A huge split seems to have occurred within the anti-Israel movement in Australia.
A few days ago, I was alerted to this Instagram post by the group Free Palestine Melbourne, who claim to be “a community organisation dedicated to raising public awareness of the Palestinians’ hundred year struggle for freedom”:
They seem to have been referring to some other account announcing their “Free Palestine Rally,” which they promoted here and which was endorsed by the following anti-Israel groups:
I am not entirely sure which “unverified account” announced the Sunday rally, but what I did notice is how a new group sprung up following the rally: Free Palestine Coalition Naarm.
“Naarm” is the indigenous name for “Melbourne”, so this is clearly a new, rival group to Free Palestine Melbourne. And I would assume those associated with it or promoted by it may be at odds with Free Palestine Melbourne.
These seem to include “Burger Boy” Hash Tayeh, another prominent activist called Tasnim Sammak, and, perhaps most significantly, Mohammad Sharab, Laura Allam‘s alleged accomplice in kidnapping and torturing a man. Sharab (mo_broski on Instagram) was one of those who liked and shared this post of Sammak’s from earlier today:
This follows the below Free Palestine Melbourne post from yesterday:
My theory is the movement is split over having Sharab and Allam still take a public, active part in the protests and other activities, given the serious charges they are facing. In one corner is Free Palestine Melbourne and their allies, who want to throw them under the bus since they see them as a liability, and in the other corner are the more zealous Free Palestine Coalition Naarm and their allies, who refuse to do so. My theory seems to be confirmed by the below post by another activist called Ayse (womenshub_australia on Instagram):
You may recall Allam’s post before she was outed as being behind the alleged crime :
This seems to have foreshadowed the split, with her calling out “so-called ‘community leaders'” and “prominent ‘public figures’ of the community” for their “blatant disregard and lack of care.” I should also point out that Allam reactivated her Instagram account this week, which seems more than coincidental given the new Free Palestine Coalition Naarm account arriving on the scene this same week.
All of this is very reminiscent of the split that occurred in South Africa in 2020, with BDS South Africa splitting into rival groups South African BDS Coalition and Africa For Palestine, possibly over former BDS South Africa head Muhammed Desai sexual assault allegations.
Also noteworthy is that the most prominent Aussie-Palestinian activist, APAN President Nasser Mashni, seems to be staying out of this – at least publicly. And both the rival groups’ accounts have been posting some of his content this week.
