Andrew Bolt: Cops treated Jewish victim like villain during Pro-Palestine protest

Police have been telling lies to keep sweet with pro-Palestine protesters. And none of us are safe when they decide their job isn’t to uphold the law but keep a “peace” dictated by savages.

Jewish man Mark was treated like a villain rather than a victim during a pro-Palestinian protest outside Melbourne Town Hall, writes Andrew Bolt.

Know how close we are to mob rule? Victoria’s police have been telling us lies – sorry, untruths – to keep sweet with pro-Palestine protesters who assaulted Jews.

We’ve already seen police in NSW do nothing as a mob at the Sydney Opera House chanted threats to Jews, but this worse. More shameless.

Last Tuesday, about 200 pro-Palestine protesters crowded outside the Melbourne Town Hall’s entrance to apparently intimidate the Melbourne City Council into backing a ceasefire in Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorist group. A ceasefire would be a Hamas win.

As the angry protesters watched a screen showing the debate inside, two men and a woman quietly crossed in front of them to get to the hall entrance.

A protester rushed up to block them with his big Palestinian flag. I’m guessing he’d noticed one of the men, a 59-year-old identified only as “Mark”, had a Jewish kippah on his head. Other protesters swarmed in to stop the Jews, and pushed Mark to the ground.

Four police rushed in and … arrested the Jew. They frogmarched Mark away, with his wife and friend trailing behind, astonished. In a tape I’ve seen, posted by Rebel News, you hear protesters abusing the Jews: “f … ing dog”, “Zionist pig” and what sounds to me to be “I’m going to f … ing kill you”.

Jewish man Mark was pushed to the ground during the pro-Palestinian protest outside Melbourne Town Hall.

This is not the first time I’ve been astonished to see police arresting the peaceful and not the violent to, ha, “keep the peace”.

But this is the first time I’ve seen filmed proof of the falsehoods they tell to hide this disgrace – their betrayal of their motto to actually “uphold the right”.

Victoria Police Acting Inspector Leigh Howse said these following things on 3AW that made the three Jews – not the ugly mob – seem the trouble makers.

He accused them of “interrupting proceedings”, saying they’d “disrupted” a speech and gone “face-to-face” with the protesters.

They’d also “not taken the required steps to gain entry” – buying a ticket to the council meeting – which was why police banned them from the city for the day.

Police media also issued a statement, claiming police didn’t investigate the protesters who’d pushed Mark over because “no one reported any assault to us at the time”.

My heart f*cking breaks seeing this.

Jews in Melbourne trying to get to a Jewish community event.

Anti-Israel protesters spot his Yarmulke, block them, push them over and beat them up.

Melbourne Police aggressively detain THE JEWS who were just trying to get to the event. pic.twitter.com/xwQn3KLZwh

— Kosher🎗 (@KosherCockney) February 21, 2024

On the Rebel News tape, one officer also tells the Jews, who protested the abuse, “it is not an offence to swear in public”. Another accuses them of breaching the peace: “The way you went through the crowd caused a semi riot.”

But each thing I’ve quoted police saying to explain why they arrested a Jew instead of the mob that assaulted and abused him is false or misleading.

Crossing quickly and silently in front of people on a footpath watching a big TV is not “interrupting proceedings” or “: disrupting” a speech, let alone going “face-to-face” with them. If that ended with a “semi riot”, the fault lies with bullying protesters and not the Jews they attacked.

What’s more, Mark did have a ticket to the event. On the tape an officer concedes: “I’ve seen your ticket, OK.”

Jewish man Mark had a ticket to attend the event.

It’s also false that there’s no law against swearing at people, including Jews. The Summary Offences Act says using “obscene, indecent, threatening language” is a crime.

And police at the scene were told many times by Mark and his wife that, yes, he was assaulted – as he said, “attacked for walking while Jewish”.

I’ve heard Mark on video tell them: “I was physically assaulted and you did nothing about it … I was physically attacked and pushed on the ground … What about the bloke that pushed me over and attacked me, have you arrested him?”

An officer replies: “You were breaching the peace.” The victim was their villain.

Such “policing” is now too common.

Rukshan Fernando, a freelance conservative journalist, was filming this same pro-Palestinian protest, and was abused, mobbed, pushed and even kicked in the leg after he was identified as linked to the Australian Jewish Association.

Again, police marched him off, with one telling him on film: “Mate, you’re causing the incident.”

Seriously? The pro-Palestinian protesters have no control over their fists or feet, so of course they kick a journalist linked to Jews! Of course they push over a Jew! a Jew has no right to share their footpath!

Really? The Jews must always lose under mob rules. They are too few.

But none of us are safe when police decide their job is not to uphold the law but to keep a “peace” dictated by savages.