Media Report 2025.07.06
Man charged over Melbourne synagogue fire amid calls for parliament to reconvene to pass new protest laws
ABC | 6 July 2025
- A man has been charged after the door of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue was set alight while people were inside on Friday night.
- The NSW man has been charged with arson and reckless conduct endangering life.
- He’ll appear in court on Sunday.
A man has been charged after the doors of a Melbourne synagogue were set on fire on Friday night.
Detectives from the Counter Terrorism Security Investigation Unit arrested the 34-year-old man, from the Sydney suburb of Toongabbie, in Melbourne’s CBD about 8:15pm on Saturday.
It is alleged a man was seen walking through Parliament Gardens before entering the grounds of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue on Albert Street, pouring a flammable liquid on the front door and setting it alight.
There were about 20 people inside the synagogue at the time, taking part in Shabbat.
They fled through a rear door uninjured.
The NSW man has been charged with reckless conduct endangering life, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, criminal damage by fire, and possessing a controlled weapon.
He will appear before a bail and remand Court today.
Victoria Police said detectives would continue to examine the alleged intent and ideology of the accused to determine if the allegations were related to terrorism.
Calls for parliament to be recalled to tighten protest laws
Detectives were yet to establish any links to two other incidents on Friday night — about 20 protesters entered the Jewish-owned Miznon restaurant in the CBD’s popular Hardware Lane and shouted offensive chants, and three cars were set alight at a Greensborough business, in Melbourne’s north-east, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
On Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyahu released a statement saying he viewed the incidents in Melbourne on the weekend with “utmost gravity”.
He described them as reprehensible and said antisemitism must be uprooted.
“The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community, and we demand that the Australian government take all action to deal with the rioters to the fullest extent of the law and prevent similar attacks in the future.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the incidents were intolerable.
“Australian authorities must take all steps necessary to protect their Jewish citizens,” he wrote on social media platform X.
“Antisemitism is a stain on any society, and must be confronted with urgency and resolve.”
In December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea was destroyed by arsons in what police were treating as a terrorist attack.
“We’re tired, we’re angry and we’re just shocked that [another fire] has happened again,” Jewish Community Council of Victoria CEO Naomi Levin said.
“We’ve seen this happen in Victoria before. We’ve seen it happen around Australia.
“We just want to be left to practise our faith and to be part of our community. We just want to be left alone.”
An angry Victorian Shadow Police Minister David Southwick was at the East Melbourne synagogue on Saturday.
“We were all down at Adass when it was firebombed and we had the prime minister, the premier, everyone rolling out and saying ‘this is terrible, it should never happen again’,” he said.
“What’s the government been doing since then?”
Following the Adass attack, the Victorian government unveiled broad plans to crack down on protester rights and bolster social cohesion.
The new measures are to include bans on the wearing of face masks and carrying flags of banned terrorist organisations.
But the legislation is yet to come before parliament.
“What is the government waiting for?” Mr Southwick asked angrily outside the East Melbourne synagogue.
“The government talked this big game about vilification laws and we’ve got to wait until September.”
He said parliament should be immediately recalled to deal with the laws, but that they should go further and include giving police greater powers to move on protesters and arrest those who do not comply.
“Victorians deserve to feel safe. That’s got to be the first job of any government,” he said.
“The government has failed to do that.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said this weekend’s incidents showed the antisemitism crisis continued.
“There is a violent ideology at work in our country that operates on the fringes of politics and social movements, that taps into anger and prejudice, and smirks as … proud, patriotic Australians experience fear in their own homes and their own streets,” the council said.
“Those responsible cannot be reasoned with or appeased. They must be confronted with the full force of the law.”
Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the government would not rush the new protest laws because it was focusing on getting the legislation right, including consulting with community organisations.
“Parliament resumes in July-August … it’ll go to the cabinet and then it’ll go to the parliament and as soon as the parliament passes those laws, they’ll be in effect and I expect that to happen in the coming months,” he said.
“That has the backing of the Jewish community and that will make sure that hate speech and those who think they can get away with it are further held to account.”
He said Operation Park, which was established in late 2023 in response to an increase in hate crimes and to investigate offences associated with the Middle East conflict, had made 138 arrests
“There’s no doubt there are people in the community who seek to divide, who think the law doesn’t apply to them and who think they can target communities and threaten them.”
Federal Shadow Attorney-General Julian Lesser said the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France had increased safety measures for their Jewish communities since tensions escalated in the Middle East.
“That prompted [federal Opposition Leader] Sussan Ley, [Shadow Home Affairs Minister] Andrew Hastie and myself three weeks ago to write to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling on him to take similar measures,” Mr Lesser said.
“Prime Minister Albanese has never written back to us and we’re calling on him to explain what measures he has taken to protect the Jewish community, and if he didn’t take increased measures, why?”
Mr Albanese condemned the weekend incidents.
“It is completely unacceptable the attack that occurred at a restaurant in Melbourne, and also the attack on a business in the outer suburbs of Melbourne,” Mr Albanese said.
“The fact that people were having a peaceful dinner and were disrupted by this act of violence could have had catastrophic consequences.”
++++++
Israel mulls response as Hamas says it’s ready for ceasefire talks ‘immediately’
ABC / AFP | 6 July 2025
- Israel is mulling its response after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-backed ceasefire proposal.
- The Israeli security cabinet is expected to meet following Sabbath to discuss its next steps.
- Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to leave for Washington on Monday for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Israel is mulling its response after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal.
The nation’s security cabinet is expected to meet after the end of the Jewish Sabbath to discuss Israel’s next steps as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to leave for Washington for talks on Monday with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump has been making a renewed push for an end to nearly 21 months of war in Gaza.
“No decision has been made yet on that issue”, an Israeli government official said when asked about Hamas’s response to the latest ceasefire proposal.
Hamas made its announcement late Friday, local time after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions.
“The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place” the terms of the US-backed truce proposal, the militant group said in a statement.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group said it supported ceasefire talks, but demanded “guarantees” that Israel “will not resume its aggression” once hostages held in Gaza are freed.
Mr Trump, when asked about Hamas’s response aboard Air Force One, said: “That’s good. They haven’t briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza.”
This week, the US president said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalise” a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack in which Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
In the subsequent fighting, more than 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, local health authorities say.
Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US have seen temporary halts in fighting, coupled with the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
US aid workers injured in Gaza ‘attack’, GHF reports
Also on Saturday, the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) reported two American staff were injured in an “attack” on one of its aid centres in southern Gaza.
“This morning, two American aid workers were injured in a targeted terrorist attack during food distribution activities at SDS-3 in Khan Yunis,” the organisation said in a statement.
The GHF noted that the injured employees were in stable condition.
“The attack — which preliminary information indicates was carried out by two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans — occurred at the conclusion of an otherwise successful distribution in which thousands of Gazans safely received food,” it added.
The ABC has not been able to immediately verify this claim.
The GHF began operations on May 26 in Gaza after Israel halted supplies into the Palestinian enclave for more than two months, sparking famine warnings.
The foundation’s operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.
More than 500 people have been killed while waiting to access rations from its distribution sites, the UN Human Rights Office said Friday.
The Israeli military has blamed Hamas for the deaths.
“GHF has repeatedly warned of credible threats from Hamas, including explicit plans to target American personnel, Palestinian aid workers and the civilians who rely on our sites for food,” the foundation said.
