Allan visibly moved by accounts of intimidation
"There's a lot of reflection in terms of what we do next. But I have heard loud and clear your demand … of what your expectations are from us," says Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was visibly affected at a meeting with women from the Jewish community who talked to her about their experiences of antisemitism.
The group of women met with her at Central Shule on Friday last week after she sat down with community leaders for a private meeting earlier.
Their accounts of the treatment they have received since October 7 left Allan apparently shaken at times.
Despite having prior appointments to get to, she stayed longer than planned so she could hear what the women had to say.
She heard complaints that there are organisations who get government grants who are promoting divisive rhetoric and discriminatory behaviour online and there seem to be no consequences for that.
Lexi Kowal, vice-president of Zionism Victoria, said she used to go to the city four or five times a week but no longer does so for safety reasons.
“I was at the Pride festival earlier this year with my partner and I was attacked by a number of people who came up to me because I was wearing my Star of David. Since then, I’ve stopped going on trains,” she said.
Kowal said she had approached the Victoria Police for support on the day of the incident and was told she couldn’t get any.
Holly Feldman, president of the Victorian branch of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, said the last seven months have been the most isolating time Jewish students have ever experienced.
“The messaging we’re getting from too many on campuses, whether it’s from the from academics or from other students, is that we have to really dilute our identity in order to be included. We’ve tried really hard to be diplomatic and to be respectful … but we’re not being heard,” she said.
The Premier was asked to stand with the Jewish community publicly and say this sort of thing is unacceptable.
One of the participants summed the session up by saying, “Each of us is in a sea of pain.”
Allan, who took copious notes through the session, told the women at the end that there were a number of issues with Victoria Police and the Chief Commissioner.
“But there is an underlining deep vein of disrespect and intimidation running under this and it’s clearly being inflicted on the Jewish community. There is a deep question certainly for us in government but very much as a community … in terms of how we respond to that because … we’ve lost the ability to have a difference of opinion but still be friends,” Allan said.
The Premier told the women that the conversation was a powerful one, and the issues raised are something the federal government is grappling with.
“There’s a lot of reflection in terms of what we do next. But I have heard loud and clear your demand … of what your expectations are from us,” she said.
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