A man has been charged after allegedly wearing a swastika shirt while Jewish Australians were sharing horrific stories of anti-Semitism at the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.<\/p>\n
The man, who gave his name as Ian Minus to reporters, was spotted wearing a shirt appearing to bear a swastika that said \u201cAnti-Semitism. Proud to be accused. Speak up!\u201d outside 83 Clarence St in Sydney\u2019s CBD on Wednesday morning. <\/p>\n
Inside, Jewish Australians are sharing their stories of anti-Semitic abuse to the hate inquiry. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wear this all the time,\u201d the man told reporters, asking \u201cIs this a swastika? Is this clearly a swastika?\u201d when it was put to him that the hate symbol had been banned in NSW.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen social media is censored in such a way, this is the only form of protest that I can do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He asked reporters \u201cis there a royal commission here, is there?\u201d, claiming he was just enjoying his coffee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m just enjoying a cup of coffee in the streets of Sydney. Why am I being assailed in such fashion?\u201d he said, later pointing to his shirt and saying \u201cI am proud of this statement\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel fear and alarm every time an Israeli flag is waved in the streets \u2026 I have been asked to move on on a public street, such is the state of protest in NSW,\u201d Mr Minus said.<\/p>\n
In an update on Wednesday night, NSW Police confirmed the man, 68, was given a move-on direction – which he complied with.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 2.45pm, the man was arrested at Manly Police Station and charged with behave in offensive manner in \/ near public place \/ school and cause prohibited Nazi symbol to be displayed in public place,\u201d NSW Police said.<\/p>\n
He briefly fronted Manly Local Court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A commission spokesperson said they were \u201cappalled\u201d by the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe royal commission is appalled that such an item of clothing was worn in the vicinity of our hearing venue,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement issued shortly after the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafety of witnesses is paramount to the royal commission. We want to reassure witnesses and those wishing to engage with the royal commission that safety protocols are in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe royal commission is determined to investigate anti-Semitism in Australia without fear or intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Failure of our leadership\u2019<\/p>\n
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the \u201cfailure of our leadership\u201d perpetuated the anti-Semitism Jewish people were experiencing during a time when a large amount of the Jewish community were considering leaving Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it took until Bondi for there to be some kind of recognition that the rhetoric had gotten out of control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in his evidence, he said measures put in place for university students to use \u201csafe rooms\u201d to do their lectures in and to be allowed to do their exams from home due to safety concerns meant well but didn\u2019t do enough to make the Jewish community feel safe.<\/p>\n
\u201c[They were] well-intentioned but the message that was received by the students and the Jewish community was that \u2018we can\u2019t take those steps to keep you protected\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jewish aged care centre received bomb threat<\/p>\n
Chief executive officer of Jewish Care Victoria Gayle Smith revealed they had to lock down their aged care facility after a \u201cbomb threat\u201d. Ms Smith said they received a call saying \u201csomeone was going to blow up a golf course\u201d, with the facility sitting just 1km away from a golf course.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe immediately went into a bomb threat emergency response and really had to shut down the building,\u201d Ms Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our aged care residents \u2026 that\u2019s a very frightening experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was equally distressing for our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the not-for-profit organisation spends $1.8m per year on operational security, telling the hearing they would be the only aged care facility in the country that has armed guards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s made even worse because obviously we have a number of direct holocaust survivors, and then second and third generation (survivors)…who are now walking past a guarded building for their aged loved one,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It\u2019s a) really uncomfortable \u2026 if we did not take that action and something happened I personally would never be able to forgive myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Political candidate\u2019s \u2018frightening\u2019 experience<\/p>\n
Lawyer Joshua Kirsh told the hearing he decided to run as an independent candidate for NSW Legislative Council after his family expressed concern about whether Australia is a safe place for Jews to live.<\/p>\n
He told the hearing that campaign ads posted on his social media were \u201cdeluged with anti-Semitic comments\u201d, including \u201cf**k of you Zionist c**t\u201d and conspiracy theories about Israel paying people to firebomb places in Australia. <\/p>\n
He feared for his safety when a person left a comment on one of his posts online with a photo of his aunt, telling him he might feel more comfortable in Israel if he loved being part of a big Jewish community. <\/p>\n