“Today’s attack tragically affirms those warnings.”
++++++
Hate in our streets
The Age | Chip Le Grand & Sherryn Groch | 6 July 2025
Counterterrorism detectives are investigating a firebombing at a Melbourne synagogue, and po lice presence will be ramped up at a pro-Palestine rally today after multiple antisemitic at tacks on Friday night.
Victoria Police confirmed counterterrorism command was leading the investigation the arson attack at the East Melbourne Synagogue, but it had not been declared an act of terrorism.
Also on Friday night, a group of about 20 people, some masked and wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, entered Israeli restaurant Miznon and shouted offensive chants, scuffled with staff and knocked over tables to the alarm of patrons, before police arrived and arrested one man.
Police are also investigating a third incident, where three cars were set on fire and the wall of a business in Melbourne’s north-east was spray-painted with graffiti against the Israeli military about 4.30am on Saturday.
Police have released an image of a man they wish to speak to over the arson attack on the East Melbourne Synagogue, as the prime minister, premier and an Israeli minister condemned the attacks.
Police said a man – described as Caucasian and in his 30s, with a beard and long hair – was seen walking through Parliament Gardens before entering the grounds of the synagogue on Albert Street about 8pm. They allege he poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing on foot west along Albert Street.
About 20 people, including children, were having a Shabbat dinner just metres away inside the place of worship at the time. Vision from the Miznon incident shows diners screaming in fear inside the Hardware Lane restaurant, which is part-owned by an Israeli entrepreneur who has been promoting a controversial aid group in Gaza, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
An independent photographer at the scene said the group had asked patrons why they were giving money to the restaurant. The group had chanted “Death to the IDF” and “Miznon out of Melbourne”, the photographer said. No one was injured in any of the incidents and none have been deemed terrorism, but po lice say they will examine the ideology and motive of those involved.
“We do recognise that these crimes are disgusting and ab horrent, but at this stage we are not declaring this a terrorist incident,” Victoria Police Commander Zorka Dunstan said.
However, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel described the attacks as terrorism. “Targeting Jewish houses of worship and an Israeli restaurant is terrorism, aimed at intimidating an entire community simply because of their religion and identity,” she said.
Dunstan said the three incidents all had “inferences of antisemitism” or anti-Israel protest activity, but investigators had yet to find a connection between them. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan both condemned the attacks.
“Antisemitism has no place in Australia,” Albanese said. “Those responsible for these shocking acts must face the full force of the law, and my government will provide all necessary support toward this effort.” Allan said: “This is disgraceful behaviour by a pack of cowards. That this happened on Shabbat makes it all the more abhorrent.”
Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Phillip Zajac said firefighters had responded to the synagogue attack quickly and contained the fire, which caused only superficial damage. “Lighting a place of worship [on fire] is just dreadful,” Zajac said. “A place of worship has got nothing to do with the Middle East dispute. This has really gotten to me.”
Pro-Palestine protesters have been calling for a boycott of Miznon after it emerged that one of its part-owners, Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, is also a spokesman for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
This week, the Associated Press reported that American contractors were using live ammunition and stun grenades to guard Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution sites while hungry Palestinians scrambled for food.
Nina Sanadze, a Jewish gallery owner and friend of Miznon’s owners, went straight to the restaurant after receiving a call on Friday night. When she arrived, police had blocked the street and Miznon staff were sweeping away broken glass and remnants of tomatoes thrown at the windows.
Inside, Sanadze said, staff had been “hugging, crying and shaking – it was a very scary experience.” Sanadze said that when the group arrived, the restaurant’s managers tried to “step in and push the protesters out”, and directed customers to the back of the restaurant.
“It was hard for customers to do anything,” she said. “I think the brawl broke out because people were actually trying to stand up and say, ‘go away’.” After closing the doors, Miznon managers apologised to their staff for the ordeal and carried on with their usual Friday tradition of Shabbat, lighting candles, singing Jewish songs and eating Challah.
Sanadze emphasised that Miznon’s workers were a mix of nationalities and that the restaurant “has nothing to do with the [Israeli Defence Force] or anyone over there”. A 28-year-old person from Footscray was arrested “for hindering police and has been released on summons” over the restaurant incident, police said.
Dunstan said there was not enough evidence to arrest anyone else, but the identities of those involved had been recorded as investigations continued. The “death to the IDF” chant was also heard in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall during last Sunday’s regular anti-Israel protest.
The attack follows the fire-bombing in December that gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea. Counterterrorism police later revealed that attack involved “criminals for hire” and a known underworld getaway car, but have yet to rule terrorism in or out.
The East Melbourne Synagogue, founded six years after Victoria was established as a colony, is known as the city shul and is the only Jewish place of worship in central Melbourne. Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the latest attacks were a return to “the antisemitic terror of the summer months” and “clear evidence that the antisemitism cri sis is not only continuing, but getting worse”.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said: “About 20 Victorians could have been murdered last night, and a other Melbourne synagogue destroyed, had this terrorist attack not been stopped in its tracks.”
Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines said he had spoken to federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had approved the use of ASIO and Australian Federal Police resources to support Victoria Police investigating the arson attack in East Melbourne.
Burke and Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly said the federal government was “committed to supporting improved security measures at places of worship”. Their statement did not detail what further measures were being considered.
++++++
This attack does nothing for peace in the Middle East
The Age | Dina Valent | 6 July 2025
Waking to the news that an Israeli restaurant was targeted in Melbourne on Friday night has hit me hard. A group of about 20 people some wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh – threw food, upended tables, and smashed glasses and a window at Miznon restaurant in busy Hardware Lane, terrifying customers and staff, few of whom are Israeli.
Is this who we are in Melbourne, a place that people come to to escape conflict, to find peace and to celebrate diversity? Is it not safe to go out for cauliflower and sweet potato?
I am Jewish, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and, as I’ve realised since October 2023, I carry the trauma of broken glass and hateful slogans and sudden, violent disruption. My cells shrink inside me and I feel paralysed, as though fear has frozen my bones.
As a food writer, it’s Melbourne’s cultural richness that I love most. I eat Congolese fufu and Persian soup and Chinese noodles and Colombian biscuits, learning and drawing closer to culture and shared humanity. I celebrate restaurants as places of gathering and welcome, proving every day we can find similarities in all our differences.
At Miznon, simple ingredients are cooked with care and served with joy. When I inter viewed the restaurant group’s Israeli founder, Eyal Shani, as the restaurant opened in 2017, he told me about the mission to source the perfect pita.
He discovered a local Turkish baker and was delighted that a Jew and Muslim worked together for weeks to create the perfect bread pocket. “We changed the whole recipe for his wood oven,” he marvelled. “We discovered each pita has a birthmark from fire, each one is unique and its own creation. In the end I have a better pita in Melbourne than I have in Israel.”
Miznon’s two Melbourne restaurants – there is another in Collingwood – are part of an international hospitality group, part-owned by Israeli business man Shahar Segal. Segal is also a spokesman for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a food aid group backed by Israel and the US, which has been widely criticised for its lack of impartiality and using aid as leverage.
Hundreds of Gazan people have been killed by the Israeli army while trying to get food. The UN refuses to work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
I presume the pro-Palestinian group behind the attack on Miznon found this a reason to target the Melbourne business. Attacking a Melbourne restaurant does nothing for peace in the Middle East. It does not feed one person in Gaza. It scares customers and staff. It ripples through the Jewish community, creating fear. It un does the cohesion that makes Melbourne a better place for all.
