United in solidarity
"In the battle against antisemitism in Australia, I say to Australians of Jewish faith, you are not alone," says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
The outpouring of support for the Jewish community was palpable as around 5000 people attended Sunday’s positive “Stop the Hate, Mate” rally against antisemitism in Melbourne.
Speakers included Christian, Hindu and Jewish faith leaders, Aboriginal leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine, Jewish singer Deborah Conway, and state and federal politicians.
Despite occasional rainfall, there was a very positive atmosphere, with the crowd responding with applause and cheers as speakers voiced support for the Jewish community.
Proceedings opened with an audio message from federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
“In the battle against antisemitism in Australia, I say to Australians of Jewish faith, you are not alone. The Coalition I lead will continue to call out and condemn antisemitism wherever and whenever we see it on our soil,” he said.
Dale Stephenson, senior pastor at Crossway Baptist church said, “It’s unacceptable that a child should be afraid to walk the streets of Melbourne, simply because they’re Jewish, really driven by decisions being made by governments on the other side of the world. I just think that is wrong.”
Rabbinical Council of Victoria president Rabbi Moshe Kahn told the crowd, “I am deeply moved by the solidarity shown by Melbourne’s diverse communities in rallying to support our Jewish community. This intercommunity demonstration of unity against hate sends a powerful message that discrimination has no place in our society.”
Organiser Pastor Mark Leach, from grassroots Christian organisation Never Again is Now, said after the event, “We hope that we can all look back in 10 years’ time and still be talking about this Melbourne rally as one key inflection point in defeating this rise in antisemitism and prevent a second Holocaust.”
The success of the event was in contrast to media reports on Sunday night, which erroneously characterised the event as a pro-Israel rally and portrayed it as pitted against a pro-Palestinian rally being held at the same time.
There were, however, a few violent incidents at the fringes. Police arrested six counter-protesters after several people trying to get past the pro-Palestinians to get to the rally were attacked.
Jewish man Slade Sherman told The AJN that getting to the rally was, “To put it mildly, horrifying.
“Our walk from [Parliament] station was an obstacle course of rage. Anti-Israel activists, their chants directed towards anyone walking through was laced with the familiar venom of spoon-fed anti-Israel propaganda, hurled abuse at anyone who dared to approach,” he said.
Some of the abuse they hurled at him included “child killer”, “genocide supporter”, “death to Israel”, “rapist” and “Zionist bastard”. Sherman’s wife was dragged over a barrier and his son was helped through by police after being kicked by a pro-Palestine activist, he said.
Victoria Police deployed hundreds of officers to protect the event.
An earlier pro-Palestine march from the State Library did not approach the rally, but some of the marchers went to Spring Street afterwards where they were halted by a police barricade.
Pro-Palestinian social media accounts advertised their counter-protest in the days before the rally with the image of a boot stamping on a Star of David, alongside the words “Smash Racism” and “Crush Zionism”.
comments