By Bimni Plesser and James Dowling
Source: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/young-rabbis-targeted-by-vile-abuse-including-calls-for-another-bondi-attack/news-story/8100c040e6674a88d379260f127851fa?giftid=ykNVol00uY
A social media post about two Jewish men doing outreach work in regional Australia has been inundated with antisemitic vitriol, including calls for another Bondi Beach terror attack.
Just six months after 15 people were killed by alleged terrorists Naveed and Sajid Akram, two young rabbis were targeted by antisemites on social media.
On June 19, Chabad of Rural and Regional Australia posted a photo of volunteer rabbis Mendy Mendelzon, 21, and Ari Segelman, 22, on a road trip from Victoria to Western Australia.
In the days that followed, more than 60,000 people viewed the Facebook post, hundreds of whom left comments. Among them were vile antisemitic slogans and a call for another terror attack.
Referring to the rabbis' work, Facebook user Peter Kane wrote: "'outreach' lol. Hopefully someone pulls another Bondi Beach event". It was liked by a dozen different users.
Other comments under the post included "Dirty Zionists", "Here to take over?", and - "Another land grab in the making?", which had 345 likes.
Jews were referred to as "pathetic genocidal maniacs", rapists, thieves and murderers.
Rabbis Segelman and Mendelzon flank rural Jewish man Ron, giving him the chance to hold a Torah scroll for the first time. Picture: Supplied
The Australian Federal Police told The Australian it had "received a report of crime in relation to alleged antisemitic comments on a social media post".
"The AFP's national security investigations teams continue to investigate threats against Jewish Australians," a spokesperson said. "Further comment will be provided at an appropriate time."
The two young rabbis, who spent the past year in Israel before travelling to Australia to volunteer, told The Australian that seeing the threats and jabs was a shock after receiving resoundingly positive reactions during their journey.
His commitment to his work unshaken, Rabbi Mendelzon said the online antisemites were simply "cowards... hiding behind screens". But their words still hurt Jewish Australians, especial those in rural areas.
"Sometimes their only Jewish connection is the internet, and when they see these outrageous and hateful comments against Jews on social media, it definitely does affect them," he said.
When asked whether the hateful comments made him hesitant to do more outreach work, Rabbi Mendelzon said "on the contrary... the more hatred, the more people tell us to be quiet about Judaism and be less proud about it, the more proud I want to be, the more out there I want to be," he said. "(But) it definitely is there in the back of my mind... (that) people are extreme and they're willing to be violent."
Rabbi Segelman, who grew up in Sydney, said he had noticed an uptick in antisemitism in Australia. "Maybe it's because I was an innocent child, but I remember a clear difference," he said.
"There's so much more talk about antisemitism in Australia, and it's just gone to a crazy extent. So in my head, it does feel very different, more extreme over here."
Chabad of RARA co-director Menachem Aron, 30, told The Australian the latest slew of comments went beyond anything he'd seen before. "We do get comments fairly often that are antisemitic, but... that post has been something we haven't really seen before," he said.
Rabbi Aron said social media platforms needed to take responsibility for managing hateful content. "that post reached over 60,000 people. Other posts that we've had have reached 2000 people. The platforms are behind the algorithms that are making these posts move where they do," he said.
"It's disheartening that it's up to us to put up with this fight. It's really up to platforms and regulators in charge of those platforms to ensure they're being held to standards."
"The social media companies are not sufficiently addressing antisemitism online. Regulatory obligations must be imposed on them, because they are not taking care of the problem themselves," he said.
"If obligations are imposed on social media platforms, they must be capable of being enforced in Australia. If social media platforms are capable of inflicting harm, or are actually inflicting harm upon Australians, the laws of Australia must be capable of securing accountability for those harms."
Rabbi Aron said "talk leads to action" and calls for terrorism could not be ignored.
"At the same time, we're going to continue doing what we're doing. It may require further resources to do so, and security and safety is obviously paramount, but we're not going to stop what we're doing," he said.
The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Friday concluded a block of hearings into social media antisemitism, where senior counsel assisting, Richard Lancaster, made clear the inquiry was set to recommend new standards for tech giants.