MEMBER for Mallee Dr Anne Webster has spoken out against anti-Israel graffiti spray-painted on a public stage at Red Cliffs.
The vandalism referred to the Middle Eastern country as “Nazi” and “evil.”
Dr Webster condemned the act as antisemitic and said the graffiti reflected the growing hostility and prejudice against Jewish people in Australia.
“The Red Cliffs incident is highly concerning,” she said.
“Particularly because it creates a false equivalence between Nazi ideology and the state of Israel, a nation which was revived as a home for those persecuted by the Nazi regime.”
Dr Webster also blamed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and criticised his leadership for addressing rising antisemitism.
“The rapid rise in antisemitism across the country lies at the feet of Prime Minister Albanese, who has failed to show the swift leadership needed ever since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack in Israel,” she said.
“The Albanese Government joined the Greens in blocking the Coalition’s attempt to establish a Commission of Inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities, the furnace that forges the minds of tomorrow.”
Dr Webster compared the Red Cliffs incident to recent acts of antisemitic terrorism.
“The Adas Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, the recent attacks in Dover Heights, and the fire-bombing of a childcare centre in Maroubra have shocked Australia and the world and sadly, there are dark clouds over Mallee,” she said.
The Red Cliffs graffiti marks the second politically motivated act of vandalism in the area in the past month.
In late January, the Henderson Park war memorial was defaced with red spray paint, displaying the symbol of the Aboriginal flag alongside the phrase “kill whites”.
No one has yet been arrested concerning either of the acts of vandalism.
