<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>335159</docID> <postdate>2024-12-12 10:44:41</postdate> <headline>Police crackdown on terror symbols as violence rises</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-335160" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20240502189089474070-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>The level of anti-Semitism in Australia's universities is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> and <strong>Alex Mitchell</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>The net is tightening on three people alleged to have displayed terror symbols as anti-semitism in Australia rises. </strong></p> <p>Police are confident they're closing in on those responsible for inciting fear in Jewish communities but critics say they have acted too slowly.</p> <p>Australia's special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal said a lack of accountability had set a "tone of permissiveness".</p> <p>There were no serious penalties for people displaying terrorist symbols and committing anti-Semitic acts, she said.</p> <p>Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said prosecuting the display of a prohibited terrorist symbol was more than proving someone had waved a flag.</p> <p>Federal police had been working on evidence that would reach the burden of proof required for a successful prosecution, she said, following investigations into the waving of flags at a pro-Palestinian rally.</p> <p>"We