Stonnington City Council ordered the removal of pro-Israel posters on the streets

An inner-city Melbourne Council has been accused of trying to “silence” the Jewish community, which has been left devastated after pro-Israel posters were taken down.

Stonning City Council workers have taken down posters with the names and faces of hundreds of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas. Picture: Norm Oorloff

An inner-city Melbourne Council has been accused of trying to “silence” the Jewish community after it ripped down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas.

Multiple shocked passers-by witnessed Stonning City Council workers taking down posters with the names and faces of hundreds of Israelis kidnapped by the terrorist group on Tuesday morning.

Caulfield mum Deborah Melzter — whose cousin Orit Svirsky, 70, was found burnt alive while his son Itay, 29, was taken hostage — said the urgency to take down the posters was “bewildering” and a form of “silencing” the community.

“It shows a lack of empathy and compassion,” she said.

Other posters depicting Israelis taken hostage by Hamas were vandalised. Picture: Supplied

Israeli-Melburnian Hila Kwiat, who has plastering the posters around the community since the October 7 massacre, said it was “frustrating” and “sad” to see the Council take them down when various other posters — such as lost pet posters — as well as graffiti had been left untouched.

“If you don’t take the graffiti down in a day then you can leave these up for just a little while,” she said.

“There are 220 Israelis kidnapped by Hamas … these are babies, six-months-old, children without their mothers.

“We’ve been making sure we’re not putting them on private property but we need to keep these faces out there.”

But a council spokesman told the Herald Sun it was local law to “remove materials, regardless of content, as soon as practicable”.

“Council has today responded to complaints regarding the posting of material on public infrastructure within the city,” they said.

“The Council’s CEO apologises to anyone in the community who may have taken offence at the Council’s actions.”

Some posters on the St Kilda foreshore labelled the hostages ‘actors’, suggesting the kidnappings were ‘fake’. Picture: Supplied

It comes as other posters were vandalised, including some on the St Kilda foreshore which labelled the hostages “actors”, suggesting the kidnappings were “fake”.

Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said the vandalism was alarming.

“This is personal, and these flyers express the profound pain we, here in Melbourne, are feeling for the Israeli children, men and women abducted by Hamas and want to ensure that they are not forgotten,” he said.

“To see these torn down and defaced is heartbreaking.”

Multiple people in the Jewish community have also reported their mezuzahs – a piece of parchment with verses from the Torah inscribed on it that is hung on door posts in the home – had been ripped from their front doors.

Others are understood to have taken them down themselves out of fear.

“Members of any faith should feel safe displaying and expressing their faith, without the fear of being targeted for abuse and vandalism,” Dr Abramovich said.