We all heard NSW Police say forensic analysis found no evidence the phrase “gas the Jews” was chanted by apologists for the depravity at the Sydney Opera House two days after the savage mutilations of entire families, horrific murders, rapes and hostage-taking of Israelis in their homes and kibbutzim, and at the music festival.
Although the Opera House was lit up in blue and white in solidarity with the Jews grieving the terror attacks on our global family, Jews were explicitly told to stay away. NSW Police decided the crowd celebrating these atrocities was actually chanting ‘Where’s the Jews?’
And I’ve now come to realize that is exactly what our new fate is. Jews will just quietly be erased from life. Not in the ways of previous generations like my father’s brothers and sisters in Poland loaded on to trains to Auschwitz. And not like generations before his, either murdered in pogroms in Russia or accused of poisoning the wells during the Black Death throughout Europe.
This new phenomenon of insidious Jew hatred is to be quietly cancelled, delegitimized, vilified and isolated. The NSW police claim of ‘Where’s the Jews?’ was actually prophetic. They accurately predict our situation.
Where’s the Jews?
They’ve been removed. They’ve been cancelled. Their booking has been rescinded. Their businesses are boycotted. They’ve been banned from the city for 24 hours. They breached the peace by getting assaulted. It was for their own safety.
Shahar Hason and Yohay Sponder were the two Israeli comedians cancelled by Palace Cinemas whose management said that “From a risk-assessment standpoint”, the safety of staff and the premises had been “compromised”.
Dr Moshe Farci, Israeli expert in trauma treatment cancelled from Frontline Medical Conference and even had his hotel room cancelled at Marriott Gold Coast for safety concerns.
Israeli band Shmoné got cancelled at Kapara Cafe in Fremantle due to threats from anti-Israel protesters.
Crown rescinded the booking for the United Israel Appeal’s gala dinner due to security concerns, so UIA quietly moved the event to Caulfield Racecourse.
Aggressive anti-Israel protesters on megaphones harassed two female representatives from Tel Aviv University who were invited to Sydney University as part of a study abroad fair. After enduring an hour and a half of libelous abuse, the Tel Aviv University attendees, prevented from speaking with interested participants, were forced to leave.
Deborah Conway, proud Jew, and talented musician, has mysteriously been cancelled for shows and radio interviews.
And then there’s me, my husband and friend, who attempted to enter the Melbourne Town Hall to hear the speeches on an anti-Israel motion that was completely outside the purview of these gratuitously activist councils.
You have probably all seen the video of three of the professional agitators blocking our path and giving my husband Mark and friend Yaacov a few shoves. My husband was pushed to the ground (and kicked) and the police removed us while the men who assaulted us were not sanctioned at all. We were escorted away by police to chants of “Get out you Zionist pigs“ and assorted death threats in Arabic. Another protester came by and screamed “‘F**king dogs“’“ at us.
The three men who assaulted Mark and Yaacov had a busy night ahead as they assaulted independent journalist Rukshan Fernando soon after. And when Rukshan was moved on by police, the “peaceful protesters“ regaled their supporters with stories of how proud the mother of the shaheed (usually a suicide attacker who kills infidels) is when she celebrates at her son’s funeral, and expressed their wish for such glory for his own mother. They also chanted support for Yemen, an army of rebel terrorists hijacking ships.
The police watched on passively and although we, the Jews who police bodily removed from the Town Hall, were sanctioned with a 24-hour ban from the city, the mobsters who attacked us were free to attack someone else and then host a Hamas Recruitment Rally on Swanston St.
To be fair, these “peaceful protesters“ have forged out quite a career. Of the three ringleaders who assaulted us and Rukshan and then “peacefully” advocated the beauty of blowing oneself up in the fight against Zionism and Colonialist Australia, one of them and the son of another allegedly kidnapped, assaulted, tortured and broke a guy’s fingers with a hammer four days earlier.
Despite Mohammed Sharab and the son of Ihab Alzhari being on bail for a violent crime, they can be found several times a week with other ringleaders on bail leading the aggressive protests, spouting lies about genocide and apartheid and normalizing and justifying violence against “Zionists” and Jews as being heroic resistance. The longer these hate-filled protests continue, the more emboldened the leaders are becoming as they brazenly indoctrinate the gullible or disaffected masses they attract. One of our attackers, the same one bailed for the kidnap, assault with a deadly weapon and torture, openly posts videos where he and his new mate admit to being terrorists and go on to justify their violent aspirations against “colonialists“ otherwise known as “Australians“. His posts proclaim “And indeed it is either jihad in victory or martyrdom” and “Colonialism won’t raise his hand unless you put a knife on his neck …”, and a militant speech that includes ”They’re going to have blood on their f**king hands and faces.”
We felt quite aggrieved with our treatment by Victorian Police who refused to listen to our complaints of assault and dismissed our requests that they apprehend our attackers. It seemed like an inversion of justice to us.
