The following article was written by the ECAJ’s Research Officer Julie Nathan, who is the author of the ECAJ annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia. The original version, published by The Times of Israel, can be found here.

December 20, 2017

Antisemitism in Australia in 2017: A Summary of Incidents and Discourse

Julie Nathan
The annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia 2017 has been released by the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ), the elected rep­res­ent­at­ive national body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community.
The ECAJ Report records antisemitism in two broad cat­egor­ies: incidents and discourse.
Incidents of Antisemitism
The 12-month period ending 30 September 2017 saw a 9.5% increase over the previous year in antisemitic incidents in Australia involving threats or acts of violence.
The ECAJ, Jewish community roof bodies in each state, and other Jewish community groups logged a total of 230 antisemitic incidents during the period, including physical assaults, abuse and har­ass­ment, vandalism, graffiti, hate and threats com­mu­nic­ated directly by email, letters, telephone calls, and leaflets. This compares to a total of 210 such incidents logged by the same sources over the preceding twelve month period. There is also much anecdotal evidence of incidents which go unre­por­ted.
There were 145 incidents of attacks (assault, abuse, vandalism and graffiti) which accounted for 63% of the total number of incidents. There were 85 incidents of threats (email, letters, telephone, leaflets) which accounted for 37% of the total number of incidents. Overall, there was an increase in the number of incidents of graffiti, posters and stickers; and decreases in assault and vandalism, and a slight decrease in face-to-face verbal abuse.
Examples of incidents include the following.
Physical assaults included incidents motivated by racial hatred where Jews were punched and kicked. For example, on a bus in Sydney, a Jewish student was verbally harassed, then spat on, then kicked and punched in the chest.
Abuse and har­ass­ment often occurred around syn­agogues and other Jewish centres. Many incidents included people doing drive-bys and yelling out abuse such as “Fucking Jews”, “Filthy kike”, or giving a Hitler salute. Some of this abuse was accom­pan­ied by the driver veering the vehicle towards Jews crossing the road or on the footpath. Other incidents occurred in shopping centres and on the street, par­tic­u­larly in areas where many Jews reside. A rabbi was called a “Christ-killing Jew” in a shop. There were instances of threats of physical abuse accom­pan­ied by verbal abuse.
Incidents of vandalism included rocks thrown through the window of a rabbi’s home. There were several incidents of swastikas being carved into cars belonging to Jews.
Graffiti usually included swastikas invari­ably with the word “Jew” or “Fuck Jews” or a Star of David. Other graffiti included “Kill Jew”, “All Jews should be killed”, “Die Jews”, “Kill Juwes” (sic), “Achtung Jude!” and “sieg heil”. These are usually on or near Jewish facil­it­ies, or in areas where many Jews live.
Email hate included threats, den­ig­ra­tion, Holocaust denial and the like, for example, emails con­tain­ing the text “Christ killers”, “Another filthy Jew bastard”, “The Jew is the demon behind the cor­rup­tion of mankind”, “you filthy dirty JEW […] go gas yourself you jew pig”, “Fuck the holohoax!”, “You really don’t get how utterly despised you are” and “Who will rid us of this vile, destruct­ive satanic race of born nation wreckers, for all time?”
Phone calls were usually made to syn­agogues or other Jewish insti­tu­tions, leaving hate messages such as, “I want to shoot him in the fucken head. […] fucken Jewboy.” There were a couple of bomb threats to Jewish communal facil­it­ies conveyed by telephone.
Antisemitic and Nazi posters were dis­trib­uted by a new neo-Nazi group, Anti­podean Res­ist­ance, in many cities, espe­cially at uni­ver­sit­ies and in areas where many Jews live. There were four types of antisemitic posters: one called to “Legalise the Execution of Jews”, another to “Reject Jewish Poison”, one blaming Jews for non-white immig­ra­tion titled “Stop the Hordes”, and one of a Star of David inside the crem­at­or­ia of a Nazi death camp titled “420 Blaze It”. (“420” is neo-Nazi code for April 20, Hitler’s birthday). The group was also respons­ible for putting up six types of pro-Nazi posters, and five types of anti-homo­sexu­al posters, and one against Chinese uni­ver­sity students. Thousands of neo-Nazi stickers (three types) by Anti­podean Res­ist­ance have been plastered across uni­ver­sit­ies, city centres, and in areas where many Jews live, in six cities. In addition, Holocaust-denying leaflets titled “Who’s telling us our story?” were dis­trib­uted at nine uni­ver­sit­ies. These were attrib­uted to the same website as similar leaflets in 2016.
