Melbourne Man to Face Court for Carrying Prohibited Terror Symbol, the Hezbollah Flag

A supporter of Lebanon's Hezbollah gestures as he holds a Hezbollah flag in Marjayoun, Lebanon, on May 7, 2018. Aziz Taher/Reuters

The Australian Federal Police have summoned a 34-year-old Melbourne man to appear in court charged with allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a pro-Palestinian protest in the city’s CBD on Sept. 29, 2024.

He has been charged as part of Special Operation Avalite, which was set up last year to investigate incidents of anti-Semitism.

The offence—the public display of a prohibited terrorist organisation symbol—breaches the Commonwealth Criminal Code, hence the involvement of the AFP rather than the Victorian Police, although it’s also illegal under state laws.

The Broadmeadows man was served and will appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on March 19. The maximum penalty for the offence is 12 months imprisonment.

Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said the AFP would not tolerate crimes that undermined Australia’s security or way of life.

“The AFP is relentlessly pursuing evidence and identifying those who allegedly displayed prohibited symbols at the Melbourne protest in 2024,” he said.

“Investigators have reviewed more than 100 hours of CCTV footage, police body-worn camera footage and vision taken at the Melbourne protest, and will continue exploring every avenue to identify those involved.”

An image of a Hezbollah flag being waved at a protest in Melbourne, Australia on 2024. Courtesy of the Australian Federal Police

In December last year, the AFP charged another Melbourne man, 36, for allegedly displaying the Hezbollah flag during the same protest.

The Palestinian organisation was designated as a terrorist organisation in Australia in December of 2021, though laws banning the display of associated symbols were not introduced until January 2024.

Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon, where it has fostered a reputation as “a state within a state.”

It violently opposes Israel and Western powers operating in the Middle East, and according to the United States Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) it functions as a “proxy of Iran, its largest benefactor.”

While Israel’s conflict in Gaza primarily pits it against Hamas, cross-border clashes with Hezbollah escalated in recent years, particularly after war broke out last year following the attack of Oct. 7.

In a major intensification of hostilities, on Sept. 27 Israel killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and launched a ground offensive against the group in southern Lebanon.

However, soon after the election victory of U.S. President Donald Trump, a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hezbollah, with the agreement coming into effect on Nov. 27.

According to Australian National Security, “there are no known specific threats to Australia or Australian interests posed by Hezbollah. However, it is possible that Australian interests could be harmed by future attacks.”

Yet in a submission to Parliament in 2021 (pdf), the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) claimed that “open source intelligence” showed that Hezbollah has “recruited Australian citizens and had a presence in Australia” for more than 20 years.

The only Australian known to have been convicted for active involvement in the terrorist group is dual Australian-Lebanese citizen Meliad Farah, who was sentenced in absentia to life in prison by a Bulgarian court for complicity in an act of terrorism—the bombing of a busload of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012, which killed five people.