Jewish LGBTQIA+ Group Dayenu Withdraw From Mardi Gras Parade
Image: Image: Dayenu/Toby Evans
Sydney Jewish LGBTQIA+ group Dayenu have withdrawn from the 2026 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, citing antisemitism and safety concerns.
The Dayenu Committee made the announcement with a “heavy heart” in the days after the Town Hall protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, where 27 protesters were arrested and dozens more injured.
A spokesperson for the group The Jewish Independent that the organisation had been considering withdrawing from the March since the Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14, where 15 people died and more than 40 injured in an antisemitic attack on a Hanukkah event.
The alleged attempted terror attack at a Perth Invasion Day rally last week convinced the committee it would be safer not to march.
Group thankful for support of Mardi Gras organisers
It’s not the first time Dayenu have reconsidered their participation in Mardi Gras. In 2024, following an open letter sent by then-CEO Gil Beckwith in support of an immediate ceasefire in Palestine, the group voiced concerns for members’ safety, saying it was “disappointing” Mardi Gras hadn’t consulted them prior to publishing the letter.
The group also cited the pro-Palestine movement in Australia’s LGBTQIA+ community, including the actions of six protesters who crashed the Parade route near the Rainbow Labor float in 2024, setting off flares and carrying a banner reading 鈥淨ueer Solidarity with Palestinian Resistance鈥�
鈥淚t caused a volunteer to have an asthma attack and have to be hospitalised,鈥� a spokesperson said.聽鈥淲e worry for the general public, we worry for the participants, we worry for the volunteers, and we鈥檙e even worried about the police.鈥�
Dayenu said they “hold dear” their 26-year relationship with Mardi Gras, and “choose ignore the small minority within our LGBTQIA+ community who seek to do harm and cultivate hate and exclusion.”
“We are grateful for the incredible support we have received from Mardi Gras who are inclusive of Dayenu and assist us to protect our members in an often hateful and dangerous climate for all Jews.”
EDITOR NOTE:
A previous version of this story included a quote which stated that “Israel offers sanctuary and continues to offer sanctuary to members of our community fleeing oppression and indeed the death penalty at the hands of the internationally recognised terrorist group Hamas within Palestine,” which is factually incorrect. While homosexuality is currently illegal and carries a prison sentence, it does not carry the death penalty in the Gaza Strip 鈥� and homosexuality is not illegal anywhere else in Palestine. Star Observer acknowledges the harm that misinformation like this can cause, and sincerely apologise for publishing this inaccuracy 鈥� and will do better going forward.
The previous version also said that the statement was delivered ‘following alleged police violence at the Town Hall protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’, intending to establish a timeline and an overview of recent events in Sydney. Daneyu have clarified they chose to withdraw from Mardi Gras not due to alleged police violence, but the “violent behaviour of protesters at The Sydney Town Hall and the Killing of innocent Australian Jews at Bondi”. Star Observer apologises for any misunderstanding.
You May Also Like
As a gay group, representing Jewish Australians, they should feel absolutely safe to march. However, Dayenu is not simply about their gay, Jewish intersectionality. They are purposefully conflating their Jewish identity with that of Israel and its actions and claiming victimhood in the process. They are guilty of trying to pinkwash genocide and referring to the protests against genocide as a “riot at the town hall” is so utterly disingenuous and low-key racist that they discredit themselves entirely.
I would welcome any LGBTQIA+ Jewish Australians marching alongside others in a Pride protest celebrating our shared humanity, but Dayenu can take their fake victimhood card and maybe bury it along with their consciences and the bodies of the victims of the Israeli violence that they seem determined to pin their flag to.
They should not be missed.
Jews welcome. Zionists not welcome. Simple.
It鈥檚 a sad day when gay groups cannot march in the Mardi Gras parade fearing violence from other GLBTIQ+ groups.
I would urge that the activist rant from Manu Lapita be ignored as it appears to me to be a hateful rant that singles out a gay group in Australia who have every right to feel safe marching in this parade.
This news is no loss to the Progressive Gay Community concerned with Humanitarian Opposition to Israel’s ongoing and livestreamed Genocide in Gaza-Palestine.
Dayenu mentions a “violent riot at Sydney Town Hall”. I was there and saw that all the violence was perpetrated by the Police against peaceful protestors of all ages. It was a RIOT BY THE POLICE and the Anti Genocide Movement will be vindicated in the Courts.
Dayenu is a regressive organisation that proudly wears the Star of David, the symbol of the ethno-supremacist, apartheid Zionist and Israeli r茅gime, which is currently engaged in savage Genocide, Ethnic-Cleansing, Enforced Starvation and other Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza-Palestine.
As humane and Progressive Queer People who view our struggle for our rights to be part of the overall one for the rights of First Nations and other Oppressed and Victomised Peoples, I urge Queer People to ignore Dayenu and research the voices of Queer actor Miriam Margolyes, journalist Antony Loewenstein, the Jewish Council of Australia and other courageous and humane voices against the Gaza Genocide.