Hate directed at Jewish councillor
THE target of recent anti-Semitic graffiti in Marrickville has likened the slur to something from 1930s Germany.
A sign advertising the business of Marrickville Liberal Councillor Rosana Tyler, who is also president of Newtown Synagogue, was defaced first with horns, followed by an image of a scrotum containing a Magen David.
Tyler told The AJN the graffiti appeared after a Council motion to increase taxes, which she voted against. No other councillors – including those who voted for the increase – have been targeted.
“Nobody has sent emails to the other councillors making threats or anything with religious connotations, or anything at all,” she said. “To me it does appear like 1930s Germany, ‘the Jews are responsible for all taxes’ sort of thing.”
It is the first time Tyler – who was a vocal critic of the Council’s plan to adopt BDS in 2011 and ran that same year for the state electorate of Marrickville, now abolished in an electoral redistribution – has encountered hate of this nature.
She said the perpetrator is likely someone familiar with Council business.
“Only the few people who are interested in what’s going on [at Council] know that I’m a councillor,” she said.
“Every time my sign has been defaced, I notice it on a Wednesday. We have Council meetings on a Tuesday night.”
She said her fellow councillors are “mortified” and have offered their support.
“The mayor has said that he’ll do a mayoral minute against racism in any form, but anti-Semitism in particular … I’m very happy with his response,” she said.
She has decided not to clean the defaced sign as “the more that I clean it off, the more likely that they are to come back”.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff commented: “This is a racist slur and a despicable violation of the core Australian value of respect for diversity. It highlights the ongoing work we have to do to counter the increasing rise in anti-Semitic incidents.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
Rosana Tyler (right).
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