I know of another Israeli restaurateur – an Australian citizen who had been here for nearly 20 years – who closed their restaurant and left Australia in 2024 after experiencing antisemitic graffiti and customer boycotts.
“The war in my country is nothing to do with me,” he told me then. “I’m not getting money from my government to represent Israel.” The saddest thing he told me was this: “I realise Australia is racist to another level.”
I can’t accept that. I don’t. I turn instead to another story. Opposite Miznon is a pizza restaurant called Max on Hardware. When the group atttacked on Friday night, the Lebanese brothers who own Max blocked the entrance to Miznon, barricading their neighbour’s dining room and protecting the staff as tomatoes- a table decoration at Miznon were thrown at them. That’s my Melbourne.
++++++
On a dark night for city, one match sets fire to 168 years of synagogue peace
The Age | Chip Le Grand | 6 July 2025
At eight o’clock on a Friday night in the heart of the city, a man dressed in black carrying a large bag walked onto the concrete stoop of one of the many graceful, Victorian-era buildings which line Melbourne’s Albert Street and pressed the doorbell.
While he waited for someone to answer, the man moved against the wall and reached for a bottle in his bag – suspected to be a petrol bomb. The building was the East Melbourne Synagogue, a Jewish place of worship nearly as old as the Victorian colony.
On the other side of the door, through the carpeted sanctuary where Shabbat prayers had finished, about 20 congregants were sit ting down to their main course in a dining hall at the back of the building. It was a simple buffet of chicken, stir-fry and vegetarian curry. By the end of a harrowing night, most of it would go uneaten.
While the man allegedly prepared his petrol bomb, a 13-year-old boy who happened to be in the synagogue office heard the bell and looked at the security monitors. He didn’t recognise the man but sensed something wasn’t right. He didn’t open the door. If he had, we might have been talking about something far, far worse happening in Melbourne on Friday night.
Police do not yet know what else the man had in his bag. A criminal investigation is under way.
“That is the really scary thing,” says Dovid Gutnick, the Rabbi of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation. “They could have opened the door to a person who clearly had bigger plans. “You wonder if he had more stuff in that bag to do more harm.”
The man rang the bell a second time. He then left the lit petrol bomb at the base of the door and casually walked away. The next thing the 13-year-old boy noticed was the smoke coming through the bottom of the door. By that stage, a passerby had already called the fire department.
The petrol bomb did only superficial damage before the fire was brought under control by a crew from a nearby fire brigade. Glass remnants were recovered from the crude device.
About four years ago, the synagogue reinforced the door with steel and constructed a blast-proof, transparent plastic security cage just inside the entrance. Smoke filled the cage and drifted into the sanctuary but the synagogue’s defences held.
The emotional wounds from this latest attack, to members of the synagogue, to Australian Jews and to a city that may be shocked to learn that some of us have to pray behind steel reinforced doors, will cut deeper.
The City Shul is a place of immense importance to Jewish people. It is also an enduring part of this city’s history. It has no formal ties to Israel but deep roots in the foundations of Melbourne. It is where John Monash, perhaps our greatest military leader, had his bar mitzvah as a boy, and where Victor Smorgon, one of the city’s most successful businessmen and generous philanthropists, got married.
On one of the walls, there is a board which carries the names of its members who died fighting for Australia’s young federation in the Great War. The synagogue stands across from the state parliament gar dens, St Patrick’s Cathedral and Anglican and Lutheran churches.
This part of Melbourne is known as Eastern Hill, where a rabbi can share a cup of coffee and a joke with a priest and a pastor, and regularly does. “It is a beautiful space,” Rabbi Gutnick says. “It is peaceful, by and large. You’d hate to think we have to turn it into Fort Knox.”
Daniel Aghion, a Melbourne barrister and the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, says this is why Friday night’s firebombing was an assault on all Australians. “This is not just an attack upon Jews or the Jewish community. It is an attack upon our way of life.”
The City Shul is not a place of solitude or silence. It is for family, food, prayer, song, conversation and life. When Rabbi Gutnick addressed his congregation on Saturday, he urged them not to give in to despair. The best way to fight is not with a stick, he told them, but to let in more light.
When this masthead visited on Saturday, a service had just finished to celebrate the arrival of a new child in the congregation. More people than usual packed into the shul. Among them was Philip Zajac, president of the Jewish Community he could go to a mates’ bar mitzvah on a Saturday morning and make it to Windy Hill to watch the Bombers in the afternoon.
He describes it as heimish, a Yiddish word for homely or unpretentious. “This is a particularly homely synagogue,” he explains. As a Jewish community leader and lifelong Carlton sup porter, Zajac had already had a wretched weekend. He learned of the firebombing at his synagogue while watching his team get thrashed at the MCG by arch rival Collingwood.
But after Saturday’s service, his spirit lifted. “We are celebrating life and being together,” he said. “The events of last night brought more people out to say we are here, you are not going to defeat us, we are strong.”
Naomi Levin, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive, says the congregation was full of proud Jewish people who want us to know that they are proud of who they are and not afraid.
Liberal MP David Southwick was also at the synagogue for the Saturday service. He was angry and saddened at how brazen the attack was. “Find the bloke and lock him away,” he says flatly. While we talk inside the synagogue, toddlers are playing with Thomas the Tank Engine and superhero figures in the sanctuary.
In the dining hall, congregants are tucking into bowls of chulent – a stew slow cooked ahead of the Sabbath and the occasional shot of whiskey. There were children playing in the sanctuary on Friday night when the man set f ire to their front door.
Dennis Martin, 79, first came to the synagogue as a boy, when Rachel Gutnick, Rabbi Gutnick’s wife, says it is heartwarming to see so many people come to the synagogue the day after the attack. Some of them rarely came to shul, but made a point of coming on Saturday. “There is a lot of care and support,” she says.
When does it say to Martin that someone apparently tried to burn this place down? “I find it so distasteful and disturbing, the degree of blind anger that would make somebody do that,” he reflects. “It could be a misguided response to Gaza or it could be virulent antisemitism. In both cases, it is madness of some sort.”
Outside the synagogue, messages of condemnation, support and solidarity arrive in a torrent from political and community leaders. Premier Jacinta Allan says any attack on any place of worship is an act of hate and any attack on a synagogue is antisemitic. “It is disgraceful behaviour by a pack of cowards,” she says.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says those responsible must face the full force of the law. Australian Multicultural Foundation chair Hass Dellal says people have the right to practise and express their religion without fear of vilification or violence. “This is not who we are as a multicultural nation.”
Much the same condemnation followed the arson attack in December which gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. After a six-month investigation by counter-terrorism detectives from Victoria Police and the AFP, no arrests have been made.
Aghion says this is the tenth firebomb attack against Australian Jews in the past 12 months. His tolerance, both for violence against his community and hateful elements within an anti-Israel protest movement which he says are fuelling antisemitism, is at an end.
“There is a critical need for the institutions of our country, our political leadership, our policing, to understand that there is a fundamental problem here,” he says. “The fundamental problem is that the Jewish community is being singled out and attacked time and time again because of a conflict on the other side of a world.
“If you want to say something in support of a position overseas, I’m not going to stop you, but what I am going to say is remember the people around you, remember the consequences of your language, remember the consequences of your actions, and make sure that you stay within those limits that you do not have an impact upon other Australians.
