Anti-Semitic graffiti found on an Ikea store in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Anti-Defamation Commission.

Australia’s leading civil rights organization has condemned anti-Semitic and anti-vaccine graffiti found on the side of an IKEA store in Melbourne, Australia.

The Ikea store in the suburb of Richmond was defaced on one wall with the words “No Jew Jab for Oz” and “No Jew Jab” on another wall. A Jewish woman who saw the vandalism reported it to Victoria Police and local council, the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has said. The graffiti was then repainted by a local council staff member.

In a statement released Friday, CDA President Dvir Abramovich referred to the “poisoned alliance” between some opponents of the COVID-19 vaccine and anti-Semitic groups who “feed off each other on conspiracy theories and wacky stories “. He called on elected officials to condemn “this toxic crossroads which can escalate into violence” and explained how the coronavirus pandemic has produced “fertile ground for extremists”.

“Neo-Nazis who first accused Jews of being the root of the ongoing pandemic are now using growing vaccine skepticism and the fact that many people are online during the lockdown , to disseminate their dangerous ideas to a wider audience, ”he said. “This national radicalization is cause for concern, and as last week’s violent anti-containment and anti-vaccination protests in Melbourne and this latest incident demonstrate, there is a coalition of actors who have locked their arms to spread these lies. “

Abramovich said the ADC discovered anti-Semitic messages on a number of Australian anti-vaccine online platforms, including messages that falsely accuse Jews of creating and spreading the COVID-19 virus. As a result, he said, those who may not previously have anti-Semitic prejudices now subscribe to the age-old vilification “that Jews are still the source of global crises and that the vaccine is a biological weapon. , part of a Jewish plot to establish a New World Order and sterilize the white race.

“It is the last in centuries to blame the Jews for the problems plaguing a society dating back to the Jews of medieval Europe accused of intentionally poisoning well,” concluded Abramovich.