An Australian man has been charged for wearing a T-shirt saying “fuck Israel, fuck Zionism” at Bondi Beach.
NSW Police arrested the man at about 12.50pm on Sunday and later confirmed that he was charged with two counts of behaving in offensive manner in/near public place and one count of stalk/intimidate intend fear physical harm.
Australian Jewish Association (AJA) posted photos of the man on social media, and said he had been spotted wearing the same T-shirt in other parts of Sydney’s wealthy eastern suburbs, which has a large Jewish population, in recent days, and labelled the slogans “anti-Semitic”.
“The Jewish community has faced a wave of intimidation and vandalism over the past year,” Mr Gregory told Daily Mail Australia.
“This man has been repeatedly wearing a shirt designed to annoy residents in Sydney’s east. Day after day, he is spotted in neighbourhoods where many proud Jewish people live, including Double Bay and Bondi.
“He presents as an ugly sight, particularly for families and children, who have been confronted by the hatred and swear words he is parading around.”
But many Australians objected to the arrest on social media, and pointed out that just days earlier the AJA was bemoaning a Federal Court decision ordering Pauline Hanson to remove a tweet that “racially vilified” far-left Muslim senator Mehreen Faruqi.
“Yesterday you complained about a lack of freedom of speech and today you complain when someone exercises free speech. Your hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me,” read one popular comment.
No wonder faith in the legal system is falling.
What do you think about the decision by a Federal Court judge to order Senator Pauline Hanson to remove this Tweet about Mehreen Faruqi?
Faruqi posed near a sign calling to keep the world clean of Jews.
Many would view her as… https://t.co/SlkUD2Uul0
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) November 1, 2024
“It should be his right to express disdain against any country and any ideology he likes,” another wrote.
“Bondi doesn’t belong to you and people there aren’t obliged to support Israel. As usual, cops doing the dirty work for a community of laggers and sooks,” said prominent nationalist activist Blair Cottrell.
Another said: “That’s free speech? Why do you believe Australians should be censored for saying a profanity about another country? Israel’s laws don’t apply here (at least we all thought they didn’t, they evidently actually somewhat do!)”
The man was granted conditional bail and will appear in Waverley Local Court in January.
Header image credit: Australian Jewish Association (X)