“That’s the line that has been crossed time and time and time again, and these protests continue to cross it with impunity.” The City Shul was first established in 1857, six years after Victoria became a separate colony, and has met in its Albert Street building since 1877. Throughout that long history it has not previously been firebombed.
++++++
Racialised hate
The Age | Letters | 6 July 2025
Racialised hate
Friday night’s events in Melbourne mark a terrifying turning point. An Israeli restaurant was targeted. A synagogue was set alight. This is racialised hate. It does nothing to help Palestine. In fact, it makes Palestinian dignity more elusive.
Some on the terminally-on line far left will claim it’s “anti-Zionism”, not antisemitism. But when Jewish businesses are at tacked and houses of worship are burning, that excuse col lapses. “Zionist” has become a socially acceptable slur – a veil for bigotry The far right plays the same game: when Donald Trump said “Shylocks and bad people,” he claimed it was just a literary reference. Elements of the far left now launder hatred with the same trick.
This is what happens when politicians aren’t censured for saying Jews have “tentacles,” when parties like the Greens scapegoat entire populations, when people get their news from TikTok, when unrepresentative fringe groups are given a megaphone again and again, and when even legacy media platforms platform the same predictable polemics, afraid to break ranks or admit moral complexity.
What begins with euphemism ends with fire. This isn’t about Israel. It’s about whether Jews in Australia can walk the streets and live without fear. Say it, and say it clearly: this is racism.
Simon Tedeschi, Newtown, NSW
The deeper currents
The article “Radical Israeli settlers fan the flames of hatred in West Bank” (5/7) is deeply disturbing. We are told these settlers are “radical,” “extremist,” “fanatical.” But what if they are not?
A recent Penn State University poll, reported in Haaretz, revealed that 82 per cent of Jewish Israelis support the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, and 56 per cent support their expulsion from all of historical Palestine.
Two-thirds believe Palestinians are a modern-day incarnation of Amalek – an ancient enemy God commanded to be “blotted out” – and most of those believe that command still applies today.
Given these findings, one is forced to consider that when settlers torch olive groves, shoot at farmers, they may no longer be outliers, but echoes of a deeper current. It is not enough to be horrified. We must speak, act, withdraw support, and refuse to take part in the machinery that allows this to continue.
Fernanda Trecenti, Fitzroy
++++++
Synagogue targeted in antisemitic attacks
Sydney Morning Herald | Chip Le Grand | 6 July 2025
Small children were playing metres away from the front door of a Melbourne synagogue torched on Friday night in what political and Jewish community leaders denounced as a despicable, antisemitic attack.
Witnesses who were inside the East Melbourne synagogue at the time of the attack by a lone arsonist described how the child of one of the congregants was the first to see and smell smoke coming through the bot tom of the door about 8pm. Toddlers were playing throughout the synagogue while Rabbi Dovid Gutnick, synagogue president Danny Segal and congregants who had earlier attended the service sat down to Shabbat dinner in a hall at the rear of the building.
Gutnick said this was the usual Friday night scene at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest places of worship. “There were children right here in the synagogue playing two-year-old kids,” he said. “This is a family synagogue. There were families here. That is the really scary thing. They could have opened the door to a person who clearly had bigger plans.”
There were about 20 people inside the building when the fire was lit. None were injured by the attack. Police have released an image of a man they wish to speak to in relation to the attack. He is described as Caucasian, in his 30s, with a beard and long hair. He was seen wearing a dark blue or black jumper, black pants and a black beanie.
Gutnick has viewed security footage of the attack and said it showed one unidentified at tacker using accelerant to set f ire to the front door of the Albert Street synagogue. He said the attacker appeared well prepared, and the attack planned. He said local firefighters, who were alerted by a passerby before anyone inside the synagogue was aware of the fire, reacted quickly and contained the flames before they spread.
Segal, the synagogue president, described the firefighters’ and police response as “incredible”. Segal’s wife, Jenny, said political leaders had not done enough to stop the anti-Israel protest movement from inflaming anti-Jewish sentiment.
“I just feel that the government has let us down by not putting a stop to it earlier – all these demonstrations and anti-Israel sentiment,” she said. “It is not Australian, it is not on, and I can’t believe it has got this far. It could have been stopped if something was done earlier.
“We come here, we pray, we spread love and unity. They spread hate and violence.”
Also on Friday night, a group of about 20 masked people entered Israeli restaurant Miznon and shouted offensive chants, scuffling with staff and knocking over tables to the alarm of patrons, before police arrived and arrested a man. Vision from the incident shows diners screaming in fear inside the Hardware Lane restaurant, part-owned by an Israeli entrepreneur who has been promoting a controversial aid group in Gaza.
Police are not declaring either incident as an act of terrorism. Police are also investigating a third incident, when a group of offenders set fire to three cars and spray-painted the wall of a business on Para Road, Greensborough, in Melbourne’s north-east, about 4.30am yesterday. Officers are investigating to determine if the incident is related to the two attacks on Friday night.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, speaking outside the synagogue yesterday, said while the motivation for the attacks would be investigated by police, he believed part of the protest movement had morphed into something more sinister.
“I do think there are elements of this protest which have mutated and is now perpetrating these terrible acts,” he said. “This is the act of a very small number of people, I do think we need to remind ourselves of that, but that doesn’t mean it is not a terrible and vile act. All of us as a community need to stand up against it.”
Reece pointed out that despite the horrific nature of Russia’s war against Ukraine, there had been no attacks on Russian Orthodox churches in Melbourne. “This is antisemitism, this is racism in its most vile form,” he said. Premier Jacinta Allan also condemned the synagogue attack as disgraceful and cowardly. “This is disgraceful behaviour by a pack of cowards,” Allan said on Saturday morning, as Jewish Australians woke to news of the attack. “That this happened on Shabbat makes it all the more abhorrent.
“Antisemitism has no place in Victoria and I stand with the Jewish community in their fight against hate, violence and fear.” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the latest attacks were a return to “the antisemitic terror of the summer months” and “clear evidence that the antisemitism crisis is not only continuing, but getting worse”.
“We urge all sides of politics and all Australians to condemn these deplorable crimes,” Ryvchin said. “Those who chant for death are not peace activists.”
Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines said he had spoken to federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had approved the use of ASIO and Australian Federal Police resources to support Victoria Police in the arson attack on East Melbourne Synagogue overnight. S
hadow attorney-general Julian Leeser on Saturday said the government must follow the US, UK, France and Germany, which had increased security around places of worship and community centres, following the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
++++++
Children played as arsonist attacked
Anti-Jewish terror
Daily Telegraph | Eddie Russell, Anna Shreeves Carly Douglas, Matt Johnston | 6 July 2025
A man who set ablaze a synagogue door as children played inside was last night still on the run after a violent anti-Jewish rampage that saw an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne come under attack.
Three cars parked outside a factory, which has connections to the conflict in the Middle East, were also set on fire in a separate attack linked to three hours of anti-Semitic terror across the CBD.
Detectives on Saturday released a CCTV image of a man wanted for questioning over the attempted arson hit at the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation.
Police say he was filmed pouring an accelerant over the front door of the synagogue before setting it ablaze, while dozens of worshippers, including children, celebrated the start of Sabbath inside.
A young boy playing near the locked synagogue door heard a disturbance first, and alerted the worshippers.
Those who had been inside emerged to disrupt the attack, and the man fled.
