Published: 21 April 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Randwick City Council has resisted protests against its decision to fly the Israeli flag on Independence Day next week.
Residents have gathered outside a Sydney council meeting to protest its decision to fly the Israeli flag, which has sparked outrage from some.
Earlier this year, Randwick City Council voted in favour of flying the flag atop its town hall on April 26 to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary of independence.
On Tuesday night, the council shot down an urgency motion to overturn the decision, which was met by calls of “shame” by some members of the public who were present.
Those who oppose flying the flag say with ongoing allegations of human rights abuses by Israel against Palestinians, to do so would be an affront to Australia’s values of equality and pluralism.
Palestinian Maroubra resident Yahya Shehabi said he was horrified at the council’s decision to raise the Israeli flag.
“Implicitly or explicitly, it would communicate that the council condones the actions of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history,” Shehabi said.
“I have many Jewish friends and colleagues in medicine, we share lots of values about life and humanity, but Israel doesn’t share those values.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Darren Bark firmly supported Randwick Council flying the Israeli flag as a message of inclusivity for the area’s large Jewish population, for whom he says the anniversary of Israel’s 1948 independence is a historic occasion.
“NSW and Israel share a warm, long-lasting relationship based on common values,” Bark said.
“The flying of the Israeli flag reinforces that no matter our background, our faith or the language we speak, everyone is welcome and has a place to call home in our cohesive, multicultural state.”
