Jewish-owned Melbourne cafe daubed with Holocaust denial graffiti twice in week

Owner, whose family members are survivors, is shaken by vandalism, but says it won’t force her to close shop

Aliza’s Place Café in Melbourne, Australia (Street view, screen grab captured on July 9, 2019)
Aliza’s Place Café in Melbourne, Australia (Street view, screen grab captured on July 9, 2019)

JTA — A Jewish-owned café in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, was hit with anti-Semitic graffiti twice in one week.

On Saturday, the back fence of Aliza’s Place Café was painted with “The Holocaust didn’t happen but it should have,” and a large blue swastika. It came two days after the same fence was painted with the words “The Holocaust is a lie.”

The owner, Aliza Shuvaly, told the Australian Jewish News after the first attack that many members of her family were Holocaust survivors.

“I cannot ignore this symbol,” Shuvaly told the newspaper. “All my family were Holocaust survivors – my mother’s parents, my husband’s parents – and for me it’s hurting twice. I started to shake, I didn’t know what to do.”

She said she would not allow the attack to force her to close the café.

Victoria Police is investigating the incidents.

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