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The Greatest Hate Crime of All: Gaza in Ruins, the West in Silence
By Jeremy Salt
If damaging two synagogues in Melbourne is an act of hate, does not the same expression apply far more strongly to Israel’s destruction of nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s mosques?
In early July, someone ran up to the front door of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue, threw inflammable liquid onto it, set fire to it, and ran off. The paint was scorched off the lower part of the door but no other damage was done. The newspapers highlighted the presence of 20 worshippers inside the synagogue at the time, but the fire was quickly put out, and no one was hurt.
At about the same time, twenty or so protestors marched from the State Library, not far away, and “stormed” the Israeli-owned Miznon restaurant in Hardware Lane, overturning chairs and “damaging” a window, according to press reports. No one was hurt,t but the diners’ night out was “interrupted.” At least one of the protestors was wearing a Palestinian kuffiyeh, it was noted, as if this itself was a crime, as indeed it might soon be, the way things are going.
The two events were not connected but melded into one in media accounts and political reactions. Federal opposition leader Sussan Ley called them “horrifying” and prime minister Anthony Albanese “shocking” and “cowardly” attacks that had “no place in Australian society.” When the Adass Israel synagogue was attacked last December Albanese described it as an “act of hate”.
Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of “murder, persecution and other inhumane acts,” soon put out a message that the Melbourne events, the scorching of a synagogue door and the overturning of tables at the Miznon restaurant, were “reprehensible. ”
Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister whose arrest the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network had sought when he visited London in April, described these events as “vile anti-semitic attacks.”
The specific accusations against Sa’ar centered on the Israeli bombing of the Ahli hospital in 2023 and the abduction and torture of Dr. Husham al Safiyya, but as a member of the government, he is fully complicit in the Gaza genocide, regarding humanitarian aid to Gaza as “aid to Hamas.”
Ostensibly making a private visit, Sa’ar held a secret meeting with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy. He was allowed into the UK even though two British MPs had recently been refused entry to Israel.
The right questions were never asked by the media about the protest at the “Israeli-owned” restaurant in Melbourne. Had they been asked, readers and viewers would have had a clearer idea of why it was targeted.
The restaurant is part of the Good People Group international ‘hospitality’ chain founded by two Israelis, Shahar Segal and Eyal Shani. Apart from the Miznon in Melbourne and Tel Aviv, they have restaurants in New York, Paris, London, and Vienna.
Formerly in advertising, Segal offered his services to the IDF after October 7, 2023, to “improve” its public messaging. This led to his role as official spokesman to the Israeli media for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which he describes as “the only right and possible way to deliver food to the Gazans without feeding the Hamas terror machine. It’s crystal clear.”
Since being established in February 2025, these GHF ‘aid’ hubs have lured more than 600 Palestinians to their death. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) has described them as “slaughter masquerading as aid.” Palestinians are shot as they converge on the hubs in the early morning by Israeli soldiers and US contractors and – according to some accounts – armed gangs likely to include the Popular Forces, an Israeli-backed criminal group led by Yasser Abu Shabab.
On June 27, Haaretz newspaper reported under the heading of “It’s a killing field” that Israeli soldiers had been ordered to deliberately shoot Palestinians crowding around the GHF distribution points.
Eyal Shani has cooked for IDF soldiers at the Gaza fence. In line with Israel’s efforts to destroy all UN agencies working for Gaza relief, including UNRWA and the WFP (World Food Program), Segal says the GHF “undermines the UN’s efforts, renders its mechanisms irrelevant and shows the world that there’s a better, more effective way that doesn’t play into Hamas’ hands.
The GHF is not an NGO but is jointly run by Israel and the US under the aegis of the Delaware-based Safe Reach Solutions whose objective is to provide “tailored” and “client-based” solutions “that address dynamic on-the-ground challenges with precision and integrity … what sets us apart is our commitment to strategy and execution.” The families of those murdered at the GHF sites have been the result.
Segal, the mouthpiece for the GHF and fully committed to the onslaught on Gaza, provides daily uptakes to Israelis from his base in New York. Had the media asked the necessary questions about his background and connections, Australians would understand why a small group of protestors went to the Miznon restaurant, to draw attention to the fact that its owner is part of the machinery of the Gazan genocide. Many Australians would choose not to eat there if they knew.
Anthony Albanese has described the arson attacks on the two synagogues in Melbourne as cowardly, shocking, and an act of hate. One attack did serious damage, burning out the interior and collapsing the roof; the second only scorched the front door.
In Gaza, Israel has gone much further than scorching a door or collapsing a roof. It has totally destroyed 874 mosques and seriously damaged 275 others, along with damage to three churches, without Albanese even mentioning the fact.
If damaging two synagogues in Melbourne is an act of hate, does not the same expression apply far more strongly to Israel’s destruction of nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s mosques as well as damage to three of its churches? How great does the hatred have to be to destroy not one mosque but to keep going until 874 lie in ruins?
Israel is now committing the greatest hate crime of all. Yet from Australia’s politicians and media, as well as the political-media class in many other countries, comes not even one word of condemnation. A scorched door outrages them, but the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians does not. A protest against genocide outrages them but the genocide itself does not. There is hypocrisy and a moral sickness here that desperately needs a cure.
– Jeremy Salt taught at the University of Melbourne, at Bosporus University in Istanbul and Bilkent University in Ankara for many years, specializing in the modern history of the Middle East. Among his recent publications is his 2008 book, The Unmaking of the Middle East. A History of Western Disorder in Arab Lands (University of California Press) and The Last Ottoman Wars. The Human Cost 1877-1923 (University of Utah Press, 2019). He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
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