The next day, the police went into damage control and Kathryn Muffet, the media advisor for Victoria Police, issued a statement sent to every media outlet with three false statements.
Firstly, they claimed that we had been removed for our own safety. This directly contradicts the police informing us that we were removed because WE breached the peace! In fact they told us we caused a mini-riot. Furthermore, as my husband and friend were told by police they were banned from the city for 24 hours, that sounds punitive, not concerned for their safety.
Secondly, the media statement falsely claimed that we did not have valid tickets despite the fact that the police admit on my video that they saw them and were satisfied that we did. Thirdly, their statement falsely claimed we did not report being assaulted which is untrue. My video recording shows us reporting repeatedly that we had been assaulted and asking the police why they’re not apprehending the assailants. In fact my husband even offers to go with them and identify the perpetrators.
I wrote to Police Commissioner Shane Patton and Police Minister Anthony Carbines to express my concerns. While I am yet to hear back from Carbines. Shane Patton did respond very quickly and among other actions, offered for us to meet with Deputy Neil Paterson.
The meeting with Neil Paterson could not have gone worse. Neil explained that the police are agnostic and his OH&S requirements meant that police would not move on the larger group as it would endanger his officers. That seemed to contradict his earlier assertion that they were mostly peaceful protests. We expressed that as Jews were always peaceful, law abiding and the smaller minority, our rights were being violated and it didn’t sound like they were upholding the principles of justice.
The meeting ended abruptly when Neil declared “you people” are too argumentative when we did not accept an invalid point he made. He stood up and said he was terminating the meeting and revoked our right to be in the building, meaning we had to leave immediately.
Far from easing our concerns about mistreatment, Neil’s way of handling our disagreement was so bombastic and insulting to magnify the power imbalance between a peaceful minority group that is too frequently gaslit and discriminated against.
The current police strategy of leaving the repeat offenders on the street, endangers peaceful, law-abiding citizens and prevents them from being able to go about their activities. In fact, if the police had removed the main offenders after they assaulted other citizens, many subsequent attacks would have been prevented.
Interestingly enough, a friend of mine was meeting a minister at Treasury Place a few months ago. On her way past Parliament House, she was wearing an Israeli flag and stopped to take a photo in front of the guy with the Palestinian flag who’s doing the ‘sitifada’ camped outside parliament. He came over and pushed her and informed her that he owned the street. And yes, that’s the same guy who was holding the Palestinian flag looking for confrontation outside the town hall who blocked our path and tried to push our friend over. Another man, a visitor from Sydney, has just sent me videos of the same perpetrator and his minions harassing him and his wife while declaring “We are all Hamas.”
Clearly, attacking us that night was not their first hurrah assaulting people they perceive to be of a different side. Why have they never been sanctioned? And why did police discourage us from making a complaint? By invalidating victims’ experiences like they did to us, Rukshan, and my friend outside Parliament House, by not apprehending or sanctioning the real disturbers of the peace, the police are deliberately perpetuating the lie that these are “peaceful protests.”
Since October 8, there have been over 315 anti-Israel demonstrations in Melbourne alone, requiring 7,500 police shifts. Currently, our rights to go about our own legal activities have been violated by fanatical demonstrators blocking streets, roads and bridges, vandalizing and destroying our streetscapes and spoiling public events. Try getting a tram when all of Swanston St is blocked by these career protesters, so every tram line that uses Swanston St or crosses Swanston St is affected.
Activist councilors have passed “pro-Palestinian” motions that not only fly the Palestinian flag as if Australians support Hamas terrorists, making Jews and others feel unsafe and threatened, but signal to communities that our loyalty is with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Some councils like Darebin and Merri-Bek have even passed motions that boycott Israeli businesses and even businesses whose owners or management support Israel. Very few Jews do not support Israel, so is this a boycott of Jewish businesses? Do local councils even have the right to bring their own personal prejudices into procurement policies when they are responsible for spending ratepayer funds and providing the best value for them? Is quietly boycotting Jewish businesses now ok? I haven’t heard much pushback, or maybe I have and that’s why death threats have been reported by Tim Dark (Dandenong) and Oscar Yildiz (Merri-Bek), councilors brave enough to oppose these kaffiyeh-clad local council activists.
The role of Victoria Police is to serve the Victorian community and uphold the law to promote a safe, secure and orderly society through preserving the peace, protecting life and property, preventing the commission of offences, detecting and apprehending offenders, and helping those in need of assistance.
That is what “keeping the peace“ really involves. If the mobsters who assaulted us had been apprehended, Rukshan Fernando would not have been attacked two hours later. For this reason, the current police policy is responsible for the prevalence of violent behavior, and our frightening ordeals. We need to enact change before one of us is killed.
If the police aren’t willing to take on detecting and apprehending offenders and promotion of an orderly society, it should come as no surprise that private organizations without police recourses and enforcement capabilities are going to take the path of least resistance too.
Where’s the Jews?