Daniel Andrews heckled in a Caulfield synagogue
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has spent the last few weeks visiting various Jewish institutions where he pledged money and grants. ahead of the Victorian election.
Leon Kofmansky
On Friday, he visited the DaMinyan congregation in Caulfield, where he pledged funds towards a brand-new new kitchen and other projects.
As the Premier announced the news of the government grants, local United Australia Party Upper House Candidate Leon Kofmansky interjected, saying: “We are not for sale. You can’t buy us all out. We will not forget what you did to us last year. It is not even your money that you are splashing around. It is taxpayer’s money.”
Mr Kofmansky has explained why he interjected, interrupting the Premier’s speech.
“One year ago, this man terrorised the Jewish community. He forcibly shut down our synagogues during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and sent in the riot police and police on horse-back to patrol the streets of Caulfield to harass and intimidate Jews and he did so under the guise of ‘public health and safety.’ Yet, at the same time, in the name of “the science” and “health” and “safety,” he allowed indoor boxing matches and horse races to function less than 1km away from the main Jewish area.”
“Now that it is election time,” said Mr Kofmansky, “the Premier thinks he can just come into this community like the Pied Piper and throw bags of tax-payers money at us in a bid to buy our vote. This is unacceptable, and I wanted to clearly tell him that we would not forget what he did to us last year and that we cannot be bought out. To make matters worse, he is campaigning with taxpayers’ money and throwing around that money while the State has accumulated a record debt of $170 billion (more than the combined debt of NSW, QLD and Tasmania).”
In spite of the heckling, J-Wire Premier Daniel Andrews was warmly welcomed by those attending the DaMinyan event apart from Mr Kofmansky.
What an extraordinary outburst from Mr Kofmansky! I remember the time he alluded to. The fact is there were many Orthodox Jews in Melbourne completely ignoring Covid health rules at a time when Australians were under-vaccinated and the public expected to keep to rules for health safety as well as the possibility that hospitals and medical facilities would not be able to cope.
How rude and beside the point his remarks are.
Let’s just stick to Daniel Andrews…….