Pro-Israel protesters in senator Mehreen Faruqi rubbish bin office rally after anti-Semitic placard
Disgusted at an anti-Semitic placard senator Mehreen Faruqi posed with, protesters have said they took to her office to make a statement against the ‘hate we fear exists’.
Jewish protesters have voiced their disgust at Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi standing next to an anti-Semitic sign, taking out bins to the front of her office to show her “what it means to put Jews in the bin”.
“We wanted to show the senator what it physically means to put Jews in the bin … and the hate we fear exists,” organiser Ofir Birenbaum told The Australian.
The senator deleted the picture from her Instagram page soon after and a new caption read that the placard was “unseen” upon first posting.
“The photo was removed immediately after concerns were raised about the sign being inappropriate, and we apologise to anyone hurt in the community,” the post read.
On Saturday, a small band of pro-Israel protesters took to the senator’s Sydney office with a message of their own.
Standing in bins, decked in Israel flags, Mr Birenbaum said he felt compelled to show the senator the fear among the city’s Jewish community.
“They (pro-Palestine supporters) are pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable to say (about Israel and Jewish people),’ Mr Birenbaum said.
“I’ve seen that sign going around, and for the senator to post it publicly, it was proof of what we all suspected.”
Mr Birenbaum said he wanted to have a “visual representation” of “what it means to put Jews in the bin”.
“It (the sign and message) was the most un-Australian thing, it is the definition of racism,” he said.
Mr Birenbaum said it was signs and – even if implicit – endorsements of that type of message that “enables the hate we fear exists”.
“It’s disappointing and scary, reaffirming what we are all afraid of,” he said.
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who spoke at a rally in Sydney’s CBD calling for the release of all Hamas-held Israeli hostages on Sunday, told The Australian it was an “appalling” piece of judgement by Ms Faruqi.
“It’s an appalling business to be in, associating with people who are promoting the removal of Israel,” the senator said.
“It was horrendous judgement and reinforces the danger that the Jewish community in Sydney are feeling at the moment.”
Mr Bragg said a senator circulating that sort of imagery and views also brought into the mainstream.
“You have a senator going to hang out with people who want to destroy the Jewish state and the Jews,” he said.
“Not something I’d ever thought I’d see in Australia and it won’t be accepted into the mainstream.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin slammed the senator.
“We know how senator Faruqi feels about Israel, and the overwhelming majority of Australian Jews that have an intimate and profound connection to our indigenous lands,” he said.
“Yet to see her standing beside an image of the Jewish state depicted as filth to be disposed of, is shocking. It is conduct unbefitting a senator, even a Greens senator.
“She should consider her position and at least have the decency to renounce the hatred she smiled alongside and acknowledge the harm caused.”
The senator’s office was contacted about both the picture and placard, and the rally outside her office.
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