Linda Dessau calls for political leaders, police to take a tougher stance on anti-Semitism, hate speech
Linda Dessau has called for a tougher stance on ‘hate speech’ at pro-Palestine protests, hitting out at political leaders and police for failing to stamp out rampant anti-Semitism.
Victoria
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The state’s former governor Linda Dessau has suggested the Victorian community is more willing to defend Muslims in the face of hatred than Jews, as she calls for hate-filled protesters to be met with the law.
Ms Dessau, Victoria’s first Jewish governor, has broken her silence on the state’s anti-Semitism and extremism scourge following a revival of violence towards Melbourne’s Jewish community.
The respected community and legal figure, who served in the role for eight years until 2023, told veteran radio presenter Neil Mitchell she felt political leaders and police were failing the community and that chants of “Death to the IDF” should come under hate speech laws.
“I really think a stand needs to be taken,” she said.
“In other instances, these things have been stopped right at the source, and they should have been here too.”
Reflecting on anti-Muslim sentiment which spread across the western world following 9/11, Ms Dessau recalled the efforts made to ensure Victoria’s Islamic community did not feel vilified.
“I know that Jewish Australians, as well as Australians from all different backgrounds, were very quick to ensure that Muslims didn’t feel that they were being treated differently because of what had happened on September 11,” she said.
Mitchell, who was interviewing Ms Dessau on his podcast Neil Mitchell Asks Why, recalled a host of religious leaders, including Jewish and Muslim figures, meeting on the steps at Flinders St Station following 9/11 to sign a promise of peace.
Promises were also made following the 2019 Christchurch massacre in which 51 Muslims were shot dead by white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, Ms Dessau said.
“After Christchurch, we all stood shoulder to shoulder outside the library, and we all spoke in support of the Muslim community and that we never wanted to see actions like that here, and yet it’s happening,” she said.
Ms Dessau, a former barrister and veteran family court judge, said Jews were rightly afraid living in Melbourne in the wake of the largest spike in anti-Semitism in Victorian history and hateful weekly anti-Israel protests.
She said she believed the phrases “Death to the IDF” and “From the River to the Sea” should both be considered hate speech.
“It really does mean the eradication of a nation,” she said, referring to the latter.
“Do we want that? I don’t think so.”
The former governor said we needed to bring the law down on unruly and hateful activists.
“We call it for what it is – totally unacceptable – and we call out the hate speech, and we prosecute people, we make it clear that we won’t accept it,” she said.
“It has to be stopped.”
She said Victorian schools and universities were failing to educate children and young people on the history of anti-Semitism and the conflict, and civics “in the broadest sense”.
“They might be terrific at their electrical engineering, they might not know a lot about ‘From the River to the Sea’,” she said.
“I think we should be teaching, too, better ways of holding public discourse, better ways of finding information, better ways of having discussions.”
Revealing she was once a protester herself, Ms Dessau said they should not be used to “promote hatred” and communal division.
“To use a good football term, it’s playing the issue, not the man,” she said.
Originally published as Linda Dessau calls for political leaders, police to take a tougher stance on anti-Semitism, hate speech
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