Antisemitic Discourse
The Report documents a broad-range – though only a tiny pro­por­tion – of antisemitic discourse in Australia. The Report divides discourse into several cat­egor­ies, according to the source: main­stream media, politics and society; organ­isa­tions and online; Christian; Muslim; and the anti-Israel movement.
Main­stream media, politics and society
The expres­sion of antisemitic hatreds in the main­stream media or in other public contexts, if not publicly con­tra­dicted and condemned by political and community leaders, has the effect of lending legit­im­acy and accept­ab­il­ity to such hatreds. This can lead to an embolden­ing of those who are hostile to Jews to go further in acting against Jews, and thus creates an atmo­sphere of intol­er­ance, bigotry, fear and violence.
The ABC, Australia’s national public broad­caster, again was prominent in having an extraordin­ary amount of antisemitic comments and images posted on its Facebook pages. Two posts in par­tic­u­lar came to the attention of The Aus­trali­an newspaper, which sub­sequently publicly exposed the comments, and the fact that they were not promptly moderated, in an article on 3 June 2017. Anti­semites have found the ABC to be lax in dealing with racist content. They have been free to promote their antipathy towards Jews on ABC social media platforms, including antisemitic fab­ric­a­tions and Holocaust denial, and have been able to do so con­sist­ently and fre­quently over the years without being banned or facing other adverse con­sequences for their racism. Other main­stream media outlets also have had antisemitic comments on their social media pages, including SBS, another public broad­caster.
Examples of unmod­er­ated comments posted on the ABC and SBS Facebook pages include: “The Jews control most media and the power is scary”; “Jewish scumbags want to rule the world through the financial sector”; “Jews dwell in the synagogue of satan. They all belong in the oven”; “Finally the khazarian /ashnazi mafia/synagogue of satan are getting exposed and people are waking up to the deception”; “HITLER DID NOTHING WRONG!!!”; “Holocaust = Zionist lies”; “Israhel is a cancer on the foreskin of humanity!”; “Jews dont count as people so he is right”; “They do nothing they are a parisitic cult of evil zionazis”; “the plague!! they been kicked out of more than a hundred countries!! WHY??? parasites!”; “Holohoax”; “The Lolocaust is one of those his­tor­ic­al moments thats been repur­posed again and again to serve (((certain))) peoples interests”; “the greedy Jew always wants more”; “You are talking tk the most vile ppl on the planet who think its ok to do wot they want then cry anti-semitism wen ques­tioned on their corrupt actions. […] These scum will not quit des­troy­ing nations and societies untill they get wot they want!”
Antisemitic discourse has become increas­ingly prominent on the social media pages of main­stream political parties and members of par­lia­ment. Anti­semites would see these political pages as a way to reach and poten­tially influence politi­cians, and as a way to promote their antisemitic pro­pa­ganda to a wider audience.
Comments on social media pages of politi­cians include: “Cash, the true Jewish god”; “Beware of the Jew Bearing Gifts!”; “yeah Chosen as an example as what not to be and do”; “Chris­ti­ans because, unlike Jews, they did not forsake God by cru­ci­fy­ing Him”; “They killed jesus and have been behind every war for thousands of yrs”; “Synagogue Of Satan”; “Piss off you filthy monkey and pig decend­ants”; “G_d so loved the false ones, that he gave the world 1930s Germany”; “no doubt why Hitler wanted to kill those pigs”; “It is the holocaust the Jews are com­mit­ting with the backing of Australia”; “One must bow to the synagogue to make it in politics”; “Maybe they could all wear yellow stars”; “More jewish bullshit to try to hide or justify their crimes?”
