Cop that
These latest incidents in Victoria now have many in our community second-guessing.
A few weeks ago in our Melbourne edition, Victoria Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Chris Gilbert wrote that his force “is here to support you and we are here to protect you”.
And while we are grateful for Victoria Police’s activities under Operation Park (as we are in NSW for Operation Shelter and Strike Force Pearl) that are aimed at keeping our community safe, we have to question why police allegedly pushed back peaceful pro-Israel supporters in Melbourne on Sunday while letting a mob chanting “all Zionists are terrorists” run riot.
We also have to question their pursuing a personal safety intervention order against a Jewish woman for the crime of defending our community and Israel in response to someone who is on record for being hostile to us.
Frankly, we feel that we are being gaslit.
It’s not the first time.
On October 9, as a rancorous mob made its way from the Sydney Town Hall to the Opera House, the only arrest was a man with an Israeli flag.
And then let’s not forget that despite many of us hearing “Gas the Jews” in video footage of that night, a NSW Police “expert” subsequently determined the baying pack were in fact saying “Where’s the Jews?”
We also now know that the Australian Federal Police were aware all along that the caravan of explosives discovered in late January was not actually going to be used in a terrorist attack. That and 14 other incidents were deemed a “criminal con job”, dismissing the role of antisemitism.
These latest incidents in Victoria now have many in our community second-guessing.
Perhaps it is the case that our police forces are doing their best in difficult circumstances. Perhaps there are other mitigating “need to know basis” factors of which we are not aware. But at the very least, we deserve answers. We need to know beyond doubt that everything possible is being done to keep us safe.
And the responses The AJN received from Victoria Police this week regarding both the Melbourne CBD protest and the personal safety intervention order sought against Zara Cooper were sorely lacking.
For want of a better pun, we shouldn’t have to cop this.
comments