Antisemitism continues to run rampant in Australia, with a synagogue in Sydney being vandalised with a large red Swastika and the words “Hitler on top”, “Free Palestine,” and “Allah.” Not surprisingly, the perpetrator seems to be of Middle Eastern appearance.
At the same time, APAN President Nasser Mashni has taken no responsibility for the rise in antisemitism, with his weekly hate-filled rallies and other incendiary rhetoric. He has constantly denied his rallies are antisemitic and has even laughably claimed to oppose antisemitism. In fact, last month he claimed any bad behavior ostensibly coming from anti-Israel protesters was actually coming from “Zionist agitators” posing as such:
“Last week we had Zionist agitators from within us. There are Zionists within us that are trying to unmerge the good name and character of our movement … Zionism is a movement of hate, Zionism is a movement of racism, Zionism is a movement of exclusion, Zionism is a movement of genocide.”
Meanwhile, today in Melbourne, his weekly anti-Israel rally took place. A grassroots group named Lions of Zion stood peacefully in Melbourne’s CBD to demonstrate not just against the wave of antisemitic attacks but to show that Melbourne CBD will not be closed to Jews. And their presence seems to have been too much for some of the protesters, who just couldn’t keep their Jew hatred bottled up inside:
Some of the antisemitism actually took place with Mashni nearby and aware of it:
Update: Here is even clearer footage:
Pro-Palestine Rally Organisers Hash Tayeh and Nasser Mashni Stand By as Attendees Hurl Racist Abuse at Jewish People in Melbourne
— Kofy Time (@kofy_time) January 12, 2025
Both Tayeh and Mashni repeatedly deny that their rallies—which have paralysed the city of Melbourne for the past 15 months—are anything but… pic.twitter.com/A6o9J0jcJM
In fact, I was informed by someone who witnessed it that Mashni told the antisemitic woman to pipe it down, clearly worried about the optics after denying the antisemitism of their movement for so long.
No doubt Mashni will continue to not just deny the rise in antisemitism and his role in it, but he will continue to actually mock it.
