Australia/Israel Review

On December 8, 2024, the oppressive dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad fell, to the cheers of most of the Syrian nation. Just like his father Hafez before him, Bashar had been responsible for countless war crimes and massacres, and caused the death, torture, displacement, hunger and deprivation of millions of his own countrymen. Assad authorised the use of chemical weapons in Syria multiple times while enjoying a lavish and corrupt lifestyle, even as most of his subjects lived in poverty. In addition, for many years, he enabled weapons deliveries from Iran via Damascus to Hezbollah, Iran’s terror proxy in Lebanon. 

It is still unclear if the new government in Damascus, under the jihadist faction Hayat Tahrir a-Sham (HTS), will offer a better future for the Syrian people. In any case, unlike the joy and hope most Syrians feel following Assad’s overthrow, Bashar has some die-hard fans internationally, including in Australia, who are in despair.

Unsurprisingly, these Australia-based fans of the ‘Butcher of Damascus’ also tend to be supporters of other autocratic regimes, such as Iran, China, Russia and North Korea. It is also no shock to learn that these people pin the blame for Assad’s fall on Israel, since most have records as serial proliferators of antisemitic tropes and wild conspiracy theories.

US and Israel’s ‘emergency plan’ to topple Assad

Formerly an academic at the University of Sydney, Tim Anderson has achieved a dubious reputation as a leading Australian supporter of the Russian regime in Australia, and has also worked for the Iranian regime in spreading Teheran’s propaganda. 

Tim Anderson seemingly could not reconcile the cognitive dissonance of the overthrow of the Assad regime – whom Anderson portrayed as a popular hero fighting international imperialism on behalf of all Syrians – by the Syrian people, so he looked for alternative explanations for it. Anderson posted an article entitled “Genocide rewarded: US backed al-Qaeda takeover of Syria follows Israeli retreat from Lebanon” on Dec. 8 – the day the rebels took over Damascus and Assad fled to Moscow – on the website of his pseudo-academic outfit, the Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies (CCHS).

In the article, Anderson quotes from a panel interview featuring “Palestinian journalist in Washington Saeed Arikat” of the extremist terrorism-supporting website Electronic Intifada. Arikat, according to the CCHS piece, claimed that Israel and the US executed a pre-planned plot to take down the Assad regime: “The HTS attack was coordinated by the Biden administration with Türkiye and Israel and ‘came as a result of American-Israeli emergency plan’ … in light of the failure of the Israelis to achieve a decisive victory’ against Hezbollah… The plan was a tremendous success.”

The article goes on to say that the US and NATO are the real powers behind HTS, the group that led the overthrow of Assad, which Anderson describes as “the successor to Jabhat al Nusra, the al-Qaeda franchise in Syria which has been semi-covertly backed by Washington and other NATO regimes.” He also said, “The HTS regime was also supported by the three foreign states which still militarily occupy Syria: Türkiye, Israel and the USA.”

In fact, if you believe Anderson, HTS are actually ‘friends’ of Israel: “Friendly relations between HTS ‘rebels’ (many of whom are non-Syrians) and Israel are well known.” 

“Clearly some sort of deal was made… but details are unclear. We do know who gained. The Israelis have been rewarded, probably beyond their expectations, by removal of the key link between Iran and the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance. Netanyahu has been more than compensated for the Israeli defeat in south Lebanon and effectively rewarded for his genocide in Gaza,” Anderson concludes.

Anderson continued to pursue a similar conspiracy theory in his personal X account, which has close to 200,000 followers, hinting that Israel is behind both ISIS and al-Qaeda (and hence HTS). On Dec. 15, he posted, “Daddy, why do ISIS and al-Qaeda never attack #Israel?” (Of course, ISIS-linked terrorist have in reality attacked or attempted to attack Israel on several occasions.) 

The Israelis are “HTS’ paymasters”

One of Anderson’s closest associates is Perth-based Maram Susli, also known as “Syrian Girl”. Susli manages a successful X account under the nickname Partisan Girl, with close to 500,000 followers. A promoter of extreme anti-Israeli and antisemitic content, as well as fake news, Susli is also a fan of Russia and Iran, and a great admirer of Bashar al-Assad. 

Imagine Susli’s shock when her hero fled to Moscow with his family, where they could enjoy the dirty money earned from the illegal Captagon narcotic industry his regime ran. To her ‘credit’, it should be noted Susli has been consistent over many years in falsely claiming Israel and the US are responsible for orchestrating all the opposition to Assad. She continued with this line after the dictator was removed, responding to a photo taken on Dec. 15 of HTS members rejoicing over the retreat of Russian forces from Syria with a middle finger. Susli argued that HTS people will “never do this [rude gesture] to their Israeli paymasters.” 

Her post a few days earlier (Dec. 14) was even clearer. “History will remember the Syrian ‘revolution’ as a joint Israel-Turko-US invasion of Syria. It’s amazing how well-coordinated it all was. All the propaganda about democracy and people power will fall away when it’s no longer needed…”

The image accompanying the post was of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a puppet master of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is in turn controlling HTS leader, and now Syria’s interim President Ahmad al Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani) – a narrative directly derived from the antisemitic trope that Jewish puppet masters secretly control the world. 

Susli posted another caricature making the same point on Dec. 15, depicting Netanyahu (in a style reminiscent of the Nazi Der Stürmer propaganda) riding Jolani, labelling this image as “The treason revolution. #Syria.” 

Syrian Girl is especially anxious about the fate of the Iranian terror proxy, Hezbollah. The removal of Assad threatens Iran’s ability to use Syria as the platform to rearm Hezbollah, which Israel defeated in Lebanon, destroying most of its military capabilities, and forcing the group to accept a humiliating ceasefire.

To express her concern, Susli posted (Dec. 16) a caricature by Houthi supporter Yemeni Kamal Sharaf, featuring a bleeding arm representing Hezbollah, extended to allegedly assist the Palestinians. The Hezbollah arm is bleeding as it is being stabbed by ISIS, Israel and the US, while Syrian Girl asks, “Who will arm Hezbollah now? #Syria.” 

Both Anderson and Susli are heavily involved in a pro-Assad group called “Hands off Syria”. In that group’s Facebook account, a screenshot posted on Dec. 20 of a social media entry by an Israeli named Yigal Levin noting past assistance by Israel, primarily medical and humanitarian but also possibly including some weapons, to local (non-al-Qaeda linked) anti-Assad elements along the Golan border in Syria during the civil war last decade. “Hands off Syria” comments: “Don’t worry, Yigal. We always knew Israel was Al-Qaeda’s Air Force in Syria.”

Instead of accusing Israel, Australians like Anderson and Susli who cheer for authoritarian murderous regimes like Assad’s – responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths during the civil war – should take a good look in the mirror. The people of Syria, about whom they claim to care so much, need help to heal from years of a brutal dictatorship and horrendously bloody civil war – not lies and antisemitic conspiracy theories. 

Dr Ran Porat is an AIJAC Research Associate. He is also a Research Associate at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University and a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Reichman University in Herzliya.