Media Releases

“We welcome Premier Allan’s comments condemning the abhorrent antisemitic violence that occurred in Melbourne on Friday night, and her announcement of several measures to try to prevent further such incidents. However, these unacceptable attacks on our community have been recurring for 21 months now, and it shouldn’t have taken the events of Friday night for this to now become an urgent priority.

“It is undeniable that there is a direct line between the incitement we see at the regular anti-Israel protests in the city and the violence that follows, so urgent action must be taken against this incitement and the protest leaders responsible for it. It is simply unacceptable that our Jewish community has had to live with these threats for 21 months, and especially felt unsafe to visit the city on weekends. The police response has often seemed unduly influenced by their problematic tendency to try to prevent breaches of the peace by giving the potential breachers of that peace free rein while at the same time insisting their potential victims must be kept away for their own safety.

“If our existing laws are strong enough to deal with this pressing issue, they must be enforced without fear or favour, but if they are not strong enough, they must be strengthened until they are. Anything less would be not only a failure of leadership, but a disastrous blow to the tolerant, multicultural Australian society we all cherish and wish to preserve.”