After their slogan was outlawed, pro-Palestinian activists turned to a karaoke classic 1 Favorite 

Brisbane, Australia — The flash mob descended on Brisbane’s city square, wearing double denim and blond wigs in the style of a legendary Australian singer as they danced with wild abandon to one of his 1980s hits.

In an unlikely pairing, pro-Palestinian protesters have adopted John Farnham’s song “Two Strong Hearts” as an unofficial anthem, because its lyrics bear a coincidental resemblance to a political slogan recently banned by the state government in northeastern Australia.

So far, 25 people have been arrested under new hate-speech legislation in the state of Queensland that threatens a two-year prison sentence for using the phrases “From the river to the sea” or “Globalize the intifada.”

Both slogans are regularly used by pro-Palestinian protesters and are highly controversial. Critics say the former demands the elimination of the Israeli state – from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – and incites violence against Jewish people. In the past two years, the US House of Representatives has condemned it, and the British government is examining its use, as part of a review of hate speech laws due to report in May.

Queensland is the only Australian state, so far, to have introduced a specific law against the phrase, and few direct comparisons exist worldwide. The ban was passed in March, just months after gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish gathering in December at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in the southern state of New South Wales (NSW). “We must all understand, words became vandalism, vandalism became violence, violence became murder,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli wrote days after the shooting.

When the state proposed a ban on “From the river to the sea,” some pro-Palestinian activists noticed an echo of the forbidden phrase in the Farnham ballad “Two Strong Hearts,” which was also released in the US in 1988 as a duet featuring Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick.

“We’ve got two strong hearts
Reaching out together like a river to the sea”

No one was arrested for singing the lyrics at last Friday’s flash mob – they’re not exactly the same as the proscribed phrase, which is outlawed when used to menace, harass or offend. Exceptions are allowed for “genuine artistic, religious, educational, historical, legal or law enforcement purpose(s)” and conduct “in the public interest.”

But pro-Palestinian activist Remah Naji said the ban had sent a chill through the local protest movement.

“Even though these laws, in my view, are stupid, they’re still serious and they’re very dangerous,” said Naji, spokesperson for political group Justice for Palestine Magan-djin. “This could be a risk of up to two years in jail.”

By
Hilary Whiteman
CNN
April 27, 2026