Yesterday, Hash Tayeh uploaded the following video to his socials:
Tomorrow, Judge Tran at the Human Rights Commission of Victoria will hand down a decision that will determine whether my advocacy for human rights is being labelled a breach of them.
— Hash Tayeh (@HashTayeh) February 25, 2026
For months, Menachem Vorcheimmer has lodged repeated complaints with police, courts, and… pic.twitter.com/LNYBYv0v7a
Guilty of speaking really, really slowly? Yes.
Guilty of mispronouncing “Menachem Vorchheimer” repeatedly? Yes.
And now guilty of racial vilification.
The former boss of the Burgertory restaurant chain has been found to have breached Victoria’s hate speech laws at a pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne’s CBD in 2025.
Hash Tayeh was taken to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) by Jewish lawyer Menachem Vorchheimer.
The VCAT ruling stated that during a speech to a rally on March 23, Mr Tayeh called on the crowd to chant “all Zionists are terrorists”.
The ruling noted that Mr Tayeh had been charged by police two weeks before attending the rally with four criminal charges for allegedly making the same statement in public.
It said Mr Vorchheimer alleged the word “Zionist” was a codeword for “Jew” and that Mr Tayeh’s chant racially and religiously vilified Jewish people.
“The notion of being labelled the derogatory term of ‘terrorist’ for something I have no responsibility for, and for that to be seen as normal, is gut-wrenching and soul-destroying to me,” Mr Vorchheimer said, according to the ruling.
“I felt dehumanised. I felt like the lowest of the low. I no longer feel safe going into the Melbourne CBD, given I am identifiably Jewish.
Mr Vorchheimer has asked VCAT to make orders preventing Mr Tayeh from engaging in similar conduct in the future, to apologise for his actions and order he pay $20,000 to a charity of Mr Vorchheimer’s choosing.
In her ruling, Judge My Anh Tran said Mr Tayeh rejected the suggestion that he had directed his chant towards Jewish people.
“He says that he, and others at the rally, were at pains to make clear that ‘Zionist’ did not equate with ‘Jew,'” Judge Tran wrote.
“He says that the chant was directed (and understood by those present to be directed) only against the current political regime in Israel and its actions after 7 October 2023, and those who supported it.”
Judge Tran said she found there was likely to be a very strong association between the use of the words “all Zionists” and Jewish people in the minds of ordinary rally participants.
“I have also found that the accusation of being a terrorist was one which was inherently likely to incite strong emotions such as hatred and that, if anything, its use in a chant and the rally context enhanced its tendency to do so,” she ruled.
“There was an observable antisemitic and pro-violent presence at the rally. I do not accept that they can be excluded from consideration. Their conduct at this and previous rallies was open and expected. The Act requires consideration of the audience to whom the conduct was actually directed.
“I have concluded that the natural and ordinary effect of thousands of people united in chanting ‘All Zionists are terrorists’ at the rally would be to tip many rally participants over the threshold into hatred directed towards Jewish people.”
The matter will return to VCAT on March 25 for a directions hearing.
Following the decision, Menachem Vorchheimer released the following statement:
Today’s decision affirms a truth that should never have been controversial: freedom of speech in Australia is not absolute. It does not extend to serious racial or religious vilification. I commenced various proceedings in 2024 because I was afraid that words left unchecked would lead to violence. That fear was tragically realised at Bondi, where Jews celebrating Chanukah were targeted in a terrorist massacre — 15 murdered, 41 hospitalised with gunshot wounds. At every stage, I offered the respondents a simple and principled resolution: affirm that protest has limits; affirm that serious vilification is unlawful; affirm that targeting Jews or Jewish institutions over a foreign conflict is wrong and has no place in Australia. Those offers were refused. Instead, I faced threats of costs and relentless personal attacks. This case underscores the fragile environment in which Australian Jews live — why armed guards protect our schools, childcare centres, synagogues and community institutions.
As for Hash Tayeh, he is not a happy nothingburger:
And, as usual, he is lying.
“I have never attacked Jewish people” he says.
Here’s hoping he is well and truly done – like one of his burgers.
