Australian Jewish parents were sent a picture of their five-year old with the menacing message, ‘We know where you live.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Australian Jews are fearing for their safety, and in some cases, hiding their identities after an antisemitic doxxing campaign led to threats against a five-year old child.
Australian police are investigating the harassment of the family who are Jewish and were targeted by antisemites for not commenting publicly on the war between Israel and Hamas.
The parents were sent a picture of their five-year old with the menacing message, “We know where you live.”
Hundreds of Jewish academics, writers and artists who belonged to a Whatsapp group were the targets of a doxxing campaign during which antisemites publicized their personal information and encouraged those in their circles to harass and threaten them.
Josh Burns, a Jewish Australian lawmaker, said in an interview that he knows at least one family that has gone into hiding because of the harassment they have endured.
“They were completely shattered by this whole experience, where a sort of lynch mob of people were attacking them,” Burns said.
“We’re not talking about people who are in any way connected to the conflict in the Middle East. We’re talking about ordinary Australian citizens who happen to be Jewish,” he added.
Those who defend the practice claim that there are people on the list who were trying to silence pro-Palestinian voices after October 7th massacre, during which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israeli civilians and took over 250 captives.
According to one source, anti-Zionist Jewish members of the Jewish Whatsapp group leaked the information to pro-Palestinian radicals.
The doxxing scandal comes amid growing antisemitism in Australia.
Rabbi Dovid Gutnick of East Melbourne told the Herald Sun newspaper, “We are hearing awful stories about Jewish individuals and families being the subject of harassment and vilification.”
He added, “We are aware of instances where Jewish homes and businesses have been targeted and vandalized simply because they haven’t denounced Israel or their people to the standard demanded by some radical nudnik.”
Australian Jews have reported moving away from heavily Jewish areas because they are concerned for their families’ safety.
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australia Jewry compared the doxxing campaign to the strategies of the Nazis for alienating and targeting Jews.
“There is great shock and disbelief that people are once again drawing up lists of Jews,” Ryvchin said.
“It has been said to me by numerous community members that they feel relief that their parents or grandparents who survived the Holocaust are not alive to see this,” he added.