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Really? Media Claim Sydney Mob’s Chants for Massacre of Jews Is ‘Celebrating Syrian Regime Change’
Women hold up flags during a a pro-Palestinian rally in Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia, Oct. 15, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Lewis Jackson
The downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad marks the end of a brutal, decades-long regime that devastated a country and unleashed one of the most harrowing civil wars in modern history. It’s undoubtedly a moment that many have long awaited.
Scenes of jubilation erupted in Syria and around the world, with refugees from the war-torn country celebrating in the streets, as news spread that Assad had fled following a lightning rebel advance.
But amid the joy, something darker reared its head: the antisemitism we’ve sadly come to expect in such moments.
In Australia, a large crowd of Syrians was filmed chanting: “Khaybar, Khaybar Ya Yahud, Jaish Mohammed Sauf Ya’ud” — a chilling reference to a 7th-century massacre of Jews by Mohammed’s army.
The slogan’s modern-day message is unmistakable: a call for violence against Jews.
“Khaybar, Khaybar Ya Yahud, Jaish Mohammed Sauf Ya’ud” — “Watch Out Jews, Remember Khaybar, the Army of Mohammed is returning.”
No, @newscomauHQ, this is not Australians celebrating Syrian regime change. They are chanting incitement to murder Jews.
https://t.co/T6yDiQqbzy pic.twitter.com/RgAYv2iqTH— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 8, 2024
Disturbing as this scene was — a mob in broad daylight in Sydney, brazenly inciting hatred and violence — what followed was arguably worse.
News.com.au, Australia’s most widely-read news outlet, described the incident as “Australians celebrating Syrian regime change” in a video posted on its website.
This gross misrepresentation of the event is shocking — not necessarily because of malice, but because of sheer journalistic negligence.
The journalist likely saw a video of dancing and what sounded like celebratory Arabic chanting and assumed it was innocent.
But ignorance cannot be a defense for journalists and editors.
It is quite literally a journalist’s job to dispel ignorance — not perpetuate it. Their role is to provide facts, context, and explanations, ensuring their audience understands the reality of what they’re seeing.
When confronted with footage of Syrians in Sydney chanting in Arabic, a journalist has a duty to find out what’s being said, especially when that chant carries such an unmistakable tone of hate.
What makes this worse is news.com.au’s response to criticism.
Instead of issuing a correction and apology after HonestReporting raised the alarm, the outlet quietly removed the footage from its website.
Antisemitism in Australia is surging.
Synagogues burned. Cars vandalized. Jews attacked.
Yet the media calls it “suspected arson” or “war-inspired protests.”
This isn’t about Gaza—it’s hate, plain and simple. Silence fuels it. Call it what it is: antisemitism.… pic.twitter.com/ApoPoYCgrP— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 9, 2024
Does news.com.au not believe Australians deserve to know that people in their country are chanting violent threats against Jews on Sydney’s streets?
Do Jews in Sydney not have a right to know about these incidents for their own safety?
Yet, this episode isn’t just about one video — it’s part of a broader pattern of declining journalistic standards. Increasingly, reporters fail to identify language, symbols, and imagery tied to terror groups, or worse, avoid addressing such hatred when they recognize it at all.
We’ve seen this pattern repeated during the wave of anti-Israel hate rallies in major cities worldwide following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7 last year.
Protesters held signs glorifying Hamas, waved the flags of proscribed terror organizations, called for a violent intifada, and brandished placards promoting conspiracy theories, such as “Zionists” controlling the media.
Antisemitism on full display
“Who controls Britain? It’s the Jewish people that control Britain! 40% of the MPs are Jewish and that’s why these police are under there…”
FYI 40% of MPs are not Jewish. H/T @MahyarTousi pic.twitter.com/3zSiRd3iI6
— Harry’s Place (@hurryupharry) March 30, 2024
Yet, the media largely refused to identify and call out the antisemitism on show at these rallies.
By sanitizing or mischaracterizing such demonstrations, outlets aren’t just failing their readers — they’re complicit in promoting this hatred. The media have no defense. Their silence or misrepresentation isn’t neutrality; it’s enabling.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
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