Organ­isa­tions and online
There are many types of groups and organ­isa­tions operating within Australia which openly espouse and promote an antisemitic, and sometimes white nation­al­ist or racist, ideology. These tend to be on the far right of the political spectrum. Many of them are small outfits, with maybe just a website or a Facebook page, run by a handful of people, or one or two indi­vidu­als, while others have a larger mem­ber­ship. However, their influence or pop­ular­ity can be out of all pro­por­tion to their meagre numbers of members.
Since the advent of the internet, avowedly antisemitic organ­isa­tions and indi­vidu­als have been able to express and propagate their views on websites, Facebook pages, video channels, Twitter and even via online main­stream media sites. With the internet, racism and vili­fic­a­tion are easily and widely propag­ated, often with few restraints, and often anonym­ously.
On websites, comments included: “the Jew is working overtime to make his dream of world hegemony come true”; “Zionism is NOT about a homeland for Jews – it’s to establish the base of a One World Gov­ern­ment, where the Jews tyr­an­nic­ally rule the goyim worldwide”; “Jesus was crucified for exposing these satanic fake Hebrews, known today as the Jews. Jew World Order, and Synagogue of Satan”; “the jews are a parasitic entity”
On Facebook, comments included: “Fucking Jewish Dogs…… Hitler did one thing wrong….he didnt finissh the job….. Jews are the SCUM of the earth… one day hopefully you will all be erad­ic­ated….. SCUM”; “you hook nosed Jewish parasite”; “Get in the oven you filthy Kike!”; “Filthy racist scum jews and their lackies are not going to run ME out of MY home town! I am gonna run THEM out!”; “you filthy Kike!”; “Indeed, the Hook Nosed sheklers Control the UN and EU flood us with 3^rd world sewerage”.
Under online videos, comments included: “Jews are dogs. Nothing higher than scum. Sub Human cowards. Jewish women should be raped with broken beer bottles.”; “No Jews died in gas chambers. Not one. Filthy lying KIKES.”; “The Jews are at war with the world”; “’a world without jews’. It’s good to have dreams”; “Turn on ovens & cook ’em all”; “kill the Khazarian Ashkinazi scum KILL THEM ALL….there are no good Jewish…. […] kill all the Jewish criminal scum…. ”; “#KillALLjewsNOT1or2”; “It’s time to gas the Jews.”
On Twitter, comments included: “To clarify, we are merely calling for the execution of jews to be legalised”; “Kill 2 others and injure 20 to take out a kike? Worth it”; “It’s an expres­sion of sincere joy at the death of a Jew”; “I despise you parasites more than you could ever possibly kvetch about”; “3 WORDS – Hitler Was Right!”; “AWAKEN and STOP the Jew World Order”.
Christian
In general, main­stream Chris­ti­ans in Australia have not published overt and vile antisemitic expres­sions of the kind that have been expressed by some Christian clerical figures in Europe and the Americas. However, the following items provide a snapshot of rhetoric or incidents emanating from or elicited by main­stream Christian clerical figures which meet the criteria of antisemitism in the Inter­na­tion­al Holocaust Remem­brance Alliance Working Defin­i­tion.
One Christian cleric, a bishop, in an article on his website, asked rhet­or­ic­ally whether Australia continues to support Israel dip­lo­mat­ic­ally: “because Jewish money is a major factor in Aus­trali­an politics, with coalition MPs being par­tic­u­larly dependent upon it”; and “because the Zionist Lobby is so strong that it imposes a fear factor upon Aus­trali­an MP’s”.
Another Christian cleric, on his church’s Facebook page (which he admin­is­ters), posted an image min­im­ising the Holocaust and per­se­cu­tion of Jews under Nazi Germany by writing: “It took Hitler seven years to get to this point (photo of the Nazi boycott of a Jewish-owned shop). Trump got there in seven days (in reference to President Trump’s temporary ban on people from seven Muslim majority countries entering the USA for three months).”
Muslim
The Muslim com­munit­ies within Australia are reli­giously, eth­nic­ally, and polit­ic­ally diverse. There are many excellent and suc­cess­ful inter­faith programs and forms of dialogue between Muslims and Jews which seek to break down barriers and create better mutual under­stand­ing. However, there are indi­vidu­als and groups who identify as Muslims and who in the name of Islam express and promote anti-Jewish views, either from a religious or political per­spect­ive, or a confused amalgam of both. Some examples of this follow.
