Pro-Palestine protesters chant ‘Death to the IDF’

Pro-Palestine protesters have taken to Melbourne’s streets, one week after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks across the city.

A pro-Palestine Rally in the Melbourne CBD on Sunday. Picture: NewsWire / Josie Hayden

Pro-Palestine protesters have taken to Melbourne’s streets chanting “death to the IDF” just one week after an attempted firebombing attack on a synagogue and the violent storming of an ­Israeli restaurant in the city’s CBD.

The rally’s MC, a woman named Hajar, led the hundreds of protesters who turned up on Sunday in the chant outside the State Library Victoria.

“This one’s a bit controversial apparently,” Hajar prefaced before she led multiple chants of “Death, death to the IDF”.

“Death, death to the IDF,” the majority of protesters responded.

Hajar then told the protesters to give themselves a round of applause. She later led protesters in multiple chants of “Death, death to the IOF”.

Signs reading “Death to the IOF” were also seen at Sunday’s protest, which takes place weekly and calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said it was aware of the chants and was investigating whether they constituted an offence.

Executive Council of Aus­tralian Jewry president Daniel Aghion condemned the chants. “We cannot have chants calling for death on the streets of Australia,” he told The Australian.

“These chants are dangerous, and we have seen where they lead.

“This is the problem with those who say that the rallies here are peaceful and are calling for ­action overseas. That is a lie. Their clear intention is to call for and incite violence here in Australia.”

The Victoria Police spokesperson said its officers were also investigating whether any offences had occurred in relation to a sign, which included images of the swastika, that was on display at Sunday’s rally.

Titled “How the world loved the swastika – until Hitler stole it”, the poster included historical information about the sign and its uses across different cultures.

“In the Western world, the swastika is synonymous with fascism, but it goes back thousands of years and has been used as a symbol of good fortune in almost every culture in the world,” the sign read.

“As more evidence emerges of its long, pre-Nazi history in ­Europe, can this ancient sign ever shake off its evil associations?”

Pro-Palestine Rally in Melbourne CBD. Picture: NewsWire / Josie Hayden

In Victoria, Nazi symbols and gestures are banned in public, but exemptions exist for “genuine cultural or religious purposes”.

“The existing exceptions that recognise the cultural and historical significance of the swastika for the Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and other faith communities will remain,” a Victorian government website reads.

“A man was spoken to at the rally and police are looking into the displayed sign to determine if any offences have occurred,” the police spokesperson said.

Police on July 6 charged ­Angelo Loras, who on July 4 allegedly doused the front door of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation with an accelerant before trying to set the building alight as 20 worshippers gathered inside for Shabbat.

Three individuals have also been charged over the storming of Israeli restaurant Miznon in Melbourne’s CBD, which occurred that same night, while police are investigating a separate arson attack.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan established an anti-hate taskforce following the spate of anti-Semitic incidents, and on Thursday Australia’s envoy on anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, unveiled her plan to combat anti-Jewish hate.

The plan included, among other things, to withhold funding from universities that failed to stop anti-Semitism, train Home Affairs officials on how to screen visa applicants for anti-Semitic views, and implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism across all levels of government and public institutions.