Marles on Monday visited Mount Scopus Memorial College,the Jewish school in Melbourne graffitied with the words “Jew die” across its entrance late on Friday,alarming students,parents and staff.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he was alarmed by the rise in antisemitism in Australia.Wayne Taylor
Speaking alongside Labor MP Josh Burns,who is Jewish,Marles said the number of antisemitic incidents he had seen in recent months was higher “than any that I’ve seen during my lifetime” and the government wanted to move quickly to draft new hate speech laws.
“The sorts of words that we saw written on the walls of this school have no place in our society,and it is critically important that the nation stands up against this antisemitism,which is why we are here today,” Marles said.
“There is no place for Islamophobia either,and there is no place for prejudice against communities in this country.”
Victoria Police said that it had been conducting regular patrols around the school and released an image of a person detectives wish to speak to about the incident.
Victoria Police wish to speak to this person about antisemitic graffiti painted on a Jewish school on Friday.Supplied
Police also told The Agethat the vandals,if caught,could be charged with criminal damage,offensive behaviour or vilification offences.
Marles’ visit came as Education Minister Jason Clare slammed pro-Palestine protesters at the University of Melbourne for a social media post that said “Israel cannot,will not and should not exist”.
Clare described the post as “repugnant and antisemitic”.
Marles said the government was determined to introduce new criminal laws for those who vilified others based on race,sexuality,gender,disability or religion.
“We do want to do this with a sense of pace,” he said.
“We need to have these laws in place as quickly as we can have them in place,without obviously compromising the thorough consultation which needs to be undertaken.”
This masthead reported on Sunday that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was that would carry criminal rather than civil penalties and was likely to cover deliberate acts intended to incite violence or cause harm.
The bill,which is still being finalised,will enhance federal protections that exist for minority groups in Australia,and stems from the government’s view that existing laws have not been enforced and are not effective.
Mount Scopus principal Dan Sztrajt said he had added extra security because students at his school felt unsafe.Wayne Taylor
“The Albanese government is committed to promoting and supporting respect,acceptance and understanding across the Australian community,” Dreyfus told this masthead on the weekend. “We are committed to protecting the community from those who promote extremism,hatred or seek to incite violence.”
Mount Scopus principal Dan Sztrajt said he believed the graffiti was “a product of the massive rise in antisemitism we’ve seen across Australia over the last few months”,adding the school had increased its security because students no longer felt safe.
Meanwhile,police warned pro-Palestine protesters at the Australian National University in Canberra that they had until 12pm on Tuesday to leave or they would start making arrests.
Asked whether the chant “from the river to the sea” would constitute hate speech under the new laws,Marles said he was deeply uncomfortable with the phrase often used by pro-Palestinian protesters.
“That is a phrase which calls for only one state,” he said,saying it undermined bipartisan support for a two-state solution.
Labor senators earlier this month joined with the Coalition to condemn the phrase after Labor senator while speaking to journalists.
Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its offensive against Hamas in October,Gaza’s Health Ministry says. Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7,killing about 1200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages,according to Israeli tallies.
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