Singer, fans perform pro-Nazi salute at Croatia concert
One of Marko Perkovic's most popular songs, played during the late Saturday concert, starts with the dreaded "For the homeland - Ready!" salute, used by Croatia's Nazi-era puppet Ustasha regime that ran concentration camps at the time.
Perkovic, whose stage name is Thompson after a US-made machine gun, had previously said both the song and the salute focused on the 1991-95 ethnic war in Croatia, in which he fought using the American firearm, after the country declared independence from the former Yugoslavia.
He says his controversial song is "a witness of an era".
The 1990s conflict erupted when rebel minority Serbs, backed by neighbouring Serbia, took up guns, intending to split from Croatia and unite with Serbia.
Perkovic's immense popularity in Croatia reflects prevailing nationalist sentiments in the country 30 years after the war ended.
The WWII Ustasha troops in Croatia brutally killed tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and antifascist Croats in a string of concentration camps in the country.
Despite documented atrocities, some nationalists still view the Ustasha regime leaders as founders of the independent Croatian state.
Organisers said half a million people attended Perkovic's concert in the Croatian capital.
Video footage aired by Croatian media showed many fans displaying pro-Nazi salutes earlier in the day.
The salute is punishable by law in Croatia, but courts have ruled Perkovic can use it as part of his song, the Croatian state television HRT said.
Perkovic has been banned from performing in some European cities over frequent pro-Nazi references and displays at his gigs.
Croatia's Vecernji List daily wrote that the concert's "supreme organisation" has been overshadowed by the use of the salute of a regime that signed off on "mass executions of people".
Regional N1 television noted that whatever the modern interpretations of the salute might be, its roots were "undoubtedly" in the Ustasha regime.
The station said that while "Germans have made a clear cut" from anything Nazi-related "to prevent crooked interpretations and the return to a dark past ... Croatia is nowhere near that in 2025".
In neighbouring Serbia, populist President Aleksandar Vucic criticised Perkovic's concerts as a display "of support for pro-Nazi values".
Former Serbian liberal leader Boris Tadic said it was a "great shame for Croatia" and "the European Union" because the concert "glorifies the killing of members of one nation, in this case Serbian".
Croatia joined the EU in 2013.
Croatian police said Perkovic's concert was the biggest ever in the country and an unseen security challenge, requiring the deployment of thousands of officers.
No major incidents were reported.
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Sydney Morning Herald
17 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Inside the splinter group that stormed an Israeli restaurant, as police make more arrests
It would be a night of disturbance for Melbourne's Jewish community. In a separate incident nearby, at almost the same time, a NSW man allegedly attempted to firebomb a synagogue while children and families were inside. Later, in the early hours of Saturday morning in Greensborough, three cars were set alight and a building spray-painted with anti-IDF graffiti at a weapons company with Israeli defence links. No one was physically injured in any of the incidents, and police say they are yet to find a formal link between the three or determine if the firebombing was an act of terror. Both WACA and the broader pro-Palestine movement have disavowed the synagogue arson as a horrifying attack. They say they stand against Israel's war in Gaza, not the Jewish community, and are frustrated by 'the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism'. But two local Palestinian protesters who did not wish to be identified said the WACA activists at Miznon were 'dickheads' too. 'They think they are righteous and have the right to impact innocent bystanders,' said one. 'It ruins public opinion – they do it in Palestine's name, and not one Palestinian was there.' 'There are a few of these groups, and WACA people are one. They come in and take things too far. We have to step in and de-escalate,' said another source, though they also noted that the chant of 'Death to the IDF' again rang out through Melbourne during Sunday's weekly pro-Palestine march. WACA is often shadowy about its activity and membership online, reminding associates not to post evidence of actions and increasingly taking steps to avoid police surveillance through encrypted messaging and carefully planned meet-ups. The group has been on the fringes of a wider campaign to expose Israeli defence ties to local companies and institutions for more than a decade. But, with the outbreak of war in Gaza and a new influx of student activists, their membership and tactics have shifted. The group say it now stands against the police too. Some who stormed the Miznon restaurant wore masks, others shirts emblazoned with 'ACAB', short for 'all cops are bastards'. Last year, WACA members were among many anti-war protesters who clashed with police outside the Land Forces weapons expo in Melbourne. (Some of those cases are