Violent pro-Palestinian protests in Caulfield were based on lie

The ‘hate crime’ that sparked shameful scenes in Melbourne’s Jewish suburb of Caulfield last year has been disproved, another blot on pro-Palestinian activists in Australia.

Violent clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestine supporters in Melbourne's Caulfield in November. Picture: Cameron Stewart

The reckless behaviour of the activists running pro-Palestinian protests in Australia has again been highlighted by news that the violent demonstration in the Jewish Melbourne suburb of Caulfield late last year was based on a false premise.

It is the latest example in the list of misguided and damaging behaviour by pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli activists in Australia since the Israel-Hamas war which has damaged their own cause and alienated them from many mainstream Australians.

In recent months we have seen a list of self-defeating stunts by activists, including the cruel protest in the lobby of the Melbourne hotel when the families of Israeli victims and hostages were staying and the encouragement of school children to skip class in order to protest and chant genocidal anti-Israeli slogans.

Pro-Palestine activists sparked outrage after they ambushed visiting friends and families of Israeli hostages at the Melbourne hotel where they were staying.

But the anti-Israeli protest in the Jewish heartland of Caulfield in November last year captured national headlines because it led to ugly and violent street clashes after activists baited and hurled insults at local Jewish residents. Such disturbing scenes on the streets of a quiet Melbourne suburb were quickly condemned by political leaders across the country.

The pretext of those protests was always dubious – that an arson attack on the Caulfield branch of burger chain store called Burgertory was a hate crime because the owner, Hash Tayeh, was Palestinian.

Mr Tayeh claimed, without evidence, that his store had been targeted because he had attended pro-Palestinian protests. The Islamic Council of Victoria backed up his entirely circumstantial claim by putting out a furious press release leaving little doubt that it believed the Burgertory fire to be a “hate crime” linked to Mr Tayeh’s calls for “an end to the barbaric assault on civilians in Gaza by Israeli armed forces”.

CCTV footage captured the moment Burgertory was set alight.

That was enough for Free Palestine Melbourne to organise a highly provocative pro-Palestinian protest in the Jewish heartland of Caulfield the day after the fire.

Never mind the fact that Victoria Police had stated, only hours after the fire and before the rally, that they were “very confident” that the blaze was not racially or politically motivated.

I watched from the side of the road as that protest, by several hundred activists, turned ugly as the Palestinian side went beyond calls of “free Palestine” and “Free Gaza,’ to more provocative chants including “Israel, USA, how many kids did you kill today,” and “From the River to the Sea”, which is a call to wipe Israel off the map.

Several on the Palestinian side went further, abusing some Jewish women standing nearby who had wrapped the Israeli flag around their body. One started throwing homophobic slurs at Jewish onlookers and at one point raised his arm in what from a distance looked like a NAZI salute.

An adjacent synagogue, where Shabbat prayers were taking place, was evacuated for safety and then several Palestinian protesters suddenly broke through the police cordon and rushed at the Israeli side. Mayhem unfolded as punches were thrown and police fired pepper spray at the brawlers. Injured Jewish residents were taken into a nearby house and treated by doctors.

The following day, amid a public uproar, Free Palestine Melbourne apologised for holding the protest outside a synagogue. But it did not apologise for holding the protests in Caulfield because it said the “demonstrators reiterate that the arson attack on Burgertory was a hate crime”.

Victoria Police this week formally debunked that always dubious claim by stating that two men, aged 27 and 25, had been arrested in connection with the fire and that it was not a hate crime.

‘‘We know this incident was not a hate crime; it wasn’t motivated by prejudice or politics,’’ said Inspector Scott Dwyer.

The November Brisbane protest for Palestine included teachers, students and education workers. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

The hardline activists who caused the Caulfield violence on a false premise and who have carried out other stunts like that odious hotel protest in front of grieving Israeli family members and the misguided school protests seem to have no idea that this does their cause harm in the eyes of many.

There is a perfectly legitimate political debate to be had about the rights and wrongs of the way the war in Gaza is playing out and each side is entitled to its view.

But the pro-Palestinian activists who organise these protests choose instead to adopt provocative bully-boy behaviour where they whitewash the actions of Hamas and promote genocidal, anti-Semitic chants. The shameful scenes in Caulfield based on a falsehood are another blot on their judgment.