Shoalhaven Council has forced Nowra Art Gallery to limit the display of the ‘Wall of Tears’ exhibit commemorating the deaths of 18,745 Palestinian children by the IDF.
The scam is that former Liberal candidate Andrew Constance, now Manager at Shoalhaven Council, decided to reduce the number of days of the display from ten to two, citing risk to the ‘safety of his staff’.
In total agreement with staff from the gallery, the Shoalhaven Friends of Palestine (SFOP) had arranged for the Wall exhibit, a 15 metre long art installation and memorial, to be opened on November 4 and displayed for a further nine days.
Following publicity about the exhibition, the gallery reported receiving a complaint that the display was antisemitic and could encourage bullying of Jewish schoolchildren. Forwarded to the Shoalhaven Council, the complaint led to meetings between Constance, senior members of his staff and representatives of SFOP.
Without any disturbance, the Wall of Tears exhibition had been held in Western Australia, in Adelaide, on the grounds of Parliament in Canberra and in Sydney, yet once the antisemitism virus had infected the management of the Shoalhaven Council, it was deemed a threat.
At the opening of the exhibit in Sydney, Australian UN judge Chris Sidoti reminded his audience that the exhibit listed children who had died from Israeli military attacks, not those who died of starvation and disease or whose bodies had not been recovered.
Constance bolstered his claim about a responsibility to protect employees from potential physical or psychological harm by referring to the Bondi massacre, the attack on MP Helen Haines and violence in other countries. Having bundled all those events together, he gave
no evidence of the connection between them and a peaceful memorial.
Muzzling speech by stealth. How Segal is imposing her antisemitism regime on the arts
Stuart Rees AM is Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney & recipient, Jerusalem (Al Quds ) Peace Prize