Police investigate “hateful” antisemitic graffiti in the Gold Coast
Queensland Police are investigating a shocking act of antisemitic vandalism discovered near Collyer Quays in Robina, Gold Coast.
The graffiti includes a swastika, the phrase “kill all Jews,” and a cartoon historically used in Nazi propaganda.
The graffiti includes a swastika, the phrase “kill all Jews,” and a cartoon historically used in Nazi propaganda. The incident was reported to authorities at approximately 1:10 pm on Tuesday. Police are reviewing CCTV footage, but no suspects have been identified yet. Displaying hate symbols, including the swastika, has been illegal in Queensland since 2023, with violators facing up to six months in jail.
Speaking to the Courier Mail, Jason Steinberg, President of the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies, condemned the act as not just hateful graffiti but an incitement to violence against Jews. Steinberg emphasized the persistent nature of such hatred and urged the community to assist police by reporting any suspicious activities. He also highlighted the longstanding contributions of the Jewish community to Queensland society and called for equal outrage and support from the broader community in response to this act of hate.
The graffiti near Robina, Gold Coast (Facebook)
Mr Yahav, a local resident who has family ties to Holocaust survivors, expressed deep distress over the attack. “I never thought I would see this… It bothers me that my kids might see that,” he said, noting that the graffiti contributes to “an atmosphere of fear in the Jewish community.”
The local council acted swiftly to remove the graffiti. However, the incident has intensified calls for stronger community support and broader societal condemnation of antisemitism.
This attack comes amid a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents across Australia. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry reported a more than 300 per cent increase in recorded antisemitic events in 2024. Mr Steinberg told The Australian that in Queensland, he’s seen “antisemitism at its peak”.
“When people in the general community see or hear people being antisemitic, they need to call that out,” he said. “Our community will keep participating in society, keep practising our religion and keep being part of this amazing country and state that we live in,” he said.
“What we want is for people outside of our community to be standing up for us, saying this isn’t the Australia or Queensland we want.”
Speaking to J-Wire, Jaso Steinberg said: “This isn’t just graffiti — it’s a direct incitement to murder and a vile reminder of the darkest chapter in human history. A cartoon of a Jewish man with a big nose, a swastika, and the words ‘kill all Jews’ is hate speech. It is antisemitism in its most violent and dehumanising form.
The Jewish community is rightfully horrified, but we are also deeply concerned. Our community have been warning about this kind of hate for years and our new state laws are built to address these crimes. This is a criminal act of racial vilification, and it must be investigated and prosecuted as such. We’d encourage anyone with information to inform the Queensland Police immediately. If this kind of hate was directed at any other minority, the outrage from all faiths and interest groups would be instant. Our community deserves no less.”
In 1968 I arrived in Australia from South Africa; I have been a citizen since late 1969. From the start I was aware of semi-hidden anti-Semitism, in remarks and nasty anti-Jewish “jokes.” Not for a moment, however, did I imagine that this country could reach a point where some Australians would behave like Nazis, ancient blood libels would surface, and we would have a federal government doing absolutely zero to prevent or halt anti-Semitism, with Australian Jewish citizens feeling as threatened as we did during Russian Pogroms and in the Nazi years 1933 to 1945. All of this because our beloved Israel has the “temerity” to defend itself against 75 years of unendurable terrorism, much of which has included shootings, knifings, beheadings of children asleep in their beds, suicide bombings, daily rocket attacks, and the setting of fires designed to destroy crops and towns. It is immensely sad and disillusioning to find that the contributions of Australian Jewish citizens to this beautiful country of ours are being ignored as though we have not ever lived here.
There’s been lives of subterfuge in the past in relation to these raucous behavour patterns I’ve since learned.
Thanks to the Admin. of Australian War Books I’ve finally received Mark Dapin’s book Jewish Anzacs.
Many of our patriotic Australian men of Jewish origin [going back to the Boar War] recorded in WW1 those who changed their names to be accepted in the military many giving their lives to protect this country,
with VC recipients for bravery.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to bring them to life at the relevant seasons…
No where better than J/Wire if I may be so bold.
This is indeed terrible. As Jason Steinberg says, it isn’t just graffiti. It’s wilfully and very specifically antisemitic to the point of endorsing action. It is to be hoped the perpetrator can be tracked down and face the consequences.