A black scorch mark was scored on the door, while a deeper emotional mark was left on those who had been inside the building.
“There were children playing … this is a family synagogue,” Rabbi Dovid Gutnick said. “That’s the really scary thing because they could have opened the door, and the person clearly had bigger plans.”
Also on Friday night, a group of anti-Jewish activists, some of them wearing makeshift masks made from keffiyehs or scarfs, stormed Israeli restaurant Miznon as couples and families gathered for dinner. The protestors hurled chairs and food at its windows, and witnesses claim the mob chanted “death to the IDF”.
Those trapped inside the restaurant cried and cowered as tables were overturned and food and furniture were thrown across the restaurant in the direction of patrons and staff.
When police arrived several minutes later they had to secure the restaurant and form a barrier to protect those inside. A 28-year-old woman was arrested for hindering police.
Police have so far declined to label the attacks as acts of terror, instead calling it a “serious criminal investigation” for the time being.
“We do recognise that these crimes are disgusting and abhorrent, but at this stage, we are not declaring this a terrorist incident,” Commander Zorka Dunstan said.
“Unless we know their intent, we’re really not in a position to class it as a terrorist incident at this stage.”
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel criticised authorities for failing to crackdown on soaring anti-Semitism as she labelled the attacks “terrorism”.
“Weakness and silence only emboldens the extremists,” she said.
Ms Haskel said the attacks were “yet another reminder of how far racist, anti-Semitic hate crimes have spread in the heart of Australia”.
Anthony Albanese yesterday condemned the terrifying acts of violence and intimidation, saying “anti-Semitism has no place in Australia”.
“Those responsible for these shocking acts must face the full force of the law and my government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” the Prime Minister said.
Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the attacks were a shameful act of hate.
“What happened in Melbourne … was horrifying,” she posted on social media.
“This is not protest. This is hate. And it has no place in Australia.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan – who did not visit the synagogue yesterday – said Friday’s acts were “disgraceful” and committed by “a pack of cowards”.
Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said “the hate has to stop’’.
“The incitement and the hate has to stop and words are not enough,” he said.
“Real action with real consequences for those who hurt and those who harm is what the public expects and more importantly what the public needs.”
Police said the restaurant attack involved a coalition of anti-police activists and a “splinter group” of about 20 hardcore pro-Palestinian supporters.
++++++
Hamas ready for ceasefire talks
Daily Telegraph / AFP | 6 July 2025
Gaza City: Hamas says it is ready to start talks “immediately” on a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the civil defence agency said Israel’s ongoing offensive killed more than 50 people on Friday.
The announcement came after Hamas held consultations with other Palestinian factions and before a visit on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, where US President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the war, now in its 21st month.
“The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place” the terms of a draft US-backed truce proposal received from mediators, the militant group said.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks but demanded “guarantees” Israel “will not resume its aggression” once hostages held in Gaza are freed.
The conflict in Gaza began with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive aimed at destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages seized by militants.
Two previous ceasefires brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US have seen temporary halts in fighting, coupled with the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Mr Netanyahu earlier on Friday vowed to bring home all the hostages held in Gaza, after coming under massive domestic pressure over their fate.
“I feel a deep commitment, first and foremost, to ensure the return of all our abductees, all of them,” he said.
Mr Trump said on Thursday he wanted “safety for the people of Gaza”. “They’ve gone through hell,” he said.
A Palestinian source earlier this week said the latest proposals included “a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip” – thought to number 22 – “in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees”.
Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.
Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 52 people on Friday.
The IDF said in a statement it had been striking suspected Hamas targets across the territory, including around Gaza City in the north and Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said a 19-year-old sergeant “fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip”.
Mr Mughayyir said the Palestinians killed included five shot while waiting for aid near a US-run site near Rafah in southern Gaza and several who were waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the centre of the territory.
++++++
Fear, despair as violence reigns
Herald-Sun | Eddie Russell – Anna Shreeves – Carly Douglas | 6 July 2025
Police are hunting a mob of anti-police and anti-Jewish protesters who terrorised the CBD on Friday night.
A man who set ablaze a synagogue door was still on the run and security was ramped up across the Jewish community after the city rampage that saw a city Israeli restaurant come under attack.
Three cars were also set on fire at a factory in Greensborough and sprayed with pro-Palestine slogans in a separate attack linked to the three-hour city rampage.
Victoria’s Jewish community is pleading with the Allan government to do more to protect its members and places of worship, while former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said: “The hate has to stop’’.
Mr Frydenberg said there could be “no leave pass for our leaders” in the wake of another “senseless and violent” attack on the Jewish community.
“The incitement and the hate has to stop and words are not enough,” he said.
“Real action with real consequences for those who hurt and those who harm is what the public expects and more importantly what the public needs.”
“Nothing less than Australia’s reputation as a safe place for people of all faiths is at stake.’’
Friday night’s attack involved a coalition of 70 anti-police activists gathered in Swanston St demanding Victoria Police attend no further protests in the city.
The anti-police rally was promoted by the Whistleblower, Activists and Communities Alliance, the Black People’s Union, Total Liberation Alliance and a man dubbed “Charlie the Commie”.
Members of those groups came together after a huge social media call-out urged activists to flood the city in support.
“After repeated, unprovoked assaults by Victoria Police at peaceful protests, we’ve had enough,” the group said.
A “splinter group” of about 20 hardcore pro-Palestinian supporters then headed to Miznon restaurant in Hardware Lane where they entered the restaurant, throwing chairs and food and shouting “death to the IDF”, the Israeli military.
One of the activists who spoke at the No Police at Protests rally earlier in the night was spotted among the mob at Miznon.
Photos capture the activist sticking up her middle finger at restaurant goers.
Earlier in the night, she had declared: “Cops do not keep us safe, we keep us safe.”
Police had to secure the restaurant and form a barrier to protect staff and patrons.
Detectives on Saturday released a clear CCTV image of a man wanted for questioning over the attempted arson at the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in Albert St, which occurred about half an hour before the incident at the city restaurant.
Police say a man was filmed pouring an accelerant over the front door of the synagogue before setting it ablaze but it largely failed to ignite while about 20 people were inside observing the Sabbath.
The force have so far declined to label Friday’s attack as an act of terror, instead calling it a “serious criminal investigation” for the time being.
“Unless we know their intent, we’re really not in a position to class it as a terrorist incident at this stage,” Commander Zorka Dunstan said.
East Melbourne Synagogue rabbi Dovid Gutnik said children and families could have been seriously hurt in the arson.
“It could have been a lot worse because those doors are wooden and there’s carpet, so we were lucky the response was quick,” he said.
Jewish Community Council chief executive Naomi Levin said she and her community had been disappointed by the Allan government’s response to rising levels of anti-Semitism in Victoria.
“They opened the door a year and a half ago by not being strong enough against anti-Semitism when we saw it start rising after the October 7 attacks in Israel,” she said.
“We’ve had a lot of issues with leadership here.”
Premier Jacinta Allan did not visit the synagogue yesterday and is not due to visit today but said Friday’s acts were “disgraceful” and committed by “a pack of cowards”.
“Every Victorian deserves to live in peace and dignity, but the acts we saw last night at the East Melbourne Synagogue – and elsewhere in the city – are designed to shatter that peace and traumatise Jewish families,” she said.
Prominent Jewish community advocate Menachem Vorchheimer said it “speaks volumes” that Ms Allan and Chief Commissioner Mike Bush did not attend the synagogue on Saturday.
