Jewish leaders will today join the legal fight against a pro-Palestinian march at the Sydney Opera House, exactly two years since the October 7 attacks.

The protest is planned for this Sunday, with authorities wanting to avoid the scenes from 2023, when flags were burned on the Opera House forecourt.

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) will put to the state’s Supreme Court its arguments for the route of the planned protest to be changed.

JBD chief executive officer Michele Goldman said the move comes amid escalating antisemitism in NSW and follows last week’s deadly terror attack targeting Jews in a synagogue in Manchester, in northern England.

“In the wake of deadly attacks overseas and an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents here at home, we are asking the court to restore the balance between freedom of assembly and freedom from harassment and hate,” she said.

“For more than two years, weekly anti-Israel rallies have turned our CBD into a no-go zone for Jewish people.”

Pro-Palestinian groups said they will oppose legal action by NSW Police to change the location of the demonstration, citing public safety concerns.

The Palestine Action Group dismissed police concerns over public safety.

“The extraordinary measures police propose are racist, Islamophobic, and a deliberate attempt to intimidate our movement against genocide into silence,” it said in a statement.

“International human rights law guarantees the right to protest, the right to free expression, and the right to political assembly.”

Meanwhile, NSW Premier Chris Minns has slammed a protest by fringe pro-Palestinian groups in western Sydney later today, describing it as “shockingly insensitive”.

He told Ben Fordham on 2GB the “Glory to our Martyrs” demonstration to be held at Bankstown was “terrible timing”.

“We understand that there’s concern about innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but to do it on this day, on the seventh, seems like they’re glorifying the actions of these Hamas terrorists, and not the circumstance of those that are living in Gaza,” Minns said.

“It’s awful that it’s taking place. I think it says a lot about the people who are organising it.” 

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen has also condemned today’s planned march through central Melbourne by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

The Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on October 7, 2023 when Hamas fighters murdered 1200 people and took another 250 hostage.

The move triggered Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which a United Nations inquiry has labelled genocide.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today should not be a day of protest and any demonstrations would be “deeply disrespectful”.