Perth – A visiting Hasidic Jewish leader has been the target of
anti-Semitic abuse and threatened with physical violence outside the Morley
Galleria.
The Rebbe, who is in Perth on a lecture tour, and his 21-year-old
assistant were taunted by a group of six teenagers outside the shopping centre
in broad daylight on Monday, a friend of the two men said.
Danny Mayer had come to pick up the pair about 1.30pm when he saw the
Rebbe being accosted.
When Mr Mayer ushered the visitors into his car the youths began banging
on it.
“They were telling us to ‘Fuck
off’, that we were killers and they wanted to ‘fix us up’,” Mr Mayer said.
“They literally wanted us to
come out and fight with them.
“It’s very frightening.
Obviously something you don’t expect in a suburban shopping centre to be
accosted and treated this way.
“It was only when I took my
camera out that they started running away.”
Mr Mayer said he reported the incident to police and shopping centre
management.
A spokesman for Federation Centres, formerly Centro, said security was
aware of the incident but unable to locate the culprits.
Morley MP Ian Britza said yesterday’s attack was “very sad” given the
large Jewish population in his electorate but came as no surprise.
“We’ve been saying for a long
time that there is an element that wants to bring this (anti-Semitism) into our
nation,” Mr Britza said.
“Now it’s happened on a small
scale, what else could happen?
“We need to protect all people
from this kind of violent approach.”
