Please find below the ECAJ’s media release regarding our 2017 Report on Antisemitism in Australia, compiled by ECAJ Research Officer Julie Nathan. The report itself can be viewed and down­loaded here.

MEDIA STATEMENT

26 November 2017

ECAJ annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia

The 12 month period ending 30 September 2017 saw a 9.5% increase over the previous year in total antisemitic incidents in Australia involving threats or acts of violence, according to the annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia published by the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ).
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 12 month period.
Attacks (assault, abuse, vandalism, and graffiti) accounted for 63% of the total number of incidents, with 145 incidents. Threats (email, letters, telephone, leaflets) accounted for 37% of the total number of incidents, with 85 incidents. There is also much anecdotal evidence of incidents which go unre­por­ted.
Overall, the number of ‘attacks’ remained rel­at­ively unchanged, while ‘threats’ increased by 39%, between 2016 and 2017. There was a marked increase in antisemitic graffiti and posters; and a decrease in assault, and vandalism, and a slight decrease in har­ass­ment.
The report’s author, the ECAJ Research Officer, Julie Nathan, said “The most prominent change over the last twelve months in Australia has been the rise in extreme right-wing activity. This new devel­op­ment has pre­dom­in­antly been through the activ­it­ies of a small neo- Nazi group, Anti­podean Res­ist­ance, formed in October 2016. It ori­gin­ated in Melbourne but now has chapters in most other states. So far, their activ­it­ies have involved putting up thousands of Nazi stickers and thousands of anti-Jewish, anti-homo­sexu­al and pro-Nazi posters, espe­cially at uni­ver­sit­ies and other places visible to the public. This has caused great concern espe­cially within the Jewish and gay com­munit­ies. Some of the Anti­podean Res­ist­ance posters express support for violence and murder, calling to “Legalise the execution of Jews” and for the killing of homo­sexu­als, by shooting Jews and homo­sexu­als in the head.
Antisemitic posters and stickers put up by Anti­podean Res­ist­ance accounted for 22% of the total number of incidents. At this stage, Anti­podean Res­ist­ance is a serious concern rather than a solid threat to the safety and security of Jews, homo­sexu­als, and non-white immig­rants. However, it remains to be seen what direction Anti­podean Res­ist­ance will take in their future activ­it­ies.”
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.
Nathan said “The Jewish community is the only community within Australia whose places of worship, schools, communal organ­isa­tions and community centres need, for security reasons, to operate 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 culture, 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.
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au

To download this media release as a PDF, click here.

To download the 2017 ECAJ Report on Antisemitism in Australia, click here.