Monument honouring hostages defaced after two days
The images of hostages being held in Gaza on a wall at a busy junction in a Jewish area in Melbourne have been defaced only two days after being displayed.
The Zionist Federation of Australia has expressed outrage over the reprehensible defacement at the corner of St Kilda Rd and
ZFA CEO Alon Cassuto stated, “It is deeply disturbing that photos depicting children and other hostages held by a terrorist organisation were deliberately vandalised by individuals endorsing Hamas’s reprehensible actions.
Our community set up this monument to constantly remind everyone of the ongoing suffering endured by our brothers and sisters in Israel—held captive by the Iran-supported terrorists of Hamas for six months. This display of immense cruelty towards hostages, including infants and women, was met with vandalism within just two days, marked by graffiti advocating for ‘free Palestine.'”
He added, “This incident is not isolated but part of a distressing pattern of vandalism targeting peaceful memorials created by our community. Such actions sabotage the prospects of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
We refuse to be intimidated by such criminal acts.”
The wall featured images of a number of the young captives next to a banner reading ‘Bring Them Home Now.
Zionism Victoria executive director Zeddy Lawrence said, “This deeply distressing act of graffiti – daubing over the faces of innocent civilians who have been held hostage for almost 200 days – betrays a complete lack of humanity on the part of the perpetrators.
Targeting a memorial established by members of the Jewish community does nothing to advance the cause of peace and only serves to fuel tensions, further undermining the multiculturalism that Victoria is supposed to pride itself on.”
A rally was held today to show solidarity.
Interestingly, this block is the site of the former Greyhound Hotel that closed its doors in 2017 before it was demolished.