Death threats, boycotts target Jewish creatives

A five-year-old child was threatened, livelihoods have been lost, and 600 people have had their private details released in widespread attacks on Jews in the arts community.

Victoria Police are pursuing a protection order for a Jewish couple who received a photograph of their five-year-old son from an anti-Zionist activist with the threatening message “I know where you live”.

The culprit, whose identity is known to police, is also responsible for at least one other death threat against a Melbourne Jewish artist. She is not one of those named below.  

The case is the most extreme in a widespread campaign against Jewish people working in the arts sector. Many say they have lost work or clients in an industry which is loudly pro-Palestinian and frequently anti-Zionist. Even those who have no direct connection with Israel and have not made public comments about the Hamas massacre or the war in Gaza have been targeted.

Many of the victims are members of a support group of 600 Jewish creatives who were doxed last week when details from the private WhatsApp group were published by anti-Zionist activists. The group was labelled “Zio600” and accused of supporting “genocide, racism and white supremacism”. “Zio” is a slang and generally abusive term for Zionist. Photographs and business details of many individuals were distributed online.

Those leading the doxing campaign include Jewish anti-Zionist activists, Elsa Tuet-Rosenberg, artists Matt Chun and Zaineb Mazloum, and commentator Clementine Ford.

The couple seeking the protection order runs a gift shop in Melbourne’s northern suburbs which has been forced to close by an antisemitic campaign that started after the Hamas massacre on October 7. They do not want to be identified and are leaving the area out of fear for their own and their child’s safety.