Melbourne’s Wall of Hope desecrated
The Wall of Hope, located on the exterior of Melbourne’s Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre, was desecrated overnight.
“Free Palestine” was daubed on the Wall, which shows posters bearing images of victims of the October 7 massacre and is dedicated to the 240 plus hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Monday afternoon
The Wall was unveiled on Friday.
It features the slogan “Bring Them Home Now”.
With help from passersby, the staff at Beth Weizmann cleaned the graffiti from the wall.
The centre, which is owned and operated by Zionism Victoria, is home to the community’s principal organisations including Zionism Victoria itself, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, the Zionist Federation of Australia and the United Jewish Education Board, as well as number of charitable and social organisations.
Chair of Beth Weizmann Sam Tatarka, who established the wall with fellow Zionism Victoria board member Baron Katranski, said, “It’s a great shame that some people are so filled with hate that a display in aid of hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza has been defaced.
This will not stop us from publicising their plight. Our community is unbowed by this act of wanton destruction directed at the heart of their community centre.”
Tuesday morning
Zionism Victoria President Yossi Goldfarb added, “While people have a right to protest the current war or call for the establishment of a Palestinian state – something which we, indeed, would welcome as part of a two-state solution – it was truly devastating to see the desecration of the Wall, which only serves to highlight the plight of innocent civilians – the elderly and babies – seized from their homes.
The perpetrators of this vandalism demonstrate a complete lack of humanity and their support for the most heinous of terror organisations and for the most brutal of atrocities.”
Zionism Victoria Executive Director Zeddy Lawrence noted that hours earlier, on Monday evening, 250 people had attended a memorial service in the grounds of Beth Weizmann commemorating the 1,400 Israelis who were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists a month ago.
He said: “Last night at Beth Weizmann, we mourned for those innocent victims of the State of Israel. This morning, we grieve at the sorry state of multiculturalism here in Victoria, where a community centre can be the target of graffiti and images of helpless hostages can be vandalised.”
The area outside Beth Weizmann is covered by CC-TV and footage is now in the hands of the authorities.
My suggestion:
Add another comment to the area (but not over the pictures)… Israel – freeing Palestine and the world of terrorists