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March 2, 2025
A keynote speaker at the launch of The Muslim Vote movement, which aims to unseat western Sydney Labor MPs, attended a rally in Jordan in December celebrating the founding of Hamas, the designated terrorist organisation that conducted the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.
Assala Sayara who helped organise the pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House on October 9 just after the attacks that was marred by some attendees' antisemitic chants marched in the streets of Jordan at a rally to mark the 37th anniversary of the group that runs the Gaza Strip.
Videos of the event on social media, and Sayara's personal Instagram page, show her next to demonstrators holding photographs of assassinated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and founder Ahmad Yasin. Sayara was not holding such material; she held a Palestinian flag, chanted with the crowd, and spoke to others alongside her. Clips on her Instagram account appeared to be deleted yesterday after The Sunday Age asked questions.
The Muslim Vote, in which Sayara does not hold a formal position, was formed in 2024 on the back of anger within the Muslim community about what the movement's leaders deemed Labor's lack of criticism of Israel's military campaign in Gaza. Hamas says Israel has killed more than 60,000 people, while 1200 died in the October 7 attacks.
At the December 14 rally in Jordan, young boys in the crowd wore plastic headbands in Hamas' green colour with images of the group's late leaders, and others held up the number 37 to mark Hamas' founding in 1987. Videos of the event posted by observers note crowds gathered ''to show solidarity with Palestinians and mark the 37th anniversary of Hamas''.
Sayara is seen participating in chants at the rally, weeks after she spoke at the November launch of The Muslim Vote, which is targeting Labor MPs including Tony Burke and Jason Clare. Her speech was featured on the movement's social media page and spruiked in promotions for the launch.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Australians should not attend rallies supporting terrorist groups around the world after it emerged that other Australians had travelled to Lebanon for the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese political and terrorist group Hezbollah, last week.
''Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation, and associating with it is a serious crime,'' Paterson said.
''Police should investigate whether this conduct meets that threshold. Only serious consequences, including criminal charges, visa cancellations and citizenship cessation, will send the message that this is totally unacceptable.''
Prominent Lebanese Muslim leader Jamal Rifi said in January that fringe actors within Sydney's Muslim community had ''militarised'' anger over the war to seek to topple Labor MPs.
Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, a convenor of The Muslim Vote, was counselled by the NSW Education Department this month after he claimed that the Sydney nurses who talked about killing Jews ''never meant to be literal or intended to be a threat''.
Another top Muslim Vote leader is radical Islamist Ibrahim Dadoun, whom an investigation by The Age showed was a regular at events hosted by the Islamic fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The Muslim Vote organisation was contacted for comment.
There is no suggestion that Sayara, who was also contacted for comment, supports terrorist violence, only that she attended a rally for an organisation that does.
Australia has designated Hamas, which has a political and a military wing, a terrorist outfit since 2022. Hamas was elected to govern Gaza in 2006, defeating the more moderate Fatah grouping, and has governed without elections since.
A leading academic on extremism, Deakin University's Associate Professor Josh Roose, said there was a growing pattern of younger Australians travelling to events in the Middle East that could be perceived as supporting organisations regarded as terrorists by the Australian government.
Just like ISIS' declaration of a caliphate last decade, the war in Gaza had generated radical attitudes on the fringes of Australia's Muslim community, Roose said.
''This is problematic for any number of reasons, including that they are demonstrating not only support for these groups but connections with them. These are proscribed terror groups in Australia, and so any such activity could be unlawful,'' he said.