Melbourne has become the ‘epicentre of antisemitism’ in Australia

Melbourne has become ‘the epicentre 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.’

Sarah Carter – mayor of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s innerwest – shared distressing photos on Monday after the Star of David was graffitied onto buildings and businesses in Footscray.

She said: ‘Let me condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the graffiti that has appeared in central Footscray today.

‘We are one of the most successful multicultural communities in Australia and we stand for inclusion and against division.’

The graffiti was removed as soon as Ms Carter’s office was alerted to it.

But the vandalism draws comparisons to Nazi Germany of the 1930s, when doors of Jewish businesses were marked to deter Germans.

There are fears the conflict in Israel and Gaza is making the situation on home soil worse – Sydney has also had its fair share of violent and frightening incidents in the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, essentially declaring war in the region.

Mike Burgess, the director of security at the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) told a Senate Estimates hearing on October 23 there was an increased likelihood of ‘spontaneous violence’ the longer the conflict continues.

‘If the nature of it worsens, bad enough as it is today, that is one driver that might change our security environment.’

Senator James Paterson made reference to Daily Mail Australia’s disturbing revelation that a group of masked men and women throwing banned Nazi salutes had stormed the popular Flinders Street train station in the early hours of October 14.

‘There have also been very disturbing displays from neo-Nazi affiliated groups, such as the National Socialist Network,’ he said.

Mr Burgess revealed during Senate Estimates that at one stage, ASIO was dedicating half of its time to investigating right-wing militant groups and neo-Nazism. 

‘We’ve gone through a trend over the last seven years of sitting at around 5 per cent of our counter-terror investigation caseload, up to about 50 per cent at parity with our other principal threat, which was Sunni violent extremism,’ he said.

‘That’s, now, down to about 70-30, so 30 per cent of our caseload is on neo-Nazis approximately. It is approximately 70 per cent to religiously motivated violent extremism, specifically Sunni extremism. 

‘The remainder, 30 per cent, is ideologically motivated, violent extremism and most of that is nationalist and racist violent extremism.’

The last annual report on antisemitism in Australia released by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry noted there had been 478 reported incidents between October 2021 and September 2022.

The data found Victoria had the highest amount of incidents involving graffiti, vandalism and posters, and equalled NSW for the most amount of physical assaults.

NSW had the highest reported incidents across the board, including verbal abuse and messages.

But data is yet to be released which would confirm the concerns of Jewish community leaders – that the recent conflict in the Middle East had translated to an increase of violence in Australia.