Australia Bans Nazi Symbols and Salutes

Members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally in Draketown, Georgia, on April 21, 2018. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A rise in anti-Semitism in Australia spurred by the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war has led to a ban by the federal government on the selling and promoting of Nazi symbols and the use of Nazi salutes.

The new laws were announced by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in response to reports of an upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents since the war started on Oct. 7 last year.

Coming into effect from Jan. 8, acts such as publically performing the Nazi salute or the display of the Nazi swastika or the symbol of the Schutzstaffel (SS) are now illegal, as is the sale of any war memorabilia adorned with emblems.

A federal ban on publically performing the salute follows ones invoked by the Tasmanian and Victorian state governments in August and October, respectively.

The Summary Offences (Nazi Salute Prohibition) Bill, was expedited into legislation in Victoria after a mob sporting black clothing and making Nazi salutes protested the Israeli retaliation to the Hamas attacks at Flinders Street Station on Oct. 14.

Penalties for displaying a Nazi symbol or gesture in public in Victoria include fines of up to $23,000 (US$15,000) and/or prison time of up to 12 months.

A Sydney man wearing a traditional Jewish Kippah was verbally assaulted with an anti-Semitic slur at Bondi Junction in October. The incident ended in the assault of an innocent bystander and police involvement.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry reports that there has been a six-fold increase in anti-Semitic incidents this year, which includes more incidents since the war began than for all of last year.

“This is the first legislation of its kind and will ensure no one in Australia will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols that celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology,” said Mr. Dreyfus in a statement to reporters.

“The passage of the [legislation] through the federal parliament last month sent a clear message: there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts.”

Ethnic hatred generated from the Israel-Hamas conflict has not been confined to Jewry.

Mark Dreyfus Attorney General of Australia Photo by Michael Masters/Getty Images

In December, Islamophobia Register Australia reported their data as showing a 13-fold increase during the first seven weeks of the war, when compared with the previous year.

The Australian figures for both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are higher than reported figures in the United States and Europe.

The Anti-Defamation League in the United States reported that anti-Semitic incidents increased by 388 percent in the four weeks after Oct. 7, and Islamophobic incidents increased by 216 percent according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Mr. Dreyfus made it clear the use of the swastika within Hinduism and Buddhism would not be affected by the ban.

Swastikas are used by Hindus to represent the four directions. When facing right, the symbol represents the evolution of the universe, and when facing left the involution of the universe.

Also excluded from prosecution are private collectors of World War II souvenirs, but the sale of items is now banned completely.