Police find no hate crime in Canberra bar’s posters of Netanyahu and others as Nazis

Australian police said Wednesday they will return posters depicting politicians and public figures as Nazis that they seized from a Canberra bar last week under new hate crime laws.

The posters in the window depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, US Vice President JD Vance, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Elon Musk, among others, as Nazi soldiers, complete with the Iron Cross and other Nazi-era symbols.

There are also signs in the window reading “Sanction Israel” and “Stop genocide,” alongside Palestinian flags. Israel has denied all accusations of genocide.

Officers declared a crime scene at the Dissent Cafe and Bar and took away the posters a week ago after an individual complained about possible hate crime imagery. The Australian Capital Territory Police said they took the posters in line with laws that ban “prohibited symbols.”

Before confiscating the posters, police said, they asked the bar’s management to remove them, but according to a police statement “the owner declined this request.”

A week after the posters were confiscated, the police said in a statement that they had determined the items did not meet some “aspects” of the legislation.

“As such, criminal proceedings will not occur,” the territory’s police said. “The posters will be returned to the owner in due course, and this matter finalized.”

Under hate crime legislation passed after 15 people were killed in a terror attack targeting a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, it is an offense to display Nazi and other hate symbols or to make the Nazi salute.

However, the law provides an exception for symbols used for a “legitimate purpose,” including artistic, literary, religious, academic, and educational purposes.

“For now, satirical art is still allowed,” the Dissent Cafe and Bar posted on social media.

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 firebomb attack on a 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.