A FRESH wave of racial hatred against the Jewish community, including calls for a Hitler clone and ethnic cleansing, has been sparked by the anti-Israel boycott campaign of the Max Brenner chocolate shop chain.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has blasted some coverage of the pro-Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign that has fuelled the online attacks.
ECAJ has unearthed an online video "news" report of the arrest - and acquittal last month - of 16 protesters outside a Max Brenner store in Melbourne earlier this year. The report has been aired globally with a heavy pro-Palestinian flavour and claims that no police were injured, despite official claims to the contrary.
The YouTube report has attracted a wave of offensive and racist anti-Jewish comments that have been posted for weeks without being moderated.
Among the comments were: "Keep spreading the word against the Jew cancer, bro or sis!"
Another alleges a Jewish banking and financial conspiracy in Australia while another declares: "We can only wish that Hitler or someone like him will return."
A third post states: "know anyone who doesn't HATE JEWS(?)".
Paul Jay, the senior editor of the offending US online news outlet The Real News Network, told The Australian yesterday the outlet would strip the YouTube posting of the comments.
But Mr Jay said that anti-Semitism was a common problem when reporting about Israel and it was difficult to clean out all offending material because of the thousands of videos on the web.
ECAJ executive director Peter Wertheim said there was evidence on Facebook that the Victorian Students for Palestine were involved in the video production. "Organisers of the BDS movement and anti-Israel protests in Australia insist that their activities have nothing to do with anti-Semitism, but this facade is wearing very thin indeed," Mr Wertheim said. "Victorian Students For Palestine need to face up to some very hard questions. What is it about their social media, and the general political line they take, that makes out-and-out racists feel that they have a sympathetic home there for their toxic comments?"
A spokeswoman for Victorian Students for Palestine said the video production was not the work of the VSP. But the organisation's Facebook site claims that the video was "put together by members of SFP for the Real News Network".
While this raises questions about the independence of the report, there is no evidence to suggest Victorian Students for Palestine were behind the posts.
Mr Jay said the reporter was hired on a freelance basis and had not declared any links to Victorian Students for Palestine.
The report attacks News Limited coverage of the dispute and falsely claims that no police were injured in the fracas.
Victoria Police said yesterday that three police sustained minor injuries in the melee. A magistrate last month dismissed trespass charges against 16 BDS protesters, finding they had a lawful right to be in the public space outside the Max Brenner store and their demonstration was lawful and did not pose a threat to public order
