‘An insult to every Holocaust victim’
JOSH Frydenberg has been targeted by antisemitic vandals for the second time in a month.
JOSH Frydenberg has been targeted by antisemitic vandals for the second time in a month.
A photo of Frydenberg on a billboard in the Melbourne suburb of Kew was defaced with a Hitler moustache, along with a swastika and a dollar sign.
It comes after a number of Frydenberg’s election campaign posters were daubed with Hitler moustaches in the Treasurer’s Kooyong electorate in early April.
On Saturday, Frydenberg condemned the antisemitic graffiti, noting it occurred just days after Yom Hashoah.
“This latest act of vandalism in Kooyong using Nazi symbols on a billboard of mine is an insult to every victim of the Holocaust and every Australian serviceman and woman who fought against Nazi tyranny,” he said.
“To think that this cowardly and criminal act was committed just days after Holocaust Remembrance Day shows how ignorant the perpetrators are of the horrors of history.
“This incident is not about me or my campaign but about a broader and disturbing trend in society of antisemitism and intolerance. ”
Frydenberg added, “Mutual respect is at the heart of a good society and let’s debate ideas and people’s words and records but let’s not as a community accept for one minute this type of behaviour or attitude.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the vandalism as “ugly hatred”, telling reporters on Saturday, “This should have no place in our elections.”
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said the incident is a “painful reminder that antisemitism is alive and well”.
“We trust that those who carried out this crime are identified and are brought to justice,” he said.
In Sydney, meanwhile, Labor candidate for Wentworth Tim Murray had a Hitler moustache daubed on one of his election posters in Woollahra.
AJN STAFF
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