still before the courts.) Months earlier, WACA scaled 60-metre cranes, formed barricades and paddled out on canoes to partially shut down the Port of Melbourne more than once as they tried to block an Israeli shipping company from docking. A police source said they had spiked truck tyres and set debris on fire during the blockade. WACA was also the first to post footage of masked vandals spray-painting and lopping the head off the King George V statue in the city during King Charles' birthday holiday last year. For this year's holiday, the same group posted new footage of the statue's head drifting off into the sea 'back to England' in a Deliveroo bag. Among those charged over the Miznon incident so far is 50-year-old Antwany Arnold, who is accused of hurling a chair at a diner at Miznon and was already out on bail for an incident at an earlier protest – which, a court heard, put him in breach of a condition not to travel into the city when he joined the action. WACA spokeswoman Gaye Demanuele, another long-time protester, said she couldn't confirm details of the arrests that would 'make people vulnerable to police' or speak in detail about the group's operations, given recent crackdowns on protest groups in Australia and overseas. Jemima Demanuele, who was photographed sticking up her middle finger at people in the restaurant during the incident, has already been stood down from her job at St Vincent's Hospital as it investigates her conduct. WACA was the 'front facing' mouthpiece of a fluid collective of activists and 'collaborators', Gaye Demanuele said, and had posted a statement 'on behalf of community members' who staged the Miznon action. 'While politicians in so-called Australia clutch their pearls over one meal that was interrupted, we ask people to refocus their attention on Israel's genocidal reign of terror over the Palestinians,' WACA's statement read. Demanuele was also one of the protesters at Miznon, and has been criticised by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for justifying the trashing of the restaurant while appearing in an ABC broadcast this week. 'There is no justification for that,' Albanese said on Thursday. 'The idea that somehow the cause of justice for Palestinians is advanced by behaviour like that is not only delusional, it is destructive.' Asked about criticism of WACA by the broader pro-Palestine movement, Demanuele said: 'People are afraid of being associated with a more radical element because they see how the state represses protest … Because their income is threatened, their reputation is threatened, now [Premier] Jacinta Allan and Anthony Albanese are talking about terrorism.' 'They've formed a taskforce to deal with us,' Demanuele added, referring to Allan's flagged crackdown on protest and the new antisemitism taskforce set up following the synagogue arson and Miznon incident. Federally, too, the government is considering stripping funding from institutions that fail to combat what is deemed hatred against Jewish people, as well as screening visa applicants for antisemitic views. The earlier rally on Friday, railing against recent deaths in custody and alleged police violence at protests, was organised by WACA and other pro-Palestinian groups. But the rally split over WACA's plans to march to Miznon – most refused to join them. Pro-Palestine protesters have been calling for a boycott of Miznon after it emerged that one of its part-owners, Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, was also serving as a spokesman for the controversial US-Israeli aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Contractors guarding the foundation's aid distribution sites have opened fire on starving Palestinians scrambling for food. At least 500 people have been killed and thousands more injured while trying to access aid at the sites, according to the United Nations. Segal, whose restaurants in New York, Toronto and Paris have also drawn criticism from pro-Palestine groups overseas, has since reportedly resigned from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Gaye Demanuele insisted WACA did not instigate any violence at Miznon – it was a 'spontaneous' plan formed on Friday to 'inform diners about where they were spending their money' that spiralled into chaos. 'The restaurant was not targeted because it has Jewish owners,' she said. 'It was targeted because it is repping for the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. There's nothing humanitarian about the GHF – it's an outfit that's set up to lure people into killing fields. At no point were we anti-Jewish.' It was 'disingenuous' for politicians, police, and others to conflate the Miznon action in Melbourne with the arson attacks at the synagogue or the defence company the same night, Demanuele said. 'The fire at the synagogue we are not connected with, and we would condemn. We are not about harming people. A bit of yelling is nothing compared to potentially putting people's lives at risk by burning a synagogue. That's horrific.' Another WACA 'collaborator' Charlie, known as Charlie the Commie online, told this masthead the earlier rally was organised in the wake of recent police assaults on demonstrators, including some that he said had left his friends with lasting injuries.
