Jewish family allegedly targeted with Nazi salute outside Crown Casino
Victoria Police is investigating after a group of Jewish men were allegedly subjected to antisemitic abuse outside Melbourne’s Crown Casino in the early hours of Saturday 15 March 2026.
One alleged victim, aged 32, said he was sitting on the Yarra Promenade between Crown Casino and the Yarra River in Southbank with three family members, all wearing kippot, when they were targeted. The group was aged between 18 and 34.
Video taken by one of the alleged victims
According to the alleged victim, one man from a group of three performed a Nazi salute and shouted “gas the Jews” and “Heil Hitler” at them at about 11.50pm. Victoria Police confirmed in a statement that “one of the men performed a Nazi salute towards the victims before shouting offensive language,” and that the group then left the area.
Video taken by one of the alleged victims shows a subsequent confrontation in which one of the accused men denies knowing what antisemitism means, while two other men in the group shout “Free Palestine”.
In a second video, an alleged victim says to the man: “Please don’t come at us and give the Nazi salute at us because we’re Jewish.” The man responds: “I apologise for that action.” He asks them to delete the footage of him in exchange for leaving them alone permanently; they refuse.
The alleged victim, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told ‘The Australian’ he was shaken by the incident. “I was deeply impacted by the fact that we’re sitting there, minding our own business, when these idiots felt emboldened to say disgusting slurs to us,” he said.
He added that he was proud to be Jewish and would not be intimidated into hiding his identity. “I lost friends in Bondi,” he said. “But this was the first incident that happened to me personally. This is not how Australians should be acting towards each other.”
Victoria Police confirmed officers are investigating and urged anyone with footage or information to contact Crime Stoppers. “There is absolutely no place at all in our society for antisemitic or hate-based behaviour,” a spokesperson said.
Performing a Nazi salute in public has been an offence in Victoria since October 2023 under section 41K of the Summary Offences Act 1966, carrying a maximum penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment.
The conduct could also constitute an offence under the federal Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and has recently been used to charge a Melbourne airport worker who allegedly performed a Nazi salute towards Jewish schoolchildren in February 2026.
The incident comes amid a sustained and severe surge in antisemitism across Australia. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry documented nearly 1,700 anti-Jewish incidents in the year to September 2025, at almost five times the pre-October 2023 annual average.
