Aussie sports lovers or events managers may feel the aftereffects of the decision to cancel a hockey world championship in Melbourne due to concerns about antisemitic activity, a Jewish group has warned.
The International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) Division IIA World Championship will not be held in Australia in April because organisers fear the presence of the Israeli team might spur protest activity.
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the overarching Executive Council of Australian Jewry, warned other sporting or cultural events could be impacted if they are perceived to offend certain activist groups.
“It won’t be the Jewish community that primarily suffers over this,” he told The Epoch Times.
“It’ll be sports lovers in Melbourne, the players and coaches who were ready to compete in this tournament.
“And today it’s ice hockey, which maybe of small significance to Australians.
“But tomorrow it could be football, the symphony orchestra—whatever these extremists determine we can’t see because it doesn’t accord with their view of the world.”
His comments have precedence, with retail giant Myer cancelling its Christmas window display after threats of protests from the group Disrupt Wars.
A group that shares a similar naming convention, Disrupt Burrup Hub, has been responsible for ongoing extremist protests targeting Woodside Energy for the supposed destruction of Indigenous art during mining activity.
Sydney, Melbourne Witness Increasing Social Tension
Meanwhile, Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) revealed it made the decision to cancel the games due to safety concerns.It comes as Melbourne and Sydney experience a surge of incidents after the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel.
The defining incident was the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in December 2024, later classified by the authorities as a terrorist attack.
On Jan. 9, it was reported that Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines wrote to Ice Hockey Australia President Ryan O’Handley outlining his disappointment at the games being cancelled.
Christmas Event Just 1 of Many Cases: Ryvchin
Ryvchin said the cancellation of the annual Myer Christmas Windows event was another example of authorities caving to pressure from radical pro-Palestine protestors.“Crash the Christmas Windows” protest organiser Amy Settal said she was “elated” the event did not go ahead.
Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell weighed in, saying her organisation would “continue to peacefully speak up for the tens of thousands of children who have been killed in Gaza.”
Ryvchin said it was time for everybody who values freedom and democracy to stand up and be heard, in order to arrest the trend of events being cancelled to appease certain groups.
Calls for Stronger Government Response
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the cancellation of the international ice hockey games in Melbourne was “unfortunate.”“This is a decision made by Ice Hockey Australia,” he said in an interview on Channel Nine.
“We’re addressing in every single way possible these issues because we understand that [anti-Semitism] is very hurtful for the Jewish community.”
But Ryvchin wants the federal government to show stronger leadership against the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney.
“I would’ve expected—given the significance of this and the context in which it occurred—that the federal government in particular and the sports minister would’ve come out and said this was the wrong move,” he said.
More Synagogues Targeted
Police will deploy a special taskforce to investigate the latest incident, this time at the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah.It happened in the early hours on Jan. 10, with television footage showing multiple swastikas painted on the building, along with a message reading “Hitler on top.”
Ryvchin warned of increasing indifference if the activities continue.
“We’ve been saying for the past 15 months and ever since this escalated on Oct. 7, that this is not who we are, we can’t let normalise this in our country,” he said.
“Well, at some point it is who we are. If this keeps happening over and over again, and the majority of Australians who I know don’t support this and don’t like it but they stay silent, it does become a mark of who we are as a country.”
Ryvchin said the fabric of Australian culture has drastically changed.
“I’m very worried. I’m worried not only as a Jewish-Australian, but more broadly as an Australian as someone who came here from a totalitarian country from the former Soviet Union where I saw what it was like to live with fear and repression,” he said.
“It was where you couldn’t practice your faith publicly and it’s no way to live.
“I’m not saying we’re on the cusp of becoming the Soviet Union, but these things don’t happen overnight. There’s a progression.
“And step-by-step, our rights begin to be eroded and taken away from us, and the character of the country begins to become unrecognisable.”
