Protestors take over the lobby of the visiting hostages families’ hotel

Families of Israeli hostages and victims encountered a pro-Palestinian protest in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Melbourne late last night.

Visiting Australia to talk with leadership, including the Victorian Premier, about the humanitarian situation of their loved ones, they were made to feel unsafe tonight by a group of a screaming throng.

Despite this event, the delegation will continue their Australian tour and share their plea for support for their family members who remain hostages to Hamas terrorists in tunnels under Gaza.

Ambassador Maimon expressed deep disappointment at the feeling of insecurity experienced by the members of the Israeli delegation.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy told J-Wire that the police attended.

A group of pro-Palestine protesters gathered in the foyer of the Crowne Plaza on Wednesday night.

Victoria Police confirmed officers responded to the protest in Docklands but no arrests were made.

“It is understood approximately 20 people walked into a hotel lobby on Spencer Street with flags and signs about 10pm,” police said in a statement.

“The group were moved on by police.”

Deputy Head of Mission at the Israeli embassy Christian Cantor was with the group when the protest started.

“Unfortunately we observed a mob protesting, shouting,” Mr Cantor told 3AW radio.

“An immediate reaction obviously is to take the families outside the hotel. We were led into a police station.”

He said the families found the protest shocking and surprising.

An image of the protest circulated in local media showed more than a dozen people in what appeared to be a hotel lobby holding signs that included ‘Zionism is fascism’ and ‘Free Palestine’.

On Thursday morning, a group calling themselves Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance released a statement claiming to be from protesters who went to Crowne Plaza.

They said an autonomous group went to confront state officials from the Israeli Embassy, with the protest directed at both the officials and hotel because they hosted them.

Police Minister Anthony Carbines spoke to the Israeli ambassador to Australia and labelled the behaviour of protesters appalling, intimidating and bullying.

“People (were) wearing masks, staring down people who were in this parliament just yesterday,” he told reporters at parliament.

“To be intimidated, to have to endure that while guests and staying here in Melbourne is just unnecessary.”

Premier Jacinta Allan condemned targeting people who were grieving, saying all Victorians are expected to act with decency and humanity.

“I condemn the extreme behaviour on display last night, in the strongest possible terms,” Ms Allan posted to X, formerly Twitter.

Ms Allan also revealed that she had with a mother whose son was murdered.

“She – like so many others – has experienced the heartbreak that is every mother’s nightmare, at the hands of terrorists.”

Victorian Liberal MP David Southwick, who represents the electorate of Caulfield which has a strong Jewish cohort, said he had spoken to Israeli visitors while they were at a police station.

“They were horrified,” he said.

The group remained at the station until police deemed it safe for them to return.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said his organisation stood in solidarity with the families of hostages.

“It is difficult to imagine a more hateful and disgusting act than targeting families of Israeli hostages who are visiting our country to talk about their fear and trauma,” he said in a statement.

The Israeli embassy said the group of family and representatives were made to feel unsafe but would continue on their Australian tour.

It comes ahead of Thursday’s planned gathering to protest and mourn the deaths of thousands of children killed in Gaza, organised by a group calling themselves Teachers and School Staff for Palestine.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser said: “Last night in Melbourne, there was another ugly targeted attack on Jewish people.

It follows on top of other actions where synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes have been singled out for harassment.

The harassment of the families of hostages in Melbourne last night represents a new low.

In my faith tradition, we are taught to remember the widow, the orphan and the strange in distress.

The families who have had loved ones kidnapped by a terrorist organisation deserve kindness, not harassment. They are guests in our country and are people who have already suffered so much.

Repeatedly, we have seen police in various state jurisdictions stand idly by whilst Jewish people are harassed, providing a new dimension to the phrase, “the standard by which you walk by is the standard you accept”.

This harassment of Jewish people in Australia must come to an end.

I believe those who harass Jewish people in Australia should be charged using existing laws, and those who participate in such actions and who are not Australian citizens should be deported.

I am writing to the Minister for Immigration, asking him to make such a directive. His duty is to keep Australians safe.

Every person in this country, no matter their race or faith tradition, has a right to be free from harassment.

Sadly, from our university campuses to suburban streets, we are seeing too many instances where Jewish Australians are not able to exercise that freedom. “

Zionism Victoria issued statement saying: “Innocent civilians who are living through hell, whose children have been slaughtered or kidnapped, were met by a baying mob in the lobby, just a short while after recounting the horrors they experienced – and are still living with – to a 900-strong crowd at Mount Scopus Memorial College in Burwood.

President Yossi Goldfarb asked, “When does intolerance morph into antisemitism? When people invade the hotel of families who have come to share their stories and speak of hope, only to be met by obscenities and hate. This behaviour must be condemned. It is a cancer on our multicultural society.”

“More is needed,” he added. “Much more. This is simply not good enough and our once-prized Victorian multicultural and tolerant society is dying.”

Zionism Victoria Executive Director Zeddy Lawrence said: “However misguided or malicious your anti-Israel views may be, you’re entitled to demonstrate, but to purposefully do so right in the face of parents mourning their sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters who have no idea if they’ll ever see their siblings again, displays a horrific and wilful disregard for human suffering, driven by pure antisemitism and a rabid ideology of hate.”

He added, “The contrast could not be more stark between the reverential reception they received at the community event we hosted that evening, where the audience listened in silence, overwhelmed by the emotion of the occasion, and the disrespect and sheer lack of humanity that greeted them when they entered the hotel.

“It is simply incomprehensible that people could behave like this and that this could have been allowed to happen.”

The Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler said, “There is support for the Palestinian cause, and then there is the vile, cruel intimidation of people whose loved ones have been kidnapped by rapists, murderers and torturers.

It is absolutely disgusting that anyone would seek to intimidate these relatives, who are already suffering the trauma of having their family members kidnapped or murdered. These protesters need to take a long look in the mirror and ask why they are supporting a terrorist regime.”

AAP/J-Wire