A Christmas tradition that has brightened the season for almost seven decades has been canceled Down Under.
Faced with a planned protest by a pro-Palestinian activist group, executives of the Australian department store chain Myer have announced it will not stage the launch event, scheduled for Sunday, for its annual Christmas windows display — an exhibition of lights and moving figures — at its flagship store in Melbourne.
The protest was called “Crash the Christmas Windows” and opposed Israel’s war on the terrorists who attacked it, but organizers claimed it “was always going to be peaceful and non-violent.”
The iconic windows will still be on display, but the ceremony for their official unveiling — a seasonal ritual in Melbourne for generations — will not take place.
Grinch activists say they’re planning to ruin a Christmas ritual for thousands of Melbourne children. @EstelleGriepink with the details. https://t.co/5zYfOfGqUb #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/pvVqePaNJ9
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) November 14, 2024
According to Guardian Australia, the Australian website of the leftist British newspaper The Guardian, Jacinta Allan, the Labour Party premier of the Australian state of Victoria, slammed the planned protest as ruining a Christmas celebration for children.
“I am furious that a small group of people have chosen to politicise a beautiful event for children,” she wrote in a post Thursday on the social media platform X.
“I’m just as mad at all the others who have quietly stoked this division and egged them on.”
Blocking the Christmas windows won’t change a thing in the Middle East, but it will let down a bunch of kids in Melbourne.
Who does that help?
We are all a bit sick of this stuff.
— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) November 14, 2024
However, Amy Settal, organizer of the protest, told a radio interviewer her group was “very pleased” with the department store chain’s decision, according to the Guardian Australia.
In a statement, according to Sky News Australia, Settal said the group Disrupt Wars meant no harm to children.
“The children coming to see the Myer Christmas windows were never a target, because children are not a target,” the statement said.
However, the group Disrupt Wars has a history of being part of protests that involve violence. In September, according to a Times of Israel report, Disrupt Wars and the group Students for Palestine staged an anti-Israel demonstration that led to clashes with police at a defense industry exposition.
“Police were pelted with rocks, horse manure and bottles filled with liquid as they tried to protect attendees of the expo, some of whom were assaulted by protesters, a Victoria state police spokesperson says in a statement,” the Times of Israel reported.
That’s not the kind of scenario any city wants repeated at a Christmas event with an audience largely made up of families with children.
And considering it was staged by groups opposing the Jewish state’s military operations to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who staged the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, it’s reasonable to think a similar “mostly peaceful” scene would play out at the now-canceled Christmas windows launch event.
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According to the city of Melbourne’s website, the Myer windows display tradition began in 1956, “[b]ringing to life popular stories and Christmas themes.”
In a statement, Myer said it made the decision to “ensure the well-being and safety of customers and team members,” according to Australia’s ABC News.
“Myer’s Christmas windows have long symbolised joy and community, and we remain committed to providing a safe and positive experience for all visitors,” the statement said.
Georgie Crozier, a senior member of Victoria’s opposition Liberal Party, denounced the protest, Australia’s ABC reported.
“These activists — they’re not protesters, they’re activists — want to be so miserable and are doing this to our families that enjoy the Myer windows that happen every year,” she said.
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