Erkan Kemal pleads guilty after driving ute through Caulfield Palestine-Israel protesters

A Keilor man who drove through a crowd of Israeli protesters at a Palestine-Israel protest in Caulfield has said the attack “was not religiously motivated”.

Erkan Kemal pleaded guilty on Thursday after he drove a car into a crowd of Israeli protestors at a Caulfield protest in November 2023.

A Keilor man who drove his car through a crowd of Jewish protesters in Caulfield says his actions were “not a hate crime”.

Erkan Kemal pleaded guilty in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on January 16 to careless driving in a dangerous manner.

Kemal attended a Palestine-Israel protest in Caulfield on November 10 in 2023, following the torching of popular burger restaurant Burgertory.

He was driving his Toyota HiLux down Hawthorn Rd just after 7pm when he passed a group of Israeli protesters.

Kemal slowed down and exchanged words with the protesters before reversing his ute, intentionally mounting the kerb and driving through the group of people.

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The protesters had to take “evasive action” to avoid being hit by Kemal.

Nobody was injured in the incident, which was caught on CCTV and on video by one of the victims.

After the attack, Kemal continued driving down Hawthorn Rd.

The protest followed the torching of popular burger bar Burgertory in Caulfield South, leading to violence between both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters at the doors of a synagogue in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community.

Hundreds of protesters had descended on the place of worship, causing the synagogue to be evacuated.A nasty clash occurred a short time later at Princes Park, where police were forced to use pepper spray to subdue the chaos.

Protestors were involved in a chaotic clash with police outside the Caulfield synagogue.

In court on Thursday, Kemal’s defence team said the incident was “not a hate crime” and “not religiously motivated”.

“Mr Kemal has never expressed publicly or privately anti-Semitic remarks or beliefs,” the court heard.

“In the footage (from the protest) Mr Kemal is actually very calm, he is exercising his right to free speech and protest without being aggressive.”

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Pro-Palestinian protesters were pepper sprayed by police during the incident.

Magistrate David Starvaggi said Kemal was “fortunate” nobody was injured in the incident.

“Everyone in society accepts there is a right to protest, when it’s done peacefully and when it’s within the bounds of the law,” he said.

“When you use a motor vehicle to mount a footpath and confront people – you are very fortunate nothing more serious happened, otherwise you’d be facing the County Court.

“This sort of conduct, I accept there is no religious bias that has occurred, nevertheless your conduct … placed people in danger of serious injury.”

Kemal was convicted and placed on a two year community corrections order where he was ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid community work.

He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.