Disturbing antisemitic incident at Townsville shop
Instead of receiving friendly service at a Townsville shop, two young Israelis copped an antisemitic outburst.
Two Israeli tourists aged in their early 20s were allegedly verbally abused in a foul-mouthed, antisemitic outburst by a retail staff member outside a Townsville shop last Saturday night.
The incident was recorded on video, and the footage shows a female shopkeeper in the front doorway, holding a wooden club in one hand, and shouting at the closest of the two Israelis, “Get the F**k out of my store!”.
She then yelled, “I don’t give a f**k about Israel, but I do care about the fact you are a dirty, filthy f**king Jew.”
The Israeli tourist then asks her, “You wanna listen to what I have to say?”, and she replies, “No, f**k off.”
Moments earlier inside the shop, called Flinders Tobacco, the tourists had spotted a cash donation container that had a sign on it that said ‘#savepalestine’ and ‘donate now!’, so they had asked the shop attendant if she could check where the donated funds were being directed, and informed her that they were interested because they were both Israeli.
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich, after viewing the footage, commented, “This is a scene ripped straight from the darkest pages of history”, and described the shopkeeper’s antisemitic spray at the two Israelis as, “a venomous and shameful outburst, dripping with hatred”.
He said both tourists would have felt “fear and humiliation”, especially when the shop attendant held a wooden club, and that they were “confronted by raw, unfiltered antisemitism – their very existence was attacked, and reduced to vile slurs”.
Abramovich added that the incident is not an isolated one, “but part of a much larger, deeply disturbing trend” of antisemitism “creeping into the everyday fabric of our society”.
“And each time these acts go unpunished, they feed into a culture of impunity, encouraging others to follow suit.”
Rabbi Ari Rubin from Cairns-based Chabad North Queensland – who got in touch with the Israeli tourists following the incident – told The AJN on Monday, “We are deeply disturbed and saddened by the antisemitic outburst in Townsville.”
“Such incidents remind us that antisemitism is still a reality in our society, and we must remain vigilant in combating it.
“Chabad North Queensland stands in solidarity with the victims, and the entire Jewish community.
“We offer support and assistance to anyone who has experienced antisemitism or discrimination – our doors are always open.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to promote education, understanding, and tolerance in our community”.
In a post about the Townsville incident, the Australian Jewish Association lamented how, “the wave of anti-Jewish hate continues to surge across Australia”, and “incidents like this are happening every single day”, while citing a lack of adequate action to date by the federal government to address antisemitism as contributing to its ongoing spread.
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