Burgertory restaurant chain owner Hash Tayeh has been charged with using insulting words in public for a chant at a pro-Palestine rally in the CBD last year.
Tayeh, who has become a prominent leader of the protest movement after the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s 15-month war on Gaza, repeatedly said “all Zionists are terrorists”.
Hash TayehCredit: Nine
On Friday, police charged Tayeh with four counts of “using insulting words in public” for uttering the statement four times during a May rally.
The punishment is up to two months in prison for a first offence and six months for three or more offences.
It is believed to be the first time that potential political speech has been deemed a criminal offence that breached the “insulting” law. The charges are normally levied for using abusive or obscene language against police officers.
Tayeh told The Age he would “fight these charges with everything I have”.
“I have never supported the harming or killing of men, women, and children – no matter their faith or background,” he said. “Standing against the loss of innocent lives is not just a political stance; it is a moral obligation.
“No innocent person deserves to die, and I will fight these charges with everything I have. I will take this battle as far as necessary because speaking out against injustice is not just a right – it is a duty.
“Criticising a regime that commits acts of terror is not a crime. It is a fundamental right, a cornerstone of democracy, and political censorship has no place in Australia.”
Last year, Tayeh was arrested but not charged over allegations of “incitement” of hatred against Jewish people that violated the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act during the weekly protests, which were wound back to monthly rallies after 71 straight weeks.
There has been a growing push to criminalise the phrase “All Zionists are terrorists”.
Any person who in or near a public place or within the view or hearing of any person being or passing therein or thereon commits any of the following acts shall be guilty of an offence: (a) sings an obscene song or ballad; (b) writes or draws exhibits or displays an indecent or obscene word figure or representation; (c) uses profane indecent or obscene language or threatening abusive or insulting words; (d) behaves in a riotous indecent offensive or insulting manner.
Section 17(1) of the Summary Offences Act 1966
Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has said: “The label Zionist is used, not in any way, accurately. When critics use that word, they actually mean Jew. They’re not really saying Zionist, they’re saying Jew because they know that they cannot say Jew, so they say Zionist or words [such as] Zeo or Zio.”
Zeddy Lawrence, executive director of Zionism Victoria, said: “Given the overwhelming majority of Jews in Victoria, Australia and, indeed, the world would identify as Zionists, besmirching the latter is akin to painting a target on the former. And tragically the spike in antisemitism on these shores, which has shamed Australia globally, is indicative of where misrepresenting the truth about Zionism can lead.”
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns, SC, declined to comment on the Tayeh charges because the matter is before the courts, but said the offence was not normally used in this way.
“Generally speaking, that particular provision is designed to stop or deter people from personal insults and swearing against others using offensive language,” he said. “And it’s usually directed at individuals not groups.
“In the United States or Canada, where freedom of speech is substantively protected, there would be much greater reticence to prosecute because the speech could be seen as political.”
A pro-Palestinian protest in Melbourne in October last year.Credit: AAP
Victoria’s proposed hate-speech reform – which would extend protections to a broader range of people with “protected attributes” including race, religion, gender identity, disability, sex and sexuality – has stalled in the state parliament.
Labor needs the opposition or the majority of the crossbench to pass its agenda through the upper house.
The government had dropped the proposed “genuine political defence” clause from its bill, securing the support of Jewish community groups and satisfying the opposition’s primary concerns.
The opposition has continued to deny its support but committed to vote in favour if the government agreed to remove four words from the bill, altering the test used to determine civil vilification offences.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny has instead been negotiating with the Greens on the bill, which is expected to be brought back to parliament in a fortnight if an agreement can be reached.
Tayeh came to public attention in November 2023 when the Caulfield franchise of his burger chain Burgertory was gutted by fire in what police have repeatedly claimed was not a hate crime.
But a rally supporting Tayeh – and more generally, Palestine – the night after the fire turned ugly when a pro-Palestine group clashed with a pro-Israel group, and police pepper-sprayed at least one protester.
Last year, The Age revealed that one of the alleged arsonists told covert police officers the attack was linked to the conflict in the Middle East, contradicting authorities’ repeated claims there was no racial, religious or political motive.
In April 2024, Tayeh’s house was firebombed in an attack that remains unsolved.