The Age
21 hours ago
- The Age
Inside the splinter group that stormed an Israeli restaurant, as police make more arrests
It would be a night of disturbance for Melbourne's Jewish community. In a separate incident nearby, at almost the same time, a NSW man allegedly attempted to firebomb a synagogue while children and families were inside. Later, in the early hours of Saturday morning in Greensborough, three cars were set alight and a building spray-painted with anti-IDF graffiti at a weapons company with Israeli defence links. No one was physically injured in any of the incidents, and police say they are yet to find a formal link between the three or determine if the firebombing was an act of terror. Both WACA and the broader pro-Palestine movement have disavowed the synagogue arson as a horrifying attack. They say they stand against Israel's war in Gaza, not the Jewish community, and are frustrated by 'the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism'. But two local Palestinian protesters who did not wish to be identified said the WACA activists at Miznon were 'dickheads' too. 'They think they are righteous and have the right to impact innocent bystanders,' said one. 'It ruins public opinion – they do it in Palestine's name, and not one Palestinian was there.' 'There are a few of these groups, and WACA people are one. They come in and take things too far. We have to step in and de-escalate,' said another source, though they also noted that the chant of 'Death to the IDF' again rang out through Melbourne during Sunday's weekly pro-Palestine march. WACA is often shadowy about its activity and membership online, reminding associates not to post evidence of actions and increasingly taking steps to avoid police surveillance through encrypted messaging and carefully planned meet-ups. The group has been on the fringes of a wider campaign to expose Israeli defence ties to local companies and institutions for more than a decade. But, with the outbreak of war in Gaza and a new influx of student activists, their membership and tactics have shifted. The group say it now stands against the police too. Some who stormed the Miznon restaurant wore masks, others shirts emblazoned with 'ACAB', short for 'all cops are bastards'. Last year, WACA members were among many anti-war protesters who clashed with police outside the Land Forces weapons expo in Melbourne. (Some of those cases are still before the courts.) Months earlier, WACA scaled 60-metre cranes, formed barricades and paddled out on canoes to partially shut down the Port of Melbourne more than once as they tried to block an Israeli shipping company from docking. A police source said they had spiked truck tyres and set debris on fire during the blockade. WACA was also the first to post footage of masked vandals spray-painting and lopping the head off the King George V statue in the city during King Charles' birthday holiday last year. For this year's holiday, the same group posted new footage of the statue's head drifting off into the sea 'back to England' in a Deliveroo bag. Among those charged over the Miznon incident so far is 50-year-old Antwany Arnold, who is accused of hurling a chair at a diner at Miznon and was already out on bail for an incident at an earlier protest – which, a court heard, put him in breach of a condition not to travel into the city when he joined the action. WACA spokeswoman Gaye Demanuele, another long-time protester, said she couldn't confirm details of the arrests that would 'make people vulnerable to police' or speak in detail about the group's operations, given recent crackdowns on protest groups in Australia and overseas. Jemima Demanuele, who was photographed sticking up her middle finger at people in the restaurant during the incident, has already been stood down from her job at St Vincent's Hospital as it investigates her conduct. WACA was the 'front facing' mouthpiece of a fluid collective of activists and 'collaborators', Gaye Demanuele said, and had posted a statement 'on behalf of community members' who staged the Miznon action. 'While politicians in so-called Australia clutch their pearls over one meal that was interrupted, we ask people to refocus their attention on Israel's genocidal reign of terror over the Palestinians,' WACA's statement read. Demanuele was also one of the protesters at Miznon, and has been criticised by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for justifying the trashing of the restaurant while appearing in an ABC broadcast this week. 'There is no justification for that,' Albanese said on Thursday. 'The idea that somehow the cause of justice for Palestinians is advanced by behaviour like that is not only delusional, it is destructive.' Asked about criticism of WACA by the broader pro-Palestine movement, Demanuele said: 'People are afraid of being associated with a more radical element because they see how the state represses protest … Because their income is threatened, their reputation is threatened, now [Premier] Jacinta Allan and Anthony Albanese are talking about terrorism.' 'They've formed a taskforce to deal with us,' Demanuele added, referring to Allan's flagged crackdown on protest and the new antisemitism taskforce set up following the synagogue arson and Miznon incident. Federally, too, the government is considering stripping funding from institutions that fail to combat what is deemed hatred against Jewish people, as well as screening visa applicants for antisemitic views. The earlier rally on Friday, railing against recent deaths in custody and alleged police violence at protests, was organised by WACA and other pro-Palestinian groups. But the rally split over WACA's plans to march to Miznon – most refused to join them. Pro-Palestine protesters have been calling for a boycott of Miznon after it emerged that one of its part-owners, Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, was also serving as a spokesman for the controversial US-Israeli aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Contractors guarding the foundation's aid distribution sites have opened fire on starving Palestinians scrambling for food. At least 500 people have been killed and thousands more injured while trying to access aid at the sites, according to the United Nations. Segal, whose restaurants in New York, Toronto and Paris have also drawn criticism from pro-Palestine groups overseas, has since reportedly resigned from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Gaye Demanuele insisted WACA did not instigate any violence at Miznon – it was a 'spontaneous' plan formed on Friday to 'inform diners about where they were spending their money' that spiralled into chaos. 'The restaurant was not targeted because it has Jewish owners,' she said. 'It was targeted because it is repping for the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. There's nothing humanitarian about the GHF – it's an outfit that's set up to lure people into killing fields. At no point were we anti-Jewish.' It was 'disingenuous' for politicians, police, and others to conflate the Miznon action in Melbourne with the arson attacks at the synagogue or the defence company the same night, Demanuele said. 'The fire at the synagogue we are not connected with, and we would condemn. We are not about harming people. A bit of yelling is nothing compared to potentially putting people's lives at risk by burning a synagogue. That's horrific.' Another WACA 'collaborator' Charlie, known as Charlie the Commie online, told this masthead the earlier rally was organised in the wake of recent police assaults on demonstrators, including some that he said had left his friends with lasting injuries.