Upon clicking on the profile he discovered that the person was the son of someone he attended university with.\u201cIt frightened me,\u201d Mr Kirsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sort of said in a joking way \u2026 if I get murdered today, this is why.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Kirsh didn\u2019t see the person again, as the incident unfolded after the last class of his degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut just to know that someone out there held such vitriolic views about me and about what I represented and knew where I was at any given time, it was pretty frightening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He finished his testimony by saying he would \u201crather die an Australian\u201d if anti-Semitism continued to spiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very strongly that I am an Australian by birth \u2026 I\u2019m sure my parents will get very upset at me for saying it, but I would rather die an Australian, if the climate got that bad, than be something else,\u201d Mr Kirsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this is my country, and I shouldn\u2019t have to not be here in order to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
13yo \u2018thrown in bin\u2019, \u2018dragged across floor\u2019, and called \u2018dirty Jew\u2019<\/p>\n
The son of a holocaust survivor revealed the harrowing racism and bullying his child has suffered at an Australian school, which escalated into physical abuse as the year went on.<\/p>\n
The man, known only as AAT, said his 13-year-old son had been called a \u201cdirty jew\u201d and suffered a series of other \u201cNazi style slurs\u201d last year.\u201c<\/p>\n
Kids would make the Nazi salute and \u2026 he heard kids say \u2018glass the juice\u2019, which is a way of saying \u2018gas the jews\u2019, and that \u2018Hitler didn\u2019t finish the job\u2019,\u201d the man told the hearing.<\/p>\n
The children responsible were suspended, but the bullying and racism picked up again within weeks, with AAT revealing that things escalated into physical abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cBullying and racism \u2026 the two blurred into each other,\u201d AAT said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe physical bullying included being squeezed until he couldn\u2019t breathe, which he told me was a kind of game that the boys played\u201cBeing dragged across the floor \u2026 being thrown into the garbage bin being dacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy had to be pulled out of school as a result, with AAT claiming the school provided \u201cworse than zero support\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school did nothing adequate to address the issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed the principal only reached out to him after he put in a complaint to the Department of Education after the second bout of racism and bullying. Now at a different school in an entirely new state, the boy is once again being targeted by anti-Semitic slurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cNazi stuff like a boy putting some black tape on his moustache and walking around (the class)…and Hitler stuff, but now also a lot of money stuff,\u201d AAT said. \u201cI have only just found out about this yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bombing survivor seeing same \u2018war on Jews\u2019 here in Australia<\/p>\n
A woman who survived a bombing decades ago in Israel says she is seeing the same \u201cwar to eliminate Israel and Jews off the planet\u201d in Australia. <\/p>\n
The woman, who can only be known as AAS, said she would get the same bus every day while living in Israel in the late 80s and early 90s, with bombings \u2013 particularly suicide bombers \u2013 a common occurrence at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day I got off the bus and further down the road it blew up. Thank God I wasn\u2019t on it,\u201d AAS said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what intifada is \u2026 it\u2019s killing people for the sake of the cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the holy war to eliminate Israel and Jews off the planet, and that for me is what I see here, it\u2019s what I see in the UK, it\u2019s what\u2019s happening in America and across Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the globalisation of the intifada \u2026 the volume of testimonies you\u2019ve received demonstrates what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman moved to Australia decades ago, the commission heard.<\/p>\n
Kids heckled with \u2018Heil Hitler\u2019, salutes on school excursion<\/p>\n
Teacher\u2019s aide Blake Shaw said young students were heckled on a school excursion in Melbourne last year, with kids from another school who were \u201csignificantly older\u201d than his students getting in their faces, laughing and saying \u201cFree Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Shaw said the teacher from the other school \u201cscoffed\u201d at him when he said \u201cyou need to tell your students to stay away from my students\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe said my students are just kids as well. And I said they\u2019re significantly older and should know much better, to which he said \u2018well, that\u2019s just their beliefs\u2019,\u201d Mr Shaw told the hearing.<\/p>\n
Some of his students were again targeted on another excursion the following year, with boys going up to them and saying Heil Hitler while performing a salute while they were in the bathroom.<\/p>\n
\u201c(They) came out quite distressed,\u201d Mr Shaw said.<\/p>\n
10yo\u2019s heartbreaking question<\/p>\n
