> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://redflag.org.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Palestine supporters guilty once again, declares Murdoch press - URL: https://redflag.org.au/article/palestine-supporters-guilty-once-again-declares-murdoch-press/ - Published: 2026-10-23T00:14:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:16:45.000Z - Description: Whether it’s the shooting of fifteen people on Bondi Beach, explosives found in caravans, the looting of shops in Paris or a shocking attack on a politician with a LandCruiser, Palestine supporters cop the blame. - Author: Nick Everett - Tags: Australia Within hours of Indi MP Helen Haines’ alleged attacker Brendan Nugent being named by police, the Murdoch media stable and a coterie of Zionists were weaponising the attack to smear the Palestine solidarity movement. Whether it’s the shooting of fifteen people on Bondi Beach, explosives found in caravans, the looting of shops in Paris or a shocking attack on a politician with a LandCruiser, Palestine supporters cop the blame. “‘Plant person’ and ‘pro-Gaza’ radical Brendan Nugent arrested over Helen Haines attack,” [announced](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/plant-person-and-progaza-radical-brendan-nugent-arrested-over-helen-haines-attack/news-story/ebb5bc0ac7dce7821d17f86b4945ea15?ref=redflag.org.au) a headline in the *Australian* on 21 October. Nugent’s real crime was not causing grievous bodily harm to a popular, independent MP, but rather being “an environmental activist who has regularly slammed Australia’s political leaders on social media, accusing them of ‘giving Israel impunity to kill thousands of children’.” Nugent’s social media posts denouncing politicians’ complicity in Israel’s Gaza war crimes “have become increasingly toxic,” claimed reporter Damon Johnston. The evidence? Calling Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong “a couple of US lap dogs”. A front-page op-ed in the same issue of the *Australian* declared the attack on Haynes is a “message to the Left” to “stop minimising extremist threats.” *Australian Jewish News* predictably followed suit, [posting](https://x.com/AustralianJA/status/2112319706816549363?ref=redflag.org.au) on X the same day: “Anti-Israel extremist allegedly attacks and seriously wounds Australian member of parliament.” Australian actress and TV presenter Rachel Griffiths joined the bandwagon, [posting](https://www.instagram.com/p/Deu2090vRpo/?ref=redflag.org.au) on her Instagram account that this attack “is what globalise the intifada looks like”. None of this makes any sense if you were to take a cursory look at Haines website: she has been one of the most trenchant opponents of Israel’s genocide over the past three years in a House dominated by Israel apologists. On 18 March 2024, five months into the genocide, just six MPs in the House of Representatives voted in favour of allowing a debate on a motion calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Haines was one of them, alongside independent Andrew Wilkie and four Greens parliamentarians. Half the members absented themselves from the chamber while 63 voted against allowing debate. Two months later, Haines [told](https://www.helenhaines.org/media/the-war-in-gaza-must-end/?ref=redflag.org.au) the House that there must be “consequences” for Israel’s actions and the time for restraint had passed. Last month Haines reiterated her call for the Australian government to impose sanctions on Israel, [stating](https://youtu.be/sctlXJ3fC5E?ref=redflag.org.au): > “It’s been more than two years since the International Court of Justice confirmed that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is illegal under international law. The government has acknowledged Israel’s actions are extinguishing the possibility of a two-state solution. The Prime Minister has just confirmed this. Twelve countries have announced sanctions in the hopes of saving the two-state solution.” Haines asked, Defence Minister Richard Marles, “what will it take for Australia to join our allies \[in imposing sanctions on Israel\]?” Unsurprisingly, Marles obfuscated, stating “We will continue to look at further targeted measures, working collaboratively with our allies and partners around the world in respect of this issue.” We don’t know what was in Nugent’s head at the time of his alleged attack on Haines. We do know from a statement by his lawyer that Nugent had poor mental health and a neurological illness and that he had never been in custody before. But facts are not important when right wing media pundits have a score to settle with a movement for justice that refuses to be silenced. And where is Labor in all of this? We need to “turn the temperature down” says prime minister Anthony Albanese. The same PM who, in the wake of the Bondi massacre, turned the temperature up by establishing a royal commission to provide a high-profile public platform for defenders of Israel’s crimes to slander and vilify Palestine solidarity protests. The attack on Haines is a terrible tragedy, and the conditions under which someone decides to carry out such an atrocity warrant investigation and reflection. Using such a tragedy to pursue a political campaign in support of Israel, without concern for facts or evidence, is, on the other hand, nothing short of obscene, and indicates the degree to which bludgeoning progressives trumps truth in the editorial offices of the right-wing press.