“They should have made it their No.1 priority,” he said.
Police will boost their presence on Sunday as pro-Palestine protesters again hit the streets in the CBD at the Free Palestine Coalition Naarm Melbourne rally.
They said protesters would march from the State Library to Flinders St.
A separate rally is expecting members of the Hindu, Iranian and Jewish communities to “come together for a peaceful rally and candlelight vigil” in Spring St at 2pm.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “Anti-Semitism has no place in Australia.
“Those responsible for these shocking acts must face the full force of the law and my government will provide all necessary support towards this effort,” he said.
Mr Albanese said Home Affairs Minister Tony Burkewould visit Melbourne today, and that ASIO would assist the AFP with investigations.
Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines said every resource would be directed towards catching the offenders.
“Those that think they can set fire to a place of worship overnight that is full of worshippers, that is a heinous act, a horrific act, a criminal act – people will be held to account for it,” he said.
In the wake of the Adass Israel firebombing, Ms Allan pledged to bring in laws designed to crack down on violent protests outside of places of worship, along with banning face masks and certain flags.
Opposition police spokesman David Southwick, who labelled Friday night’s attacks “domestic terrorism”, said Ms Allan was “all talk and no action”.
“There were lots of words in December about what she was going to do and yet she’s allowed this to happen again,” he said.
Mr Carbines said the government was consulting a range of multicultural communities and that the laws would be brought before parliament after the winter break.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the attacks were a shameful act of hate.
“This is not protest,” she posted on social media.
“This is hate. And it has no place in Australia.”
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel criticised Victorian authorities for failing to crackdown on soaring anti-Semitism and labelled the attacks “terrorism”.
“Weakness and silence only emboldens the extremists,” she said.
Ms Haskel said the attacks were “yet another reminder of how far racist, anti-Semitic hate crimes have spread in the heart of Australia”.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the incident was “racism in its most vile form” that should be “condemned in the strongest possible terms”.
“Everyone has the right to enjoy simple acts, like enjoying a meal or practising their faith.”
++++++
Anti-cop coalition on march
Herald-Sun | Regan Hodge | 6 July 2025
The protesters who caused chaos at an Israeli restaurant were a coalition of activists from a range of social factions.
About 70 anti-police activists gathered on Swanston St demanding Victoria Police attend no further protests in the city.
The anti-police rally was promoted by the Whistleblower, Activists & Communities Alliance, the Black People’s Union, Total Liberation Alliance and a man dubbed “Charlie the Commie”.
Their combined following reaches more than 52,000 people online.
Members from those groups came together after a huge social media call-out urged fellow protesters to flood the city in support.
“After repeated, unprovoked assaults by Victoria Police at peaceful protests, we’ve had enough,” the group said.
A “splinter group” of about 20 hardcore Palestinian supporters then headed to Miznon, where the violence erupted.
It is not known what crew the man who tried to torch the synagogue is part of, if any.
++++++
Our Friday nightmare
Herald-Sun | Matt Johnston | 6 July 2025
Melbourne’s CBD has a buzz on Friday evenings.
People in suits gather at pubs and bars to celebrate the end of the working week.
Couples and families arrive for a meal and a show.
But on this particular Friday, not long after the sun had set, the buzz was destroyed by violence, arson and hatred.
Protesters dressed in black had gathered near the State Library, and were spreading down the length of Swanston St, chanting for people to die.
Workers heading home near the famous Flinders Street Station saw people wearing makeshift masks made from keffiyehs or scarfs shouting bloodcurdling threats to Israelis.
“Death, death, to IDF,” rang out across one of Melbourne’s busiest intersections.
“Defund the police,” others shouted, as they were followed by people in pink “legal observer” vests, watching for officers to respond.
A few dozen protesters marched towards Town Hall.
An argument broke out between young agitators and a group of other people about 7.30pm.
Witnesses were unsure whether those sparring had started together and splintered, or whether separate rallies were competing for attention.
It was chaotic, and volatile.
Shortly afterwards, some of the protesters headed northwest towards Miznon in Hardware Lane, where peaceful diners enjoyed mezze and pitas.
Outdoor diners who saw the crowd of black-clad rioters approaching fled, according to the chef of nearby restaurant Max on Hardware, Nick Pistikakis.
Those trapped inside the restaurant cowered as tables were overturned and food and furniture were thrown across the restaurant in the direction of patrons and staff.
When police arrived several minutes later they arrested some of the instigators.
Police doused other protest spotfires around the CBD, but across the other side of the city another horror was about to unfold.
An arsonist, now being hunted by police, stalked towards the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation – a synagogue only a short walk from state parliament.
Inside were dozens of worshippers who were celebrating the start of Sabbath – a day of rest in Judaism set aside for family and spiritual reflection.
A young boy playing near to the synagogue door heard a disturbance first, and alerted the worshippers.
Outside, the man was setting fire to the building.
Those who had been inside emerged to disrupt the attack, and the man fled.
A black scorch mark was scored on the door, while a deeper emotional mark was left on those who had been inside the building.
“There were children playing … this is a family synagogue,” Rabbi Dovid Gutnick said. “That’s the really scary thing because they could have opened the door, and the person clearly had bigger plans.”
Lord Mayor Nick Reece, who was in the CBD on Friday evening, set off to the synagogue soon after news of the attack broke to lend support to the community.
He described the mood as deflated but stoic.
While people were distraught that these attacks keep happening at their homes and places of worship, he said the clear message was “we will go on”.
The night of horror for Jewish people, however, was not over yet.
In Greensborough about 4.30am, three cars were graffitied with anti-Semitic messages and set on fire outside a tech business that has been a repeated target.
Police said there was “some connection” between all three crimes – a truism for anyone with Jewish heritage.
As the sun rose on Saturday, worshippers walked solemnly past the singed door at the East Melbourne synagogue to attend their weekly ritual.
During his sermon, Rabbi Gutnick spoke about the area’s history as “a light on the hill”.
For many decades East Melbourne had been a spiritual place shared by Catholics, Jews, Presbyterians and others, he noted.
His message was clear: the light cannot be extinguished by those who peddle hatred and seek to divide a peaceful community.
++++++
Terrorism, plain and simple
Herald-Sun | Jeff Kennett | 6 July 2025
There is no room for vigilantes.
What is going wrong with our society, where we are being subjected to a sense of lawlessness.
Where groups of individuals who, when on their own are probably very decent citizens, but when within a group become intimidating, destructive and lawless.
Where those in charge just continually seem to ignore their activities while frightening society.
Where is our government?
The attacks on Friday night by up to 60 individuals on all manner of things Jewish was not an exercise in democracy.
It was terrorism.
It must be seen as such and responded to as such.
Our government at the highest level must stand up not only for the Jewish community, but all of us.
Words are not enough. Action is.
Any display of weakness now will only encourage ongoing lawlessness.
The attacks on the synagogue and restaurant require – demand – immediate action.
Those committing the crimes have lost their right to the process of law.
They should be arrested and jailed until their case is heard.
Such actions must be met head on.
Recall parliament now. Have the laws changed immediately to meet this new level of terrorism.
No one is safe, Jew or non-Jew, while governments stand by, or back, in the name of freedom of speech or democracy.
These actions are terrorism in their rawest form.
