Melbourne has become ‘the epicenter of antisemitism’ with Jewish locals experiencing a ‘tsunami of hatred’, a community leader says.
Children are being bullied in schools for being Jewish and Nazi sympathisers are using the guise of empathy toward Palestine for spreading hatred and vitriol.
Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, told Daily Mail Australia the current environment for Jewish residents in Melbourne was the worst he had ever seen following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
‘In the decades that I have been fighting anti-Jewish hatred, I have never experienced anything like this frightening wave of vicious hostility, and this tsunami of hatred shows no sign of abating,’ he said.
‘My phone has been ringing off the hook with reports of Jewish scrolls being ripped off doorposts, ‘kidnapped’ posters being defaced, Israeli flags taken off cars and urinated on, and Jewish businesses being degraded.’
Dr. Abramovich said what was once considered ‘unthinkable’ just a few years ago is now ‘happening before our very eyes’. A Jewish family from Melbourne told Daily Mail Australia that their teenage daughter had been targeted by high school students.
Her mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said a series of antisemitic incidents had been directed at her daughter since the start of the year, well before the current Israel/Hamas conflict.
‘She has been sent swastikas online. One child repeatedly approached her and told her ‘Knock Knock’ jokes in which the butt of the jokes are “dead Jews”,’ she said.
‘Another student approached her and declared: “I will gas you and your whole family”.’ The mother said that once the school found out, the students hid behind ‘all sorts of excuses’ including ‘ignorance’.
‘However, the fact they singled out the Jewish child amongst them, and were able to tell a joke in which the protagonist is a Nazi and the punchline is a Jew indicates that they know exactly what they are saying and doing,’ she said.
‘Antisemitism is an ongoing, horrific scourge and I am aware since speaking to a number of parents and teachers that there is a far-right influence seeping into the consciousness of high schoolers through social media.
‘It’s a terrible feeling to be targeted like this.’ Dr. Abramovich has recently detailed instances of anti-Semitism at schools, in which ‘Jewish university students who say that feel unwelcome and unsafe on campuses’ and young people have confessed they’re ‘scared to to tell people they’re Jewish’.
‘Extremist language, comparing Israelis and Jews to Nazis, expressing support for the terrorist group Hamas is becoming commonplace and is spiralling out of control,’ he said.
Leonard Hain, the executive director of the Australian Council of Jewish Schools, said at least one school had instructed not to wear the uniform if they want to avoid being identified as Jewish on the way to and from the classroom.
‘Victorian police have increased patrols and are parked outside the schools and pick-up and drop-off,’ he said. ‘Each of our schools has increased security and put on extra guards.’
Meanwhile, The spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history. European Jews today are again living in fear.
We have seen a resurgence of antisemitic incidents and rhetoric in the European Union and worldwide: Molotov cocktails thrown on a synagogue in Germany, stars of David sprayed on residential buildings in France,
a Jewish cemetery desecrated in Austria, Jewish stores and synagogues attacked in Spain, demonstrators chanting hate slogans against Jews. In these difficult times the EU stands by its Jewish communities. We condemn these despicable acts in the strongest possible terms.
They go against everything that Europe stands for. Against our core values and our way of life. Against the model of society, we represent one based on equality, inclusiveness, and the full respect of human rights. Jewish, Muslim, Christian – no one should live in fear of discrimination or violence because of their religion or their identity. The EU is determined to protect the well-being of all its communities, ethnic, religious or other.
We have to push back against this rise in antisemitism, as well as the rise in anti-Muslim hatred that we have been witnessing over the past weeks – which has no place in Europe. We already have powerful tools at our disposal to address such incidents: EU law criminalizes public incitement to hatred and violence and sets out a common approach to tackling racist and xenophobic hate speech and hate crimes.
Ensuring its rigorous enforcement is now more imperative than ever. And since 2021, the European Union has in place its first-ever comprehensive strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life as well as since 2020 an EU anti-racism action plan.