Dean Cherny choked up while telling the hearing of a heartbreaking question his 10-year-old daughter asked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, if Israel\u2019s not safe, and we\u2019re not safe in Australia, where are we gonna go?\u201d his daughter asked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I didn\u2019t have an answer, and I don\u2019t have an answer, and it broke my heart that as I\u2019m putting my daughter to bed, where she should be peaceful and restful \u2026. this is something that\u2019s plaguing my 10-year-old daughter\u2019s mind, about where we will live and what we will do if the scourge of anti-Semitism continues to rise in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kid did Hitler salute day after Bondi attack<\/p>\n
A teenager, known only as AAG, said a kid \u201cdid the Hitler salute and stared me dead in the eyes and laughed\u201d at their school the day after the Bondi attack. <\/p>\n
AAG earlier spoke of being heckled at school for being Jewish, with some kids saying \u201cA Jew\u201d instead of \u201cAchoo\u201d when they sneeze. <\/p>\n
The teen\u2019s mother, known as AAE, said children had performed \u201cHeil Hitlers\u201d while a boy made \u201chorrific anti-Semitic remarks\u201d to her child.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the school\u2019s deputy principal was \u201clike talking to a brick wall\u201d, AAE said, telling the hearing he kept repeating \u201cwe have a zero tolerance to racism\u201d but was \u201cunwilling\u201d to use the word anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat made me lose trust in the school\u2019s leadership in terms of being able to address this \u2026 because you can\u2019t fix what you won\u2019t even name\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The commission was told AAE\u2019s eldest child, AAF, had been added to a social media chat called \u201cHitler support group\u201d while they were in high school.<\/p>\n
\u2018Help us\u2019: 13yo\u2019s desperate plea to inquiry<\/p>\n
A 13-year-old girl says she still has nightmares and some of her friends \u201cget scared when they hear a balloon pop\u201d following the Bondi Beach terror attack while issuing a heartbreaking plea for help to an anti-Semitism inquiry.<\/p>\n
The young girl was forced into lockdown at a bat mitzvah at Bondi Pavilion on December 14 as the alleged terror attack unfolded outside, she said in a video played to the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
She saw hundreds of people running away and screaming through the glass doors, telling the hearing \u201cit was terrifying\u201d and she had nightmares for months.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I still have a nightmare,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum had to take time off work to look after me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl noted she did not see or hear any of the shooting, but feels bad for her friends who did hear the gunshots. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome of my friends even get scared when they hear a balloon pop,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so sad about all of the people who died, especially Matilda, because she was just a kid and did nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also spoke of feeling anxious and thinking about Bondi when a waitress at a restaurant started bleeding after dropping a glass, and said she was sad for 10-year-old Matilda, who was killed in the attack.<\/p>\n
She doesn\u2019t like to see the bridge at Bondi Beach or hear sirens as it reminds her of the attack.<\/p>\n
The young girl spoke of wanting to be \u201cmore independent\u201d but said \u201csometimes I get very scared and worried about walking around by myself\u201d, telling the inquiry some of her friends went to the Easter Show by themselves but she would have felt \u201cvery anxious and worried\u201d in case an anti-Semitic incident were to occur.<\/p>\n
She added her school had increased security and she tried to hide her Jewish jewellery when she was out in public, issuing a desperate plea to the commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think Jewish kids should be scared to live normally like other kids do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not fair. I hope the commission can help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The heart-wrenching testimony was played at the beginning of the third day of the hearing. <\/p>\n
The two-week hearing in Sydney will focus on defining anti-Semitism, its prevalence in Australia and how to assess its prevalence in society and institutions.<\/p>\n
The royal commission was announced after the alleged terror attack at Bondi Beach on December 14, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese making the call on January 8 after weeks of pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has been charged after allegedly wearing a swastika shirt while Jewish Australians were sharing horrific stories…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5869,5506,7304,7303,483,7307,22,23,133,21,2798,7313,7311,7316,7314,7309,355,7306,1293,120,7308,2562,7315,247,2802,7312,7305,7310],"class_list":{"0":"post-6016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-alex-ryvchin","9":"tag-alleged-terror","10":"tag-alleged-terror-attack","11":"tag-amir-glazer","12":"tag-anthony-albanese","13":"tag-anti-semitism-inquiry","14":"tag-au","15":"tag-australia","16":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","17":"tag-austrlia","18":"tag-bondi-beach","19":"tag-celebrations-moments","20":"tag-desperate-plea","21":"tag-heartbreaking-plea","22":"tag-matilda","23":"tag-monique-harmer","24":"tag-new-south-wales","25":"tag-newswire-photos","26":"tag-newswire-court","27":"tag-oceania","28":"tag-picture-newswire","29":"tag-reuven-morrison","30":"tag-royal-commission-on-anti-semitism","31":"tag-sydney","32":"tag-terror-attack","33":"tag-the-executive-council-of-australian-jewry","34":"tag-young-girl","35":"tag-young-girl-spoke"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}