Australian tribunal rules ‘All Zionists are terrorists’ chant is unlawful

A tribunal in the Australian state of Victoria ruled on Thursday that the chant “All Zionists are terrorists” at a central Melbourne rally constituted racial and religious vilification, finding the slogan broadly targeted Jewish people rather than serving as a legitimate political protest over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Australian media reported.

Melbourne Jewish community advocate Menachem Vorchheimer filed the case against Hash Tayeh, the former owner of the Burgertory restaurant chain and a prominent anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activist, who led the chant at a rally in May 2024.

“The notion of being labeled the derogatory term of ‘terrorist’ for something I have no responsibility for, and for that to be seen as normal, is gut-wrenching and soul-destroying to me,” Vorchheimer said, according to the ruling by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. “I felt dehumanized. I felt like the lowest of the low. I no longer feel safe going into the Melbourne CBD, given I am identifiably Jewish.”

Tayeh had argued the slogan was directed at the Israeli government and its supporters, not at Jewish people, and that protest chants are necessarily provocative simplifications of political positions.

However, the tribunal rejected that defense, finding under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 that — because a significant majority of Australian Jews identify as Zionists — the chant failed to draw a meaningful distinction between political ideology and personal identity, amounting to inciting hatred against a racial and religious group.

“There is no right to a catchy rally slogan,” Judge My Anh Tran said in the ruling, dismissing Tayeh’s argument that the chant constituted protected political speech.

I welcome the decision of Her Honour Vice President Judge Tran that Mr Tayeh’s initiating a chant “All Zionists are terrorists” incited hatred against Jewish people on the ground of race and religious belief

This case affirms that freedom of speech in Australia is not absolute pic.twitter.com/qFnidLR3QP

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— Menachem Vorchheimer (@MenachemV) February 26, 2026

The Jewish Center for Law and Justice, an Australian antisemitism watchdog, welcomed the decision, with CEO Alessandra Steele calling it a landmark ruling that “draws an important line in the sand.”

She said that, for most Jewish Australians, Zionism is a core component of identity grounded in cultural, religious and familial connections to Israel, and that labeling an entire group as terrorists “serves to reverse victim and perpetrator, inciting hatred and division.”

A directions hearing on March 25 will determine what orders, if any, will be imposed. Vorchheimer has asked the tribunal to bar Tayeh from repeating the chant, order a public acknowledgment and apology, and direct an AUD 20,000 (USD 14,200) payment to a charity of Vorchheimer’s choosing.

Tayeh, who was not present in court, also faces separate criminal charges under the Summary Offences Act for allegedly using insulting words in public at a separate rally two weeks earlier — a case in which his lawyers have raised constitutional questions about implied freedom of political communication. Those proceedings remain before the courts. He has pleaded not guilty.

Australia’s Jewish community has been among the hardest hit in the tidal wave of antisemitism across the globe since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the Gaza war.

Australia has seen successive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel marches and protests that have included antisemitic rhetoric, as well as attacks on synagogues, schools and homes. Instances included a terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15, a firebomb attack on a Melbourne synagogue, two nurses who threatened to kill Jewish patients at their hospital, and the law enforcement discovery of a trailer filled with explosives, said to have been intended to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.