5 July 2025
Last night, Melbourne’s Jewish community was subjected to two appalling and coordinated acts of antisemitic violence.
At the East Melbourne Synagogue, while 20 people were gathered for Shabbat dinner, an arsonist poured flammable liquid on the front entrance and set it alight. Just kilometres away, a group of masked, keffiyeh-wearing protesters stormed Miznon, an Israeli restaurant in the CBD, hurling chairs and abuse while chanting “Death to the IDF.”
Let’s be absolutely clear: this is horrific antisemitism and its un-Australian. What occurred was not protest, it was intimidation, it was hate, and it was an attack on our shared Australian values.
Only one person, a 28-year-old has reportedly been arrested for hindering police. Others are “under investigation.” That response is completely inadequate. Property was damaged. Fear was deliberately incited. Jewish Australians were targeted. And still, no serious consequences have been delivered.
How many more attacks on our Jewish communities in this country will it take before we get serious?
The softly-softly approach adopted by Victoria Police is yet another example of a broader failure across governments and law enforcement agencies to confront the disturbing rise in antisemitism in this country. We saw it on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on 5 October 2023. We’re seeing it again now. Enough is enough.
We must be stronger in our condemnation, firmer in our policing, and united in our defence of every Australian’s right to live in peace, free from fear and hate.
As Chair of the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus, I will continue to raise this matter in the Federal Parliament. I urge political and community leaders across the spectrum to speak up. Jewish Australians must not be left to stand alone.
Australia must never become a country where this kind of violence is tolerated. It is time to act.
[ENDS]
Media Contact: Brendan West
M | 0402 556 646
E | Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
