Josh Burns responds to violent antisemitic attack

At 3:20am on Wednesday, six vandals attacked the office of Jewish MP Josh Burns, lighting fires, smashing glass and splashing red paint inside and outside. The vandals made their antisemitic agenda clear, adding horns to a poster of Burns and spray painting "Zionism is Fascism" on his office window.

In the wake of the attack, Burns prepared this message for The Jewish Independent.

Police are investigating the attack, which closed the Macnamara electorate office in St Kilda. Three fire crews were called after fires were lit inside and outside the office.

Burns told a media conference yesterday that the attack had put local residents' lives and livelihoods at risk. "I'm nervous about someone getting hurt, or worse," he said.

He said the culprits were having no effect on the Middle East but were damaging Australia. "What happened outside my office caused distress to my staff, my team, my community. It didn't bring about peace in the Middle East. It just vandalised an office here in Australia and caused distress. No amount of aggression and violence here in Australia is going to change what's happening in the Middle East."

Victoria Police say since late 2023, 84% of religiously prejudice crimes were antisemitic and 93% of politically motivated crimes were anti-Israel. The data comes from Operation Park, which was established late last year to centralise data on prejudice-motivated crimes, in response to the surge in antisemitism.

Burns said the Jewish community had experienced a really hard time over the past seven to eight months.

"The Australia that I grew up in was an Australia of multiculturalism, where the Jewish community could express themselves, could proudly walk down the street, not thinking about where they were, but just participating in Australian life. Now you've got Jewish community members who think about how they present themselves in public. Do they wear a yarmulke? Do they wear items that are visibly showing that they're Jewish? Do they go to university? That's a really terrible thing for people, for Australians, to be experiencing," Burns said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pleaded with activists to stop targeting the offices of members of parliament, saying the people responsible should be prosecuted.

"This is an escalation of the attacks that we've seen. We've been talking about this. We've got to dial this down," he said. "For some people, they feel very strongly about issues in the Middle East. But it's no reason to target MPs half a world away in Australia, and in particular the targeting of a Jewish MP is very distressing."

But the government is still stalling on the appointment of an antisemitism coordinator. The Jewish Independent has spearheaded a campaign for an antisemitism coordinator, as part of an action plan on antisemitism.

Albanese and his staff have also been unable to use his Marrackville office for weeks due to a blockade by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria President Philip Zajac said the Operation Park data showed Australian Jews were not living in safety. “Behind these statistics is anti-Jewish and anti-Israel vilification, intimidation and violence. We are pleased that police investigations continue, arrests have been made and charges laid, albeit very slowly.

"More needs to be done to ensure that Jewish Victorians are safe at home, at work, in all parts of the city, in public places, and in our community spaces and right now, we want to see swift action taken against these incidents,” Zajac said.

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