Neo-Nazis have staged another demonstration, again dressed in black and wearing masks, on the steps of the Victorian Parliament. At previously demonstrations they marched around making Nazi salutes, which led to new laws banning the salute and Nazi symbols under both federal law and Victorian State law. Limitations on the neo-Nazi activity have now been further tightened, including a ban on masks at protests, and new powers for police at protests – though these laws are yet to come into force.
The new laws follow the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue, the most serious of the many antisemitic incidents that have occurred in Victoria in 2024. Once the new laws take effect, Nazi protest like this will be far harder.
The Nazis carried a large banner saying “Jews Hate Freedom”. A video uploaded to X has an unmasked leader ranting to the camera. The video has been spread by a range of neo-Nazi accounts.
The speaker is Joel Davis, who according to the ABC is a “far-right activist” and who appeared last month on a podcast with two other well known neo-Nazis, Thomas Sewell and Blair Cottrell. A post by a verified account on X belonging to Joel Davis confirms he was there and shares a copy of the video, posted at 7:50pm Melbourne time, which had been seen over 13,600 times by 2:05 am the next day (6 hours later). The post also includes a lighting bolt emoji which in context is being used as a Nazi symbol, one half of the SS lighting bolt symbol used by the Schutzstaffel (the SS). The laws banning Nazi symbols in NSW would allow action to be taken over this use of a Nazi symbol, while the laws in Victoria are far more limited and only cover the Nazi Swastika.
A picture from the video can be compared to that used by the ABC and the profile picture on X.
To remove any doubt, Joel later (at 10:10 pm) states on X that he is the person not wearing a mask:
In the video the speak makes the following antisemitic statements:
- At 0:25 seconds: “Why does 0.4% of the Australian population, the Jews, get to dictate to the Victorian Government what our freedoms should and should not be. I tell you why. Because of the money and power Jews have.” This is an example of asserting a Jewish power conspiracy, that the government is being controlled rather than deciding to take action on antisemitism on its own.
- At 0:47 seconds “This Country does not belong to the Jews. It belongs to the White Australian people that built it.” This is an example of white supremacy. It runs against Australia’s multiculturalism and against social cohesion. It also ignores Indigenous Australians connection to country, and the contribution of the Jewish community, and of the many other ethnic communities, in building the Australia we have today. (Jewish people who made a significant contribution to Australian history include: Sir John Monash, Sir Isaac Isaacs, Sir Zelman Cowen, Sir Julian Salomons, Sidney Myer and many others.)
- At 0:56 “They said, because their synagogue got ‘fire bombed’, our political rights need to be taken from us. They probably bombed their own synagogue, but even if they didn’t, it’s irrelevant. The point remains, what does it have to do with our political freedoms? Nothing!” This comment seeks to cast doubt on the facts of the firebombing (air quotes on used when this is said), and assert a false flag conspiracy theory. It also seems to suggest the speaker believes the “political freedom” of White Supremacists should be absolute and not limited to prevent harm to Australia’s multicultural community.
- At 1:20: “Jews hate freedom. And this government is complicit in the destruction of our freedoms. It is an outrage. We must stand against it.” This returns to attacking Jews and claiming “the Jews” are controlling the government, a return to the antisemitic power conspiracy theories. The phrasing allows the statement to be taken in two ways, the other of which is that it is “The Jews” that “we must stand against”, rather than merely “the destruction of our freedoms”.
The crowd chants:
- At 1:35: “The Jews must go!” giving voice to the second meaning above.
The speaker continues:
- At 1:36: “Freedom for the White Man!” to which the crowd repeated “The Jews must go!”
- At 1:38: “Hail Victory!” (the literal translation of the Nazi chant “Sieg Heil” used in Nazi rallied and usually accompanied by a Nazi salute. The crowd responds “Hail Victory”. The back and forth chant is repeated again.
- At 1:42: “White Power!” which is then repeated by the crowd, then the speaker, then the crowd again. This is again a white supremacist chant.
- At 1:46: “White man” which is then repeated by the crowd, and this exchange repeats multiple times.
- At 1:55 the chanting returns to “Freedom for the White man”, which is repeated by the crowd. After this, the chant of “Freedom for the White man” is responded to by the crowd with “The Jews must go!”.
In addition to the real world neo-Nazi activities, this incident shows how after major cuts to trust and stafety staff, X (formerly Twitter) is now a mainstream platform for neo-Nazis in Australia. Unlike in Europe, where X has multiple staff working to remove hate speech and extremism, in Australia they have been taking a combative approach with online safety, fail to provide local trust and safety staff, and allow extremism and hate to run rampant.
(An update follows below)
The Online Hate Prevention Institute plays a key role in combating antisemitism in Australia and around the world. We’re currently seeking 500 people to support this work with a donation (tax deductible in Australia) of $5 or more.
Update 27 December 2024
When we published this article the story was not yet in the mainstream media. It has now been widely covered and more can be read in the articles below (note that some are paywalled).
The main development is police have made a commitment to identify all of the neo-Nazis who participated in the protest. The house of Joel Davis, the leader we identified above, was raided by police. Joel himself latered turned himself in to police and was released on bail, pending a court hearing.
7 News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsAMpCYspk
Sydney Morning Herald: https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/police-vow-to-find-men-who-held-antisemitic-sign-on-steps-of-victorian-parliament-20241221-p5l05b.html
The Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14213513/Neo-Nazis-unfurl-Jews-hate-freedom-banner-steps-Victorian-parliament-brazen-protest.html
The Australian Jewish News: https://www.australianjewishnews.com/neo-nazis-again-sully-victorian-parliament-steps/
J-Wire: https://www.jwire.com.au/neo-nazi-arrested-following-antisemitic-protest-in-melbourne/
The Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-834850
Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-hate-freedom-one-suspect-named-after-neo-nazis-rally-at-melbourne-parliament/
JNS: https://www.jns.org/neo-nazis-fly-antisemitic-banner-at-victoria-parliament/