Antisemitism surges across Australia

A spate of antisemitism has marred Australia’s multicultural fabric in the wake of Hamas’s heinous October 7 rampage and Israel’s ongoing military response. The ECAJ has recorded over 100 incidents in four weeks.

Posters likening Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler have been displayed in Sydney, Islamic preachers have spouted antisemitic slanders and condoned Hamas’s atrocities, pro-Hamas propaganda has been spotted in Jewish areas, while posters of Israeli hostages have been torn down and defaced. Jews on campus have been targeted.

On Sunday, the driver of a mobile digital billboard truck displaying the kidnapped hostages in Sydney was advised by police to avoid driving to Bondi Beach because visitors from out of the area “may take exception”.

Ryvchin said the surge in antisemitism is “entirely predictable” in light of weekly protests calling for attacks on Israeli civilians and the destruction of the Jewish state.

“It is entirely predictable when the Greens and prominent influencers and athletes use their platform to divide our society by characterising the war to destroy Hamas as a war crime and spreading disinformation about Jews and Zionism,” he said.

“Most terrifying of all is that you have Islamic leaders, trusted clerics glorifying rapists and torturers and encouraging their followers to emulate them.”

NSW Police have confirmed they are investigating the Hitler posters.

“The individuals who put up these sinister posters knew exactly what they were doing, choosing images that would inflict maximum trauma and placed them in the heart of Sydney’s Jewish community,” NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said.

Ryvchin said, “It is intended to intimidate and harass Jewish Australians, many of whom are Holocaust survivors or their descendants.”

Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender said she had “again conveyed the importance of supporting the Jewish community to the Prime Minister and other senior government ministers”.

Vaucluse state MP Kellie Sloane said, “These antisemitic displays are targeted and vile and have no place in any community.”

In Melbourne on Tuesday morning, the “Wall of Hope” outside Beth Weizmann Community Centre – which is dedicated to the 240 plus hostages held by Hamas in Gaza – was found graffitied with “Free Palestine”.

Beth Weizmann chair Sam Tatarka said, “It’s a great shame that some people are so filled with hate.

“This will not stop us from publicising their plight. Our community is unbowed by this act of wanton destruction directed at the heart of our community centre.”

Zionism Victoria president Yossi Goldfarb said the perpetrators “demonstrate a complete lack of humanity and their support for the most heinous of terror organisations and for the most brutal of atrocities”.

Zionism Victoria executive director Zeddy Lawrence noted that on Monday evening, 250 people had attended a memorial service at the centre for the 1400 Israelis slaughtered by Hamas.

“Last night at Beth Weizmann, we mourned for those innocent victims of the State of Israel. This morning, we grieve at the sorry state of multiculturalism here in Victoria,” he said.

Meanwhile, protests complete with slogans such as “From the river to the sea” – a denial of Israel’s right to exist – and “Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Muhammad will return” – a reference to a seventh century massacre of Jews – have continued in cities across Australia, many also with antisemitic signage.

On Tuesday morning, demonstrators lighting flares and chanting “free Palestine” clashed with police outside Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Cup Day.

“Those demonstrating at Flemington clearly don’t care about the big race, and seemingly don’t care about the Jewish race either,” Lawrence said.

“But beyond that, however misguided, malicious or misinformed one may be, it is one thing to protest peacefully. To do so though in a disruptive or violent manner threatens the fragile fabric of Melbourne’s multicultural society.”