ahead with what it described as the strictest gun laws in the country, alongside legislation banning the display of symbols designated as "terrorist". The reforms are expected to pass this week.

The shooting, which killed 15 people and wounded dozens at a Jewish celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach last week, has been followed by a raft of proposed restrictions on protests, slogans and speech, particularly those linked to Palestine advocacy.

At the federal level, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a nationwide firearms buyback scheme, the largest since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, alongside tougher gun laws including stricter background checks, a ban on non-nationals owning firearms and limits on legal weapons.

His government has also outlined measures to target extremist preachers, impose harsher penalties and cancel visas for people accused of spreading "hate and division".

Warnings have been raised that the political response has gone beyond addressing gun violence and is instead being used to conflate the Bondi attack with the pro-Palestine movement.

Australian writer and journalist Katerina Cosgrove said grief over the shooting is being exploited to divide communities and suppress legitimate protest.

In an op-ed published by The New Arab, Cosgrove argued that "bad-faith commentators and politicians are weaponising this tragedy, exploiting the situation and conflating the pro-Palestine movement with the shooting at Bondi."

Cosgrove said peaceful pro-Palestinian protests in Australia have drawn people from across society, warning that collective blame risks fuelling Islamophobia and deepening social divisions.

She also criticised comments by Australia's antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal, who linked the Bondi shooting to the pro-Palestine movement, as well as remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing Albanese of "enabling antisemitism" by recognising a Palestinian state.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday urged Jews in Australia and other Western states to move to Israel, claiming they were being "hunted across the world".

"Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere," Saar said at a public Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony. "But we see and fully understand what is happening… Today I call on Jews in Australia, England, France, Canada and Belgium: come to the Land of Israel. Come home."

Since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli leaders have repeatedly sought to conflate pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Western capitals with antisemitism and have called on governments to crack down on activism deemed critical of its crimes in the Gaza Strip, where over 71,000 people - mostly women and children - have been killed.