Published: 21 November 2023
Last updated: 19 March 2024
‘I hope you die’: ABC children’s news program prompts complaints, bullying.
Graffiti reading “Kill Jews” and “Jew lives here” was painted on the front wall of a residential unit block in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Clayton South last week.
The case is perhaps the most extreme in a growing rash of graffiti and poster antisemitism since the Hamas attack of October 7 and the start of the Gaza war.
Several cases this week were notable for their direct targeting of Jewish Australians with no reference to Israel or claimed political justification.
A ‘“Jew-free zone” was posted in a window in the inner-north suburb of Brunswick.
A street art project will be removed after complaints it evoked antisemitic stereotypes. The City of Port Phillip is removing a mural of grotesque faces by artist Mic Porter, after receiving many complaints about the images, which feature long hooked noses and staring eyes.
The mural was painted across the upper facades of shops along Carlisle Street in Balaclava, the heartland of Jewish shopping in Melbourne, supposedly depicting the characters of the area.
Councillor Marcus Pearl said the council had received many complaints from local traders and residents.
“It’s a very sensitive time at the moment. This is the heart of the Melbourne Jewish community, and I was pretty shocked when I saw these murals,” he told radio station 3AW.
But the series' project manager, another artist called Bailer, defended the work, and said accusing Porter of antisemitism was "ridiculous".
"It's a blatant lie. He has lived in the area for over 40 years and his artwork has been featured heavily on a large scale throughout the area for over 20 years,” Bailer told Yahoo News.
