Justice for Palestine Magan-djin (JFP) announced at an April 19 rally it would coordinate a High Court challenge to Queensland’s so-called hate speech laws.
The laws ban the Palestine freedom slogans “From the River to the Sea” and “globalise the Intifada”, except in some circumstances.
The rally came one day after 20 activists were arrested for expressing or displaying the banned phrase “From the River to the Sea” and two days after a “Farnsey flashmob”, where hundreds of people sang and danced along to John Farnham's “Two Strong Hearts”.
JFP spokesperson Omar Ashour told the April 19 rally that he wanted to “acknowledge the sacrifice our siblings made yesterday by putting themselves at risk, selflessly and with an uncertain outcome, to push back to fight back” against the undemocratic laws.
He said the laws are “an attack not only on the freedom of speech of Queenslanders but also an attack on the humanity of Palestinians”.
Leading Jewish activist and Queensland Progressives member Edward Carroll was the first to be arrested on April 18; he was speaking in front of a banner which read “Jews against genocide”.
Carroll described the laws as “bad laws that are poorly written” and that he “proudly joins the many organisations that are calling for the laws to be repealed”.
He said it was insulting for Queensland Liberal National Premier David Crisafulli to say that his laws are about protecting Jewish people.
“You cannot continue the lie that criticising Israel is an act of antisemitism,” Carroll said.
Carroll told the crowd he had warned the Premier that if the government went ahead with these laws, he would be faced with images of “Jewish people being arrested for saying ‘From the River to the Sea’”.
There was an explosion of support from the crowd when the words were expressed from the rally stage for the first time.
He said he would be breaking the law by quoting the words from the “Twitter profile of the son of the President of Israel” which also uses the banned expression, illustrating how “stupid” and divorced from context that the law is.
A second Jewish speaker, Stephen Heydt, was also arrested at the April 18 rally. Heydt is a clinical psychologist who has lived in Israel and worked in Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan.
He grew up in South Africa and explained how apartheid in Israel is in many respects worse than South African Apartheid. He said he had “proudly” had the T-shirt he was wearing made, which said “Jews say free Palestine from the River to the Sea”.
Ashour told the April 19 rally that the LNP government did not consider these Jewish people when making its law. “Is the government saying that these people are not Jewish?” he asked.
He said the laws are “clearly not designed for the protection of Jewish people or dealing with real antisemitism”.
“Instead these laws are designed to silence our voice in a clear attack on this pro-Palestine movement, a movement that is anti-occupation, anti-genocide and anti-apartheid.”
Michael Cope from the Council for Civil Liberties told the April 19 protest that the laws are “particularly egregious” because they target one of the largest social movements in decades. He said the new laws apply even when somebody feels “offended” — an “extremely subjective test”.
“Protecting free speech means that, banning any slogan in public protest that does not contain an immediate incitement to violence, is an unjustified attack on that freedom,” Cope said.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi highlighted that an anti-democratic law passed by the Chris Minns NSW Labor government had just been overturned in that state and that she looks “forward to the day when Crisafulli’s law gets put in the bin where it belongs”.
“In reality, free speech has always been conditional on who you are and what you say”, Faruqi said, adding that we’re living at a time when “telling the truth is becoming a crime”. Therefore, it is important to stand “in solidarity with those refusing to be silenced”.
JFP will reveal more about the High Court challenge in coming weeks. People can donate to support the legal case via the JFP Linktree.
The whole weekend of action, including the Farnsey Flashmob, was a powerful expression of strong and creative dissent. The arrestees will have their first court appearances over a three-week period, beginning on May 5.
!['From the [redacted] to the [redacted] Palestine will be free', April 19](/sites/default/files/styles/full_content/public/2026/04/21/fromredactedtoredacted19-4-26bymalanorris.jpg?itok=SfzprXNa "'From the [redacted] to the [redacted] Palestine will be free', April 19")
[Alex Bainbridge is active with Justice for Palestine and a member of Socialist Alliance. He was arrested on April 18 for holding and explaining a sign which read: “It is in the public interest for people to know that ‘From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free’ is a freedom slogan and not a message of hate”.]