Merri-Bek mum considering moving
When she complained to the Merri-Bek Council about the situation, “Rivkah” as she prefers to be known, received a “rude” letter from Councillor James Conlan.
A Jewish mother in Melbourne’s north says the attitude of many locals towards Jews is so bad she may have to move.
The woman, who doesn’t want her real name used, has had to move her mezuzah inside for fear of having her house identified as belonging to a Jew.
When she complained to the Merri-Bek Council about the situation, “Rivkah” as she prefers to be known, received a “rude” letter from Councillor James Conlan.
She said if the situation in Merri-Bek gets to the stage where Jews can’t function safely in the community she will have to move to a bigger Jewish community in the southeast of Melbourne.
It’s not something she wants to do, as her family have roots in the area going back to the 19850s.
As well as the local Council flying the Palestinian flag outside it’s office, pro-Palestinian stickers everywhere and even parents at the childcare centre wearing keffiyehs, she’s had some upsetting personal experiences.
“I was teaching a class at a local school, and we were talking about where people were coming from, and I said, I’m Jewish. And then this kid who was really pushing boundaries, faced me and started doing the Heil Hitler salute to me”.
Rivkah said the child was eventually spoken to about the incident, but it made her feel as if she couldn’t wait to get back to teaching at a Jewish school.
She said the situation is so bad it’s affected where she plans to send her child to school.
“It’s completely overturned my thinking about his future education – I was thinking, he’ll go to Brunswick primary school, and [then] he’ll go to Princess Hill. But Princess Hill has had so many student rallies and crap coming out post October 7, so he will probably go to Mount Scopus, which is not a bad thing, it’s just not what I had in mind at all” Rivkah said.
She said she’s seen many parents at the local primary school wearing pro-Palestinian t-shirts and she feels sending her Jewish chid there “would be like feeding him to the wolves”.
Rivkah said at the end of her street, pro-Palestinian protesters went through and defaced lots of surfaces with anti-Israel stuff
“There’s just constantly stickers, posters, stuff to deal with every day” she said.
A local Jewish couple she is friends with who run a falafel store had to move a few weeks ago after being followed home from the childcare centre by several men in a car.
“They were harassed to the point where they did not feel safe” Rivkah said.
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