An Islamic cleric in Sydney during a regular Friday lecture quoted from the Quran 2:74, and commented on the verse: “But the Jewish heart is very hard. They don’t have mercy. They don’t have anything in their hearts. They’ve got only envy, they’ve got hatred.” […] The Jews – Allah orders them to do things, but they never do it. So Allah cursed them.”
The Islamic Bookstore in Lakemba, Sydney, sells antisemitic books, including “The Inter­na­tion­al Jew” and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” both of which had a crucial and influ­en­tial impact on the for­mu­la­tion of antisemitism within the Nazi ideology.
Anti-Israel movement
One of the most insidious and virulent sources of antisemitism is within parts of the anti-Israel movement. Criticism of Israel is not per se antisemitic, but much of the com­ment­ary on these sites goes well beyond ordinary political criticism of Israeli gov­ern­ment policies and actions, and descends into vili­fic­a­tion of Jews and the denial of Jewish people­hood and the right of the Jewish people to national self-determ­in­a­tion. Although the anti-Israel movement remains small in numbers in Australia, overseas its followers have vilified and threatened the security of diaspora Jews.
Left-wing antisemitism tends to be expressed in anti-Zionist or anti-Israel terms, rather than in terms of classical antisemitism, although the rhetoric typically mirrors classical anti-Semitic tropes. Many left-wing and right-wing anti­semites are vocal and/or active in the anti-Israel movement. The head of the Aus­trali­an Nazi party has on more than one occasion attended anti-Israel protests in Sydney and marched in the street alongside people carrying Hezbollah flags.
Examples of comments on the Facebook pages of anti-Israel groups include: “fuck him and fuck his Jewish pigs”; “Zionism = crime against humanity”; “Its not Zionism its the fucking jews these pricks were kicked out of 109 countries”; “because OZ sold it’s soul to the Zionazis”; “Just Jews doing what Jews do, murders, wrecker, des­troy­ers”; “Dirty stinking murdering plastic Jews”; “Israel is the cancer of the world”; “These Zionazi Jews and Jews who support them are a cancer to the world, they are God’s cursed people, sucking money out of our tax dollars, spreading mayhem and evil every­where in the planet for thousands of years and con­tinu­ing”; “you guys are worse than Hitler and the Nazis. So stop your lying and stop trying to justify the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestini­ans by Zionazi Jews and Settler Jews. […] you guys were kicked out from pretty much every country on the planet that you lived in, from Europe to the Middle East to Africa”; “Hitler should’ve wiped them all off the map”; “i don’t blame them for kicking you out, hitler knew exactly what you people were all about, it’s a shame and an atrocity that he just didn’t finish you off and make you into soap, (best soap comes from Jews) you’ve served your purpose, now fuck off”; “Stupid, ignorant, intol­er­ant, child-murdering, war-mongering, genocidal, apartheid ass-holes! God’s chosen my ass”; “Our politi­cians and country are run by the Zionists”.
Con­clu­sion
Although Australia remains a stable, vibrant and tolerant democracy, where Jews face no official dis­crim­in­a­tion and are free to observe their faith and tra­di­tions, antisemitism persists. There are segments of Aus­trali­an society which are not only hostile towards Jews, but actively and publicly express that hatred with words and threatened or actual violent acts. As a result, and by necessity, physical security remains a prime concern for the Jewish community.
The Jewish community is the only community within Australia whose places of worship, schools, communal organ­isa­tions and community centres need to operate, for security reasons, under the pro­tec­tion of high fences, armed guards, metal detectors, CCTV cameras and the like. The necessity is recog­nised by Australia’s law enforce­ment agencies and arises from the entrenched and protean nature of antisemitism in Western and Muslim cultures, resulting in a high incidence of physical attacks against Jews and Jewish communal buildings over the last three decades, and con­tinu­ing threats.
For a diverse society such as Australia’s to be socially cohesive, it is imper­at­ive that those in positions of influence within Australia publicly condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism, and support legal and other measures to counter all forms of racism, espe­cially those which involve violence or advocacy of violence.