SYDNEY — A new spate of Jew-hating attacks took place in Melbourne, in southeast Australia, July 4-6, including an arson attack on a synagogue, a physical assault on workers and patrons at a Jewish restaurant, as well as the torching of a car and graffiti attacks on businesses assumed to be linked to Jews.
“The Jewish community is angry and not intimidated or scared,” Robert Gregory, president of the Australian Jewish Association, told the Militant.
He also spoke at a rally July 6 in Parramatta, in western Sydney, condemning the antisemitic attacks. Up to 200 people joined the action, part of a national day “against terrorism,” with rallies also held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
Rallies like these opposing antisemitic attacks are important, Gregory said. “We call on the Australian government and people to call out terrorism and antisemitism.”
Attempt to torch synagogue
The attempt to torch the synagogue in East Melbourne took place July 4 when 20 people were inside. The front doors were set alight, but the fire was discovered and put out, so no one was injured. It was the second attack on a Melbourne synagogue in less than a year. Last December the Adass Israel Synagogue was burnt to the ground.
That same evening some 20 pro-Hamas demonstrators attacked Miznon, a Jewish restaurant in the center of Melbourne. Chanting “Death to the IDF,” they smashed glasses and turned over tables, throwing food at diners.
Restaurant staff moved to protect the customers and fend off the assault. They were joined by workers from a Lebanese pizza shop across the street.
The targeted restaurant is part of an Israeli chain part-owned by Shahar Segal, who has been attacked by pro-Hamas groups for having ties to the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is organizing food distribution in Gaza.
Early the next morning three cars were torched at Lovitt Technologies Australia in another part of Melbourne. Antisemitic slogans were spray-painted on the company’s wall and on cars parked outside. The engineering company had been a target of earlier Jew-hating actions.
A fourth attack took place in the early morning July 6. A restaurant across the street from the Melbourne Holocaust Museum had its front window defaced with antisemitic graffiti.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom in Israel, there has been a surge in antisemitic attacks across Australia. More than 2,000 anti-Jewish attacks were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, a fourfold increase over the previous year, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry reports.
The response of the federal and state governments has been to beef up laws against “hate speech” — a blow to freedom of speech — and launch various inquiries and task forces.
Australia’s Labor Party government and other politicians have focused on criticizing Israel and its war to defeat Hamas in Gaza and counter Tehran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons to target Israel. The portrayal of the war in the mainstream liberal media repeats propaganda coming from Hamas.
Weekly actions organized by middle-class leftists and Jew-hating Islamists have occupied city centers urging support for Hamas.
“It is a deadly illusion that the existing capitalist government can be relied on for protection,” Robert Aiken, Communist League candidate in the 2025 federal election, told the Militant. “Workers and our unions must organize to protest against these rising Jew-hating attacks and to defend synagogues and Jews.”