Australian pro-Israel counter-protesters told ‘go back to Germany’

"Go Back to Poland! Go Back to Germany!" A woman shouted at pro-Israel activists at the Free Palestine rally in Melbourne's central business district.

By MICHAEL STARR JANUARY 12, 2025 15:49

Members of the Palestine Action Group gather ahead of a rally, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Sydney, Australia May 3, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/ALASDAIR PAL)

Amid a spate of antisemitic incidents in Australia, Melbourne pro-Israel counter-protesters were told to go to Europe and had money thrown at them at a Sunday protest, activist groups claimed.

The Lions of Zion Melbourne activist group published footage on Instagram of pro-Palestinian marchers hurling abuse at counter-protesters.

"Go Back to Poland! Go Back to Germany!" A woman shouted at pro-Israel activists at the Free Palestine rally in Melbourne's central business district.

Lions of Zion also said that change was thrown and flashed at the counter-protesters, "an attempt to reinforce age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes."

Counter-antisemitism activist group J-United published a video of the protest on social media in which anti-Israel protesters chanted "all Zionists are terrorists."

J-United said that this slogan was targeted toward all Jews, "as 95% of us are Zionists."

Riot police stand in line during a protest against the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia, September 11, 2024. (credit: AAP/Con Chronis via REUTERS)

Escalation in antisemitic activity

The Australian Jewish Association said on X Sunday that the streets of Melbourne had been "abandoned to a hate mob for well over a year," referencing the escalation in antisemitic activity in the city and country at large since the October 7 Massacre.

The Free Palestine rally was organized and endorsed by dozens of groups including Free Palestine Melbourne as a joint "refugee and anti-war rally."

"There are nearly 9 million Palestinian refugees around the world, the largest refugee population in the world," Free Palestine Melbourne said on Instagram Tuesday, ahead of the rally. "Today we bear witness to the whole of Gaza destroyed and its indigenous people made homeless through a brutal and systematic policy of Genocide by Israel."

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Hundreds of protesters marched through rain from Victoria State Library to the Flinders Street Station.

Tensions are high in Australia regarding antisemitic incidents, as groups like AJA have accused the Labor-led Australia government of failing to address attacks and fostering anti-Israel sentiment with its current policy on the Levantine conflict.

AJA on Saturday argued on X that the anti-Israel component to antisemitic crimes were being ignored, pointing to the Friday Sydney Southern Synagogue vandalization. One of the vandals scrawled "free Palestine" in addition to Nazi swastikas.

Melbourne was host to a high-profile antisemitic arson attack in early December, when the Adass Israel Synagogue was firebombed.