The country’s leading Jewish groups condemned the woman’s behavior while saying it was part of a surge of antisemitism throughout Australia.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
An Australian shopkeeper cursed out Israeli customers without provocation Saturday night both before and after throwing them out of her store, earning her the condemnation of the country’s leading Jewish groups
The Queensland tobacconist was set off when the two twenty-something backpackers saw a sign near her counter requesting donations for Palestine and told her that it would be a good idea to find out where exactly the money would be going.
“Get the f**k out of my store!” the unnamed woman allegedly yelled.
She then continued her profanity-laden tirade outside on the street, following them for a few feet as she held a small shovel in her hands.
In a scene caught on camera by one of the pair, she yelled “I don’t give a f**k about Israel but I do care about the fact that you’re a dirty filthy f**king Jew.”
She refused to listen when the man she was confronting quietly and calmly asked, “You wanna listen to what I have to say?” answering, “No. F**k off,” repeating the profanity a few more times.
The video went viral in the Jewish community, which strongly condemned the woman’s behavior while linking it to the huge rise in antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began following the terrorist group’s invasion and massacre of 1,200 people in a surprise attack last October.
The Anti-Defamation Commission called it out as “raw, unfiltered antisemitism,” with Chairman Dr. Dvir Abramovich saying it was “part of a much larger, deeply disturbing trend.”
“This horrifying episode sends a brutal message to Jewish Australians and international visitors alike: that they are not safe in our country,” he told news.com.au.
“Anti-Semitism is creeping into the everyday fabric of our society,” he added, “eroding the very principles we claim to hold dear. And each time these acts go unpunished, they feed into a culture of impunity, encouraging others to follow suit.
“Australia is at a crossroads. Will we let this cancer of hatred define who we are, or will we rise up and reclaim our values of decency, safety, and inclusion?’
The Australian Jewish Association condemned the verbal assault while noting that “Incidents like this are happening every single day across Australia.”
It often does not stop at words alone.
Just on Thursday, for example, a dozen cars and at least three buildings in Woollahra, a suburb of Sydney, were spraypainted overnight with the words “F*** Israel, with one of the cars set ablaze.
In a much broader attack, the livelihoods and sense of personal safety of hundreds of prominent Jewish Australian creatives were threatened for months if not longer by a massive doxxing incident in February, when their personal information and even pictures were put online for the purpose of being shamed and threatened for having expressed support for Israel.