Bolt: Burgertory ‘hate crime’ lies expose utter bias of ABC

The owner of a firebombed Caulfield burger shop being invited by the ABC to push his “hate crime” lies on TV exposes a dangerously gullible national broadcaster fuelled by prejudice.

Hash Tayeh has shown how dangerously easy it is for pro-Palestinian extremists to fool the ABC and incite a mob to hate Jews.

What kind of people in our national broadcaster fall for this stuff?

Last October two men were filmed on CCTV setting fire to a hamburger outlet, Burgertory, in Melbourne’s Caulfield, a Jewish area.

Burgertory is owned by Tayeh, a Palestinian-Australian who’s been attacking Israel in protests, leading a notorious chant calling for its destruction: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

(Tayeh denies he means wiping out Israel from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea, but that’s what the Hamas terrorist group means by it.)

Victoria Police reacted fast to the Burgertory attack, knowing it could be exploited to cause trouble. It announced there was no evidence Tayeh’s shop was burned by people angered by his politics or Muslim faith, hinting it knew the real story.

Burgertory boss Hash Tayeh claimed the arson attack on his business was a hate crime for his pro-Palestine views. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

But the Free Palestine Melbourne group insisted on treating Tayeh as a martyr punished for criticising Israel.

It organised a protest at a park near Burgertory and right opposite a synagogue. It said: “Demonstrators reiterate that the arson attack on Burgertory was a hate crime”.

The real hate came from the 400-strong mob it assembled. Some shouted insults and threats at Jews outside the synagogue, which was evacuated. One protester was arrested after charging towards the worshippers. Jews in Caulfield later reported being attacked.

To repeat, police kept insisting – even before two arrests last week – that the Burgertory arson was not motivated by religion or politics.

Yet Hash Tayeh still told a big pro-Palestinians protest in Melbourne he was a martyr for his anti-Israel cause.

“My own establishment, Burgertory in Caulfield, became a target, staff threatened and harassed, all in an attempt to silence my support,” he shouted.

Pro-Palestinian protesters were pepper sprayed in a chaotic clash with police outside a Caulfield synagogue.

“And the other day, in a cruel act of arson, our store was reduced to ashes. To those who sought to silence us with hate and violence, I say: ‘You will not succeed!’” The mob, waving Palestinian flags, cheered.

A supporter also set up an appeal for Tayeh on GoFundMe, explaining: “Hash Tayeh, an Australian-Palestinian, has been subjected to a hate crime. Burgertory in Caulfield was subjected to an (sic) Arson attack ... Hash has been a vocal supporter for peace and a ceasefire in Palestine/Israel and has recently been subjected to numerous threats, abuse and harassment.”

This appeal to rebuild Tayeh’s burger shop raised $63,000.

Enter the ABC.

It seemed so impressed by this story of Tayeh, alleged victim of vengeful Jews, that it selected him to ask a question on its marquee Q&A program, again posing as a victim.

“I am a proud Australian-Palestinian, an entrepreneur and owner of Burgertory which burnt down on Friday morning,” he told the national audience.

“I practised my right to protest the genocide that is happening is Gaza, the media was weaponised against me and other pro-Palestinian protesters for standing up to injustice.”

Two people have since been charged over the Burgertory blaze.

True, host Patricia Karvelas did say police denied the Burgertory attack was a hate crime, but one of her panellists, Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network head Nasser Mashni, scoffed that the police denial came “quicker than any CSI TV show I’ve ever seen”.

Mashni, whose father was a Palestinian extremist whose funeral included a personal tribute from the now head of Hamas, pushed Tayeh’s conspiracy theory hard.

“He went to a protest and went, ‘Free, free Palestine’. His social media was attacked ... That culminates in an arson attack ...

“In the afternoon, there was a baying mob of Australian Jews with Israeli flags in front of that shop.”

But plot twist.

Last Wednesday, two men were arrested for allegedly burning down Tayeh’s shop, for reasons we haven’t been told.

Both seem of African appearance, to judge from TV footage.

One is Wayle Mana, who was also charged with burning a Bendigo tobacco store and stealing two cars. The other, Habib Musa, was also charged with car theft.

Again the police said: “We know this incident was not a hate crime; it wasn’t motivated by prejudice or politics”. Just as they’d said from the start.

So why did the organisers of the anti-Israel protests in Melbourne invite Tayeh to speak as if he really was the victim of Jewish persecution? Why did Free Palestine Melbourne push that inflammatory myth? Why did the ABC give Tayeh a platform, and give one to Mashni, too, to exploit his story?

Agendas. Agendas. And this agenda relies a lot on conspiracy theories, prejudice and lies.