NSW Police has said independent forensic analysis revealed “no evidence” that the offensive anti-Semitic phrase “Gas the Jews” was chanted at a Sydney Opera House pro-Palestinian protest.
This comes after investigations by Crikey, with journalist Antoinette Lattouf, into viral videos claiming to show protesters chanting “Gas the Jews” were unable to be corroborated by police or independent experts.
On Friday morning, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said that an audiovisual and acoustic analysis by an expert determined with “overwhelming certainty” that the chants were “Where’s the Jews?”.
Police said they had also obtained several statements at the Opera House from people who believed that they had heard “Gas the Jews”, but were not able to identify anyone chanting this.
Police also confirmed that other anti-Semitic and offensive chants were made. The “Gas the Jews” claim was noteworthy because the specific language would be likely to reach the criminal standard of threatening or inciting violence against protected groups, according to a briefing reportedly given to the state’s police minister.
A further report by Crikey found that expert analysis, including an independent forensic report obtained by Crikey, suggested it wasn’t possible to confidently suggest that “Gas the Jews” was chanted and, combined with new footage, suggested there were plausible other chants.