The Advertiser
21 hours ago
- The Advertiser
'Extraordinary overreach': anti-Semitism report blasted
A plan to combat anti-Semitism including suggestions funding may be stripped from arts bodies and events amounts to overreach, a pro-Palestinian writer says. The recommendation to axe support for publicly funded institutions and festivals that promote or fail to effectively deal with hate speech is part of Australia's anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal's report. The federal government is considering the advice as it examines ways to combat a surge in discrimination against Jewish Australians. Writer and activist Omar Sakr said adopting the recommendations would lead to further silencing people who supported the Palestinian cause. The report's suggested measures were so wide-ranging they amounted to "extraordinary overreach", he said, arguing pro-Palestinian artists were already treated unfavourably by the sector. "It's beyond clear that the end goal of this strategy is a kind of cultural apartheid and it aims for a total stigmatisation and erasure of Palestinian culture," Sakr said. He was one of a group of writers contracted to provide teen workshops at the State Library of Victoria in 2024 before their agreements were cancelled following an examination of their political views, including his criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. Ms Segal's report, released on Thursday, also suggested deporting and cancelling the visas of people involved in discrimination against Jewish people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was already taking those steps, pointing to the decision to block controversial US rapper Kanye West from entering the country after he released a song titled Heil Hitler. "We screen people ... when they apply for visas it's something that we make sure that we represent Australia's national interests," he told reporters on Friday. Criticism of the report has also focused on Ms Segal's recommendation Australia adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism. Some detractors - including the original author of the definition, Kenneth Stern - argue it conflates anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel and Zionism. Jewish Council of Australia executive officer Max Kaiser labelled the report a "blueprint for silencing dissent", saying the emphasis on surveillance, censorship and punitive control over funding was "straight out of Trump's authoritarian playbook". Ms Segal said those criticisms misunderstood the definition. "(It) clearly says if Israel is criticised, that's absolutely fine - and indeed, so many Israelis are criticising the policies of their own government," she told ABC Radio. She said the Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive organisation, was a small group that did not represent the nation's broader Jewish community. Several other Jewish groups called for her recommendations to be adopted in full. They include embedding Holocaust education into school curriculums and strengthening legislation against hateful conduct, in addition to terminating or withholding funds from universities, broadcasters and cultural institutions that fail to address anti-Semitism. National Union of Students president Ashlyn Horton questioned the way widespread pro-Palestinian student encampment protests were portrayed as targeting Jewish people. "Conflating actual anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel is a massive, massive concern," she said. Universities Australia has committed to considering the report's recommendations. Walkley Award-winning journalist Jan Fran said Israel had killed nearly 200 people in Gaza since Tuesday, while it was also ordering Palestinians into what critics have labelled an internment camp. "If the anti-Semitism envoy's plan stifles criticism of Israel for these actions, particularly at public broadcasters and in media organisations broadly, then we are headed down a very dark path," she said. Ms Segal's report found threats, vandalism and physical violence against Jewish Australians tripled between October 2023 and September 2024. Australia's government-appointed envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, said he would soon provide "comprehensive" recommendations to the prime minister. A plan to combat anti-Semitism including suggestions funding may be stripped from arts bodies and events amounts to overreach, a pro-Palestinian writer says. The recommendation to axe support for publicly funded institutions and festivals that promote or fail to effectively deal with hate speech is part of Australia's anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal's report. The federal government is considering the advice as it examines ways to combat a surge in discrimination against Jewish Australians. Writer and activist Omar Sakr said adopting the recommendations would lead to further silencing people who supported the Palestinian cause. The report's suggested measures were so wide-ranging they amounted to "extraordinary overreach", he said, arguing pro-Palestinian artists were already treated unfavourably by the sector. "It's beyond clear that the end goal of this strategy is a kind of cultural apartheid and it aims for a total stigmatisation and erasure of Palestinian culture," Sakr said. He was one of a group of writers contracted to provide teen workshops at the State Library of Victoria in 2024 before their agreements were cancelled following an examination of their political views, including his criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. Ms Segal's report, released on Thursday, also