++++++
These attacks are intolerable
Herald-Sun | Editorial | 6 July 2025
The anti-Semitic attacks on Friday night on a synagogue and an Israeli restaurant were disgusting, vile and evil.
And they were not only an attack on the Jewish people, but an attack on our state and all we stand for.
The arson at the east Melbourne synagogue, the invasion of the Miznon restaurant in Hardware Lane and the rolling protest in the CBD were aimed at terrifying the community and targeting people simply because of their faith.
It is beyond the pale that a peaceful Friday night in our city can be torn apart by this disgusting rabble, screaming death to Israeli soldiers and anti-police slogans, and blatantly breaking the law by stopping traffic before unleashing those two terrible incidents.
And what is even more shocking about what happened on Friday night is the terrible truth that this is not an isolated event.
It is just the latest onslaught on a faith.
The Jewish people who have contributed so much to this state have been subject to the most terrible abuse, criminal attacks and threats for years.
It has to stop.
And since October 2023, when Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists, those attacks have only intensified to the point today that our great city, once known as Marvellous Melbourne, is now the protest capital of Australia.
But worse than that, our state, once known for peacefulness and tolerance, is gaining a reputation for being divided, unsafe and the home to religious intolerance and specifically anti-Semitism.
Over the past 20 or so months since the horrifying attack in Israel, we have witnessed an acceleration in that decline into law-breaking, anti-Semitism, intolerance, anarchy and violence.
It has to stop.
It goes without saying that we must have a thorough investigation into these latest incidents, and punishment of the offenders.
But more than that, we need to address the hate that has infected our streets – the hate that fuelled Friday night – but also so many other offences such as the appalling firebombing of the Adass synagogue in Ripponlea in December.
We must not forget, it is a miracle that no one died in that arson attack in December, or last night’s.
These are serious crimes – not protests. They are serious criminal attacks aimed at terrorising the Jewish people.
The Sunday Herald Sun cannot be clearer.
Victoria needs to root out this evil from our state.
We must stand up and stop this affront to our democracy and our way of life.
The Premier, the Chief Commissioner, all political parties, all religions and fair-minded Victorians need to show we will not tolerate this, and that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish people.
And to the Premier and the Chief Commissioner – and our Prime Minister – we say clearly, we need action, not words.
You need to show – by what you do – that you are on this.
Because our tolerance, our democracy, is being abused by a dangerous minority of anti-Semites, troublemakers with a political agenda to impose their will on us, believing that they are above the law.
In the 20 months since Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel to kill innocent men and women – mothers and fathers, sons and daughters – pro-Palestinian, anti-Jewish supporters have wreaked havoc in this city.
Every weekend for almost a year they spread their hate by taking over our streets. They did it with impunity and they are threatening to do it again today.
Once again, life in the CBD will be disrupted by angry protesters, bent on having maximum impact on the lives of everyday Victorians and spreading their hatred for Jewish Australians.
They seek to take control of the streets from the police, from everyday law-abiding Victorians who pay their taxes, do not scream abuse or chant vile slogans, and simply want to enjoy a day in our capital.
But they cannot because the protesters are in charge, with their bile, their wants, their hate and their wishes taking precedence over the silent majority.
It has to stop.
From the planned protest today, those weekly protests in the city that started back in 2023 to those many lower profile attacks on Jewish people here, we have seen a complete failure to protect a religious group that simply want to live their lives in peace.
The lack of action has allowed the anti-Semitic views to fester and effectively given tacit assent to those views.
This must end now.
These views are a threat, not only to the Jewish faith but to our democracy.
And we will watch closely to see who stands up for the Jewish people, who visits and comforts those targeted, and who takes action for them.
At the Sunday Herald Sun, we are unambiguous in our position.
Today we proudly stand with the Jewish people and we condemn in the strongest possible terms the anti-Semitic attacks on Friday night and the continued assault on the Jewish people, here and abroad.
++++++
Two US aid workers hurt: Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Canberra Times / AAP | 6 July 2025
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9009148/two-us-aid-workers-hurt-gaza-humanitarian-foundation/
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says two US aid workers have suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a grenade attack at a food distribution site in the Gaza Strip.
The United States and Israeli-backed GHF said in a statement that the injured workers were receiving medical treatment and were in a stable condition.
“The attack – which preliminary information indicates was carried out by two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans – occurred at the conclusion of an otherwise successful distribution in which thousands of Gazans safely received food,” the GHF said.
The GHF, which began distributing aid in the Gaza Strip in May, employs private US military contractors tasked with providing security at their sites.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The Israeli military, in a later statement, accused what it called “terrorist organisations” of sabotaging the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip.
There has been an escalation in violence in the enclave as efforts continue to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza Strip hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said on Saturday.
Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalise” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Gazan authorities reported at least 70 people have been killed in the territory by the Israeli military in the last 24 hours, including 23 near aid distribution sites.
The ministry did not specify where or how exactly they had been killed.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the reports.
In a statement on Friday, the military said that in the past week, troops had killed 100 militants in the Gaza Strip and claimed that it had “operational control” over 65 per cent of the enclave after an offensive against Hamas fighters in the north.
The Hamas-run interior ministry on Thursday warned residents of the coastal enclave not to assist the GHF, saying deadly incidents near its food distribution sites endangered hungry Gazans.
The GHF has said it has delivered more than 52 million meals to Palestinians in five weeks.
The GHF bypasses traditional aid channels, including the United Nations, which says the US-based organisation is neither impartial nor neutral.
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on the Gaza Strip on May 19, the UN says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid handouts.
A senior UN official said last week that the majority of people killed were trying to reach aid distribution sites of the GHF.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians.
It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced the strip’s entire population and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes.
Israel denies the accusations.
++++++
Israel continues airstrikes on Gaza after Hamas says it is ready for ceasefire talks
Hopes that pause to the killing may be agreed were boosted despite 24 Palestinians being killed including 10 seeking aid
The Guardian | Jason Burke | 6 July 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/05/israel-airstrikes-gaza-hamas-ceasefire-talks
Israel has continued to launch waves of airstrikes in Gaza, hours after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
The announcement by the militant Islamist organisation increased hopes that a deal may be done within days to pause the killing in Gaza and possibly end the near 21-month conflict.
On Saturday night Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the country would send negotiators to Qatar on Sunday for talks, despite his office also saying that changes requested by Hamas were not acceptable.
Saturday was relatively “calmer” after days of intense bombardment, aid officials and residents in Gaza said, although 24 Palestinians were killed, including 10 people seeking humanitarian aid, according to hospital officials.
Airstrikes struck tents in the Mawasi coastal area in southern Gaza, killing seven, including a Palestinian doctor and his three children, according to medics at a nearby hospital. Four others were killed in the town of Bani Suheila, and three people were killed in three different strikes in the town of Khan Younis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made no immediate comment on the attacks.
Separately, two US contractors with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were injured in the south of the territory after unknown assailants threw grenades at them at a food distribution site, the organisation said.
The GHF, a US-supported private organisation that began handing out food parcels in Gaza last month, has been mired in controversy, with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, saying it was “inherently unsafe” and that it was “killing people”. The GHF denies this, saying it has delivered tens of millions of meals in “safety and security”.
On Saturday night the US state department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, blamed “Hamas terrorists” for the attack, adding in a post on X: “This act of violence against the people actually bringing relief to Gazans lays bare the depravity of Hamas.”
