Burgertory founder’s anti-Zionist protest chant incited hatred against Jews

Palestinian activist Hash Tayeh incited hatred against Jews when he led a chant of “All Zionists are terrorists” at a Melbourne protest in March last year, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found.

The ruling, which coincides with this week’s formal opening of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion prompted by the Bondi massacre, is the first in Australia which establishes a clear link between anti-Zionist rhetoric and hatred of Jews.

Jewish Centre for Law and Justice chief executive Alessandra Steele welcomed the judgment as an important line in the sand.

“Anti-Zionist rhetoric can be racial vilification,” she said. “For most Jewish Australians, Zionism is a core component of Jewish identity, grounded in strong cultural, religious and familiar connections to Israel.”

The ruling by tribunal member Judge My Anh Tran means Tayeh, a prominent protest leader and founder of burger chain Burgertory, unlawfully breached the state’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

The tribunal member also found that Nasser Mashni, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network and a nationally recognised figure within the pro-Palestine protest movement, used dehumanising language and evoked antisemitic tropes in his opening speech at the same rally.

“There was an observable, antisemitic and pro-violent presence at the rally,” the tribunal member noted.

Tran is considering what orders, if any, to impose against Tayeh.

The case returns for a further hearing on March 25. Tayeh said he would lodge an appeal.

The VCAT action against Tayeh was brought by Jewish lawyer and self-styled anti-racism campaigner Menachem Vorchheimer, who has become a prolific litigant in antisemitism cases.

Vorchheimer was not at the CBD rally on March 23 where Tayeh led the chant but said he took him to VCAT on principle to call out the use of hateful speech under the guise of political expression at pro-Palestine protests.

“I commenced various legal proceedings in 2024 because I was afraid that words left unchecked would lead to violence,” he said. “That fear was tragically realised at Bondi.

“This case underscores the fragile environment in which Australian Jews live — why armed guards stand at our schools, childcare centres, synagogues and community institutions.”

Vorchheimer’s case against Tayeh was supported by the Jewish Centre for Law and Justice, which is also preparing a class action by Bondi survivors against NSW Police and federal security agencies.

In her reasoning, Tran rejected Tayeh’s argument that his chant was not directed at Jewish people and would have been understood by his fellow protesters as criticism of the Israeli government’s war in Gaza. She also dismissed his public interest defence.

She said while “Zionist” was not a precise term, it referred to anyone who supported Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. She accepted evidence that in Australia this meant most Jews.

Tran also noted that at the rally, other protesters brandished placards with an inverted red triangle – a Hamas targeting symbol – and the slogan “Death to the Zionist Regime” and chanted “Zionists rape children”. A photograph of a protester wearing a “Bash Zionists” T-shirt was tendered as evidence.

The tribunal member accepted evidence provided by three pro-Israel counter-protesters who attended the rally and were subjected to antisemitic invective by unidentified protesters including taunts of “Dirty Jew” and “F— you Jew.”

She found that Mashni, in his opening speech to the rally, referred to the counterprotesters as “Zionist scumbags”.

“A persistent theme of Mr Mashni, Mr Tayeh and other speakers is that ‘Zionists’ are responsible for secretly manipulating governments, police or media,” the judge found. “This evokes the antisemitic trope that Jews are ‘a world-dominating cabal in control of the global financial system, global media, politics’.”

Mashni, who was not a respondent in Vorchheimer’s case, was approached for comment.

Hash Tayeh, in a post to his followers on Instagram, said he respectfully disagreed with the tribunal’s finding.

“My advocacy has always been directed at political ideology and state conduct, not at any race or religion,” he said. “In my view, the decision blurs an important distinction between Judaism as a religion and Zionism as a political ideology.”

This distinction was raised by Tayeh at the hearing but did not convince the tribunal member.

Daniel Aghion, KC, the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the judgment was deeply critical of not only rally speakers but people who attended the rally peacefully and did not speak out against antisemitism they encountered.

“It is long past time for these vitriolic and hateful rallies to be shut down,” he said. “They have no place in the streets of Melbourne or any city in Australia.″⁣

Steele, of the Jewish Centre for Law and Justice, said the pro-Palestinian protests had contributed to “an environment of hostility and division” affecting the Jewish community. “In recent months we have seen an escalation in harassment, intimidation and violence directed at Jewish Australians, culminating in horrific incidents such as the Bondi terror attack last year.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the case against Tayeh was significant and carefully considered.

“This judgment reinforces an important principle in Australian law,” he said. “You are free to criticise governments. You are free to argue about borders, security, settlements, or foreign policy. But you are not free to incite hatred against a racial or religious group.”

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