suggested deporting and cancelling the visas of people involved in discrimination against Jewish people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was already taking those steps, pointing to the decision to block controversial US rapper Kanye West from entering the country after he released a song titled Heil Hitler. "We screen people ... when they apply for visas it's something that we make sure that we represent Australia's national interests," he told reporters on Friday. Criticism of the report has also focused on Ms Segal's recommendation Australia adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism. Some detractors - including the original author of the definition, Kenneth Stern - argue it conflates anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel and Zionism. Jewish Council of Australia executive officer Max Kaiser labelled the report a "blueprint for silencing dissent", saying the emphasis on surveillance, censorship and punitive control over funding was "straight out of Trump's authoritarian playbook". Ms Segal said those criticisms misunderstood the definition. "(It) clearly says if Israel is criticised, that's absolutely fine - and indeed, so many Israelis are criticising the policies of their own government," she told ABC Radio. She said the Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive organisation, was a small group that did not represent the nation's broader Jewish community. Several other Jewish groups called for her recommendations to be adopted in full. They include embedding Holocaust education into school curriculums and strengthening legislation against hateful conduct, in addition to terminating or withholding funds from universities, broadcasters and cultural institutions that fail to address anti-Semitism. National Union of Students president Ashlyn Horton questioned the way widespread pro-Palestinian student encampment protests were portrayed as targeting Jewish people. "Conflating actual anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel is a massive, massive concern," she said. Universities Australia has committed to considering the report's recommendations. Walkley Award-winning journalist Jan Fran said Israel had killed nearly 200 people in Gaza since Tuesday, while it was also ordering Palestinians into what critics have labelled an internment camp. "If the anti-Semitism envoy's plan stifles criticism of Israel for these actions, particularly at public broadcasters and in media organisations broadly, then we are headed down a very dark path," she said. Ms Segal's report found threats, vandalism and physical violence against Jewish Australians tripled between October 2023 and September 2024. Australia's government-appointed envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, said he would soon provide "comprehensive" recommendations to the prime minister. A plan to combat anti-Semitism including suggestions funding may be stripped from arts bodies and events amounts to overreach, a pro-Palestinian writer says. The recommendation to axe support for publicly funded institutions and festivals that promote or fail to effectively deal with hate speech is part of Australia's anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal's report. The federal government is considering the advice as it examines ways to combat a surge in discrimination against Jewish Australians. Writer and activist Omar Sakr said adopting the recommendations would lead to further silencing people who supported the Palestinian cause. The report's suggested measures were so wide-ranging they amounted to "extraordinary overreach", he said, arguing pro-Palestinian artists were already treated unfavourably by the sector. "It's beyond clear that the end goal of this strategy is a kind of cultural apartheid and it aims for a total stigmatisation and erasure of Palestinian culture," Sakr said. He was one of a group of writers contracted to provide teen workshops at the State Library of Victoria in 2024 before their agreements were cancelled following an examination of their political views, including his criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. Ms Segal's report, released on Thursday, also suggested deporting and cancelling the visas of people involved in discrimination against Jewish people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was already taking those steps, pointing to the decision to block controversial US rapper Kanye West from entering the country after he released a song titled Heil Hitler. "We screen people ... when they apply for visas it's something that we make sure that we represent Australia's national interests," he told reporters on Friday. Criticism of the report has also focused on Ms Segal's recommendation Australia adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism. Some detractors - including the original author of the definition, Kenneth Stern - argue it conflates anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel and Zionism. Jewish Council of Australia executive officer Max Kaiser labelled the report a "blueprint for silencing dissent", saying the emphasis on surveillance, censorship and punitive control over funding was "straight out of Trump's authoritarian playbook". Ms Segal said those criticisms misunderstood the definition. "(It) clearly says if Israel is criticised, that's absolutely fine - and indeed, so many Israelis are criticising the policies of their own government," she told ABC Radio. She said the Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive organisation, was a small group that did not represent the nation's broader Jewish