Campaign video targets Bibi

A local government candidate is targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a campaign video.

Hash Tayeh, owner of the Burgertory restaurant in Caulfield that burned down last year, which led to a riot at Princes Park, is standing for the Merri-Bek Council.

His video on social media shows him stopping someone in a Netanyahu mask breaking into a house and putting a photo of US President Joe Biden on a rubbish bin.

Member for Caulfield David Southwick said, “If Hash seriously thinks a council chamber in Coburg is the best place to launch a political war on Joe Biden and Bibi Netanyahu then his grasp of local government is about as weak as his grasp of reality.

“Now that some parts of local government has become a haven for BDS campaigns, divisive motions and cheap Jew-hating stunts, people like Hash don’t belong anywhere near council.”

He said councils are about roads, rates and rubbish – not racism.

Dean Hurlstone, CEO of the NGO Council Watch, said there have been repeated instances across Australia of candidates standing for local councils conflating federal and international issues into the local government context.

“What we don’t need is activists who think local councils are the place to insert yet more cost and more distraction, uneducated and unchecked information into local councils where the administration doesn’t have the skills to be dealing with complex geopolitical issues,” he said.

Hurlstone said many Palestinians and Jews are hurting because of what’s happening in Gaza, but beyond acknowledging and supporting people affected by global conflict, councils don’t have any other role.

He said, “What we are now seeing is councils looking to do things like cancel contracts with any organisation that they could remotely link to the Israeli armed forces or the Israeli government. That is a witch hunt [and] not the role of local councils.”

City of Stonnington Councillor Marcia Griffin said the Jewish community should be very alert to who they are electing and their reasons for standing for council.

“Do you want people doing this for their own ego to promote themselves, or do you want people genuinely concerned about your community and looking after the amenity of your area?” she asked.

A campaign poster for Tayeh contains a QR code that people can scan to get a free burger. It is a criminal offence to offer an inducement to somebody to vote for you and influence the outcome of an election unfairly.

Victoria Police said an investigation into Tayeh over his comments at pro-Palestinian demonstrations is ongoing.