Speaking Out Against Genocide Today Got Me Targeted by the Australian Federal Police!

Today, I made a short video outside the Israeli Embassy in Canberra. I wasn’t radical. I wasn’t shouting. I was just a 57 yea- old dad, standing by myself on a public footpath, minding my own business speaking into my phone about what’s happening in Gaza. About the genocide.

Within minutes, Embassy staff came out and tried to bully me off. I was told to move on. I politely told them I was an Australian citizen doing my own thing in an Australian public space. Their response was to set the Australian Federal Police onto me.

Let’s sit with that for a moment: A peaceful Australian citizen, on public land, speaking out about mass civilian deaths - and the AFP is called in to move them on.

Why?!

Since when is it illegal to use our voice and our conscience peacefully on a public footpath? And since when did our own police become enforcers for foreign governments?

This blog isn’t about me. It’s about the bigger question: Should the Australian Federal Police be used as a proxy for Israeli bullying?

I was filming a message of empathy and truth. By myself. With a selfie stick. I spoke about the 17,000 children already killed in Gaza by Israeli bombs. I shared the United Nations grave warning that another 14,000 children may die in the coming weeks if Israel's bombing and blockade continues.

These aren’t extremist views. These are facts. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, has already called it out. You don’t have to be an extremist or anti-Zionist activist to say it's wrong. You just have to be human.

But apparently, being human is enough to be treated as a threat if you’re outside the wrong embassy, saying the wrong thing, at the wrong time. This is not Australian democracy! This is not what freedom of expression looks like. And this is not what Australia should look like.

I’m proud my video is trending on TikTok. Young people get this stuff. They understand it. Australians are watching. Listening. Thinking. Especially our young people. Asking the same question: When our police are used to silence peaceful protest, whose side are they on?

This isn’t just about Gaza. It’s about Australia. It's about our society and democracy. It's about who we are, and who we are becoming. if we allow law-abiding voices of peace and truth to be shut down by foreign interests and enforced by our own police, then we're in deep trouble.

So today I’m asking you:

• Do you think our Federal Police should be doing Israel’s bidding on Australian soil?

• Do you think it's OK for peaceful Australians to be bullied for standing up to genocide?

  
  

Let me know. Share your voice in the comments below. Share my video. Share this post. And above all, keep asking the hard questions. Silence, now more than ever, is complicity.