community. Several other Jewish groups called for her recommendations to be adopted in full. They include embedding Holocaust education into school curriculums and strengthening legislation against hateful conduct, in addition to terminating or withholding funds from universities, broadcasters and cultural institutions that fail to address anti-Semitism. National Union of Students president Ashlyn Horton questioned the way widespread pro-Palestinian student encampment protests were portrayed as targeting Jewish people. "Conflating actual anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel is a massive, massive concern," she said. Universities Australia has committed to considering the report's recommendations. Walkley Award-winning journalist Jan Fran said Israel had killed nearly 200 people in Gaza since Tuesday, while it was also ordering Palestinians into what critics have labelled an internment camp. "If the anti-Semitism envoy's plan stifles criticism of Israel for these actions, particularly at public broadcasters and in media organisations broadly, then we are headed down a very dark path," she said. Ms Segal's report found threats, vandalism and physical violence against Jewish Australians tripled between October 2023 and September 2024. Australia's government-appointed envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, said he would soon provide "comprehensive" recommendations to the prime minister. A plan to combat anti-Semitism including suggestions funding may be stripped from arts bodies and events amounts to overreach, a pro-Palestinian writer says. The recommendation to axe support for publicly funded institutions and festivals that promote or fail to effectively deal with hate speech is part of Australia's anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal's report. The federal government is considering the advice as it examines ways to combat a surge in discrimination against Jewish Australians. Writer and activist Omar Sakr said adopting the recommendations would lead to further silencing people who supported the Palestinian cause. The report's suggested measures were so wide-ranging they amounted to "extraordinary overreach", he said, arguing pro-Palestinian artists were already treated unfavourably by the sector. "It's beyond clear that the end goal of this strategy is a kind of cultural apartheid and it aims for a total stigmatisation and erasure of Palestinian culture," Sakr said. He was one of a group of writers contracted to provide teen workshops at the State Library of Victoria in 2024 before their agreements were cancelled following an examination of their political views, including his criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. Ms Segal's report, released on Thursday, also suggested deporting and cancelling the visas of people involved in discrimination against Jewish people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was already taking those steps, pointing to the decision to block controversial US rapper Kanye West from entering the country after he released a song titled Heil Hitler. "We screen people ... when they apply for visas it's something that we make sure that we represent Australia's national interests," he told reporters on Friday. Criticism of the report has also focused on Ms Segal's recommendation Australia adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism. Some detractors - including the original author of the definition, Kenneth Stern - argue it conflates anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel and Zionism. Jewish Council of Australia executive officer Max Kaiser labelled the report a "blueprint for silencing dissent", saying the emphasis on surveillance, censorship and punitive control over funding was "straight out of Trump's authoritarian playbook". Ms Segal said those criticisms misunderstood the definition. "(It) clearly says if Israel is criticised, that's absolutely fine - and indeed, so many Israelis are criticising the policies of their own government," she told ABC Radio. She said the Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive organisation, was a small group that did not represent the nation's broader Jewish community. Several other Jewish groups called for her recommendations to be adopted in full. They include embedding Holocaust education into school curriculums and strengthening legislation against hateful conduct, in addition to terminating or withholding funds from universities, broadcasters and cultural institutions that fail to address anti-Semitism. National Union of Students president Ashlyn Horton questioned the way widespread pro-Palestinian student encampment protests were portrayed as targeting Jewish people. "Conflating actual anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel is a massive, massive concern," she said. Universities Australia has committed to considering the report's recommendations. Walkley Award-winning journalist Jan Fran said Israel had killed nearly 200 people in Gaza since Tuesday, while it was also ordering Palestinians into what critics have labelled an internment camp. "If the anti-Semitism envoy's plan stifles criticism of Israel for these actions, particularly at public broadcasters and in media organisations broadly, then we are headed down a very dark path," she said. Ms Segal's report found threats, vandalism and physical violence against Jewish Australians tripled between October 2023 and September 2024. Australia's government-appointed envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, said he would soon provide "comprehensive" recommendations to the prime minister.
