Unchecked anti-Semitism fosters extremism, Jewish leaders tell police
Jewish leaders are urging Victoria Police to get tough on anti-Semitic activities, saying a lack of law enforcement action is emboldening extremists.
Jewish leaders are urging Victoria Police to get tough on anti-Semitic activities, blaming what they say is a lack of law enforcement action for emboldening extremists and leading to violent incidents.
Three senior community figures told The Australian on Wednesday that a lack of action by police could be linked to extreme attacks such as the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue.
Adass Israel committee member Rabbi Benjamin Klein said anti-Semitism was spiralling and had been left unchecked; he called for a special police taskforce to address all minor and major incidents. Rabbi Klein said he was frustrated by the lack of accountability for clear displays of hatred, such as the flying of terrorist flags in Melbourne rallies and the defacement of a Jewish school with anti-Semitic slurs.
“Before the attack on the synagogue, police should have been taking anti-Semitic incidents more seriously,” he said.
“I’m afraid that if smaller incidents of anti-Semitism go unchecked or unprosecuted, people would become emboldened and there could be attacks at a larger scale ... As we have seen with the synagogue,” he said.
“Anti-Semitism is connected to the pro-Palestinian protests because when there is hatred against Israel, there seems to be hatred against the Jews in general. It’s very hard not to connect the two.”
Anthony Albanese belatedly visited the synagogue on Tuesday, five days after the firebombing on Friday, in a response that drew criticism from parts of the Jewish community and the federal opposition. Victoria police did not declare the attack a terrorist incident until this week and are now hunting three suspects.
Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann called for a permanent taskforce to be established by the federal government until the Jewish community is confident that anti-Semitism was taken seriously.
“Members of the Jewish community have reported many incidents to police and they’ve been left hanging,” Rabbi Kaltmann said. “This is not a discussion that can wait until next year. We need to bring the cabinet together for an emergency discussion about anti-Semitism before Christmas.”
Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, there has been a surge in anti-Semitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney, including vandalism of multiple electorate offices of state and federal MPs.
Despite police launching multiple local investigations, The Australian understands only one pro-Palestinian vandal has been dealt with by a court. A 17-year-old boy was slapped with a diversion after being charged with an attack on the electorate office of Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns.
A woman has also been charged over this incident and is due to face court next week.
Fourteen people are under investigation by Australian Federal Police for displaying terror symbols at pro-Palestinian protests in Melbourne, but no one has been charged at this stage.
Federal and state politicians whose electorate offices have been vandalised with anti-Semitic symbols and damaged include Labor MP Peter Khalil, Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, former Labor leader Bill Shorten, Cooper MP Ged Kearney and Mr Burns.
Victoria Police said it was committed to investigating the anti-Semitic attacks. “Victoria Police is investigating a number of incidents this year where parliamentary offices have been damaged. We take any reports of racial or religiously motivated crimes seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to hold those responsible to account,” a police spokesperson said.
“Predominantly, these investigations are conducted by experienced local detectives, with assistance from specialist areas as required. We are confident that current investigators are well placed to manage these matters; however, the situation is constantly being assessed to ensure the best investigative response possible is provided.”
In Sydney this week, restaurateur Alan Yazbek was handed a 12-month conditional release without conviction by a court after he was charged with displaying a Nazi swastika.
Jewish human rights advocate and former lawyer Menachem Vorchheimer told The Australian there was a dangerous progression from rhetoric to violence across the nation, blaming pro-Palestinian protests and anti-Israel statements for large-scale attacks against Jewish communities.
He questioned why pro-Palestinian protesters were not being charged under section 21 of the Summary Offences Act when organising rallies outside places of worship. “It is already an offence in Victoria under section 21 of the Summary Offences Act to disturb religious places of worship, including synagogues, churches and mosques,” Mr Vorchheimer said.
“In Australia, ASIO chief Mike Burgess came out in October 2023 and said that ‘words’ matter, that words left unchecked will lead to violence,” he said. “What happened is the words have grown from just general statements to explicit calls for violence.
“Sadly, what we’ve seen from October 2023 to the present is words move from beyond statements to globalise the intifada.”
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