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks in shooting or shelling by the IDF while travelling to GHF sites or gathering in large crowds to get aid from convoys brought into Gaza by the UN that are often stopped and looted.
Aid workers in Gaza have called again for an immediate cessation of hostilities, saying that fuel stocks for NGOs are close to running out, which would lead to the “complete collapse” of humanitarian operations, much of the health system and communications across the territory. Power supplies in Gaza rely primarily on large quantities of diesel for generators.
“We are pretty much down to about half a day’s worth. When that is gone, everything has to shut down,” said one humanitarian worker in Deir al-Balah.
Israel imposed a tight 11-week blockade on Gaza after the most recent ceasefire collapsed in March, which has only been partly lifted to allow a small amount of food aid and medical supplies into the territory. No fuel has been permitted to enter, and supplies that still exist in Gaza are often in Israeli-controlled areas or combat zones and so inaccessible.
Netanyahu is to fly to Washington on Sunday for talks with the US president, Donald Trump, who has said in a series of social media posts that he wants the Gaza war to stop.
Drafts of the proposed deal seen by the Guardian include a provision specifying that Trump would personally announce any ceasefire – possibly in the coming days during Netanyahu’s visit.
However, sources close to Hamas said the organisation wants greater clarity over guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a permanent end to the war and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
There is also disagreement over who would be allowed to deliver the “sufficient aid” described in the draft. Hamas want the GHF to be closed down. Israel wants to maintain a system of distribution independent from the UN or other countries.
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One late on Friday, Trump said he was optimistic and suggested there “could be a Gaza deal” next week. But Israeli media have described a series of steps involving separate Israeli delegations flying to Qatar and Egypt to complete negotiations, and the current draft specifies that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s personal envoy, will travel to the Middle East to finalise the deal.
Analysts said this could mean lengthy delays before an agreement is reached.
The war in Gaza was triggered by a surprise Hamas-led attack into Israel in October 2023, during which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Fifty remain in Gaza, less than half still alive.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to a count by the territory’s ministry of health that is considered reliable by the UN and many western governments.
++++++
‘They’re skin and bones’: doctors in Gaza warn babies at risk of death from lack of formula
Doctors say Israel is blocking deliveries of formula urgently needed as mothers are either dead or too malnourished to feed their babies
The Guardian | William Christou & Malak A Tantesh | 5 July 2025
Doctors in Gaza have warned that hundreds of babies are at risk of death amid a critical shortage of baby milk, as Israel continues to restrict the humanitarian aid that can enter the beleaguered strip.
Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said his ward had only about a week’s worth of infant formula remaining. The doctor has already run out of specialised formula meant for premature babies and is forced to use regular formula, rationing it between the infants under his care.
“I can’t begin to describe how bad things are. Right now, we have enough formula for about one week. But we also have infants outside the hospital without any access to milk. It’s catastrophic,” al-Farra told the Guardian over the phone.
Stocks of infant formula have dwindled in Gaza as Israel has blocked all but a trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory. Food aid that comes through the controversial US-Israeli-backed private company Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) does not include infant formula, according to doctors.
Hanaa al-Taweel, a 27-year-old mother of five living at al-Nuseirat refugee camp, said she was unable to breastfeed as she herself was not getting enough to eat. She has struggled to find infant formula for her 13-month-old child.
“The problem of getting milk started since my son’s birth, as due to my malnutrition and general weakness I wasn’t able to breastfeed my baby,” al-Taweel said.
Doctors have told her that her son is suffering from stunting due to malnutrition and she has noticed he was developing slower than her other children, who had already begun speaking and walking at his age.
“I try to keep a small piece of bread next to me when he sleeps because he wakes up often asking for food. I feel sadness and fear for my children, I fear they will die from hunger, thirst and disease,” she said.
Already 66 Palestinian children have starved to death since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, according to local health authorities.
Amnesty International accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza, which it said was a tactic intended “to inflict genocide against Palestinians”.
Cogat, the Israeli authority responsible for coordinating humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, said it does not restrict the entry of baby food, including formula, into the Gaza Strip. The agency added that more than 1,400 tons of baby food had been delivered to Gaza in recent weeks.
Doctors entering Gaza have resorted to packing individual cans of infant formula in their personal luggage. On at least one occasion, Israeli authorities confiscated 10 cans of infant formula from the luggage of an American doctor recently entering Gaza for a medical mission.
“In the end they confiscated all the cans of baby formula, which was specifically formula for pre-term babies. What on earth is baby formula going to do against the security of the state of Israel?” said Dr Diana Nazzal, a Palestinian-German eye surgeon who helped the American doctor pack his bags in a way that would be acceptable to Israeli border authorities.
Nazzal added that many medical staff entering Gaza are filling their bags with calorie-dense foods such as protein bars and nuts, rather than medical supplies.
Infant formula has become more critical as the hunger crisis has worsened in Gaza, with almost 500,000 people facing catastrophic hunger while the rest of the population is experiencing acute food insecurity.
Mothers who are severely malnourished themselves or have been killed are unable to breastfeed, creating a higher need for formula. On the parallel market, what little supply exists has become exorbitantly expensive, with one can of formula going for about $50 – 10 times the normal price.
“I was able to breastfeed her naturally for one month, but due to lack of food I could no longer continue,” said Nourhan Barakat, a 25-year-old mother of three displaced to Khan Younis. “I know that breastfeeding strengthens the bond between mother and child – but what can I do?”
In late June, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said about 112 children were being admitted daily to Gaza’s hospitals for malnutrition treatment. Malnutrition before the age of three can cause permanent developmental problems.
“This whole generation is being targeted. They will suffer from memory problems, developmental delays … And the problem is even if nutrition becomes available later on, the damage is permanent,” al-Faraa said.
Doctors said the deaths of infants was a worrying sign of Gaza’s looming starvation crisis, as young children are the most vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition.
“When you see babies start to die, panic and alarms should start to flare. Essentially, children are the first to die in starvation crises,” said Dr Thaer Ahmad, a member of a medical delegation trying to deliver aid through the international group Avaaz.
Doctors have blamed the Israeli aid blockade for the shortage, as Israel prevents all but a few aid trucks entering the territory – far below what humanitarians say is required to feed the population. UN agencies say Gaza needs at least 500 trucks a day to meet basic needs, but often less than 50 are admitted.
What UN aid does come through is often confiscated by hungry crowds and armed gangs who have begun looting trucks out of desperation.
If Palestinians want to access aid given by GHF, they have to navigate a complicated, ever-changing set of instructions to queue at one of four distribution sites. More than 500 people have been shot dead by Israeli forces while queueing for aid over the last month.
Humanitarian groups have condemned the GHF, saying it could be complicit in war crimes and that it violates the core principles of humanitarianism. Previously, the UN-led aid system in Gaza maintained more than 400 aid distribution points throughout Gaza set up at points of need. The GHF said it had delivered more than 52m meals in five weeks and that other organisations “stand by helplessly as their aid is looted”.
Israel has said the UN system was being exploited by Hamas to hoard aid, an accusation for which humanitarians say there is no evidence.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 people since 7 October 2023, and was launched in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on the same day that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Israel and Hamas have signalled in recent days that they are nearing a US-brokered ceasefire, though key sticking points remain.
In the meantime, doctors in the territory say time is running out. “You should see the children arriving,” said al-Farra. “They’re just skin and bones. It’s horrifying. The real solution is to end the war, open the crossings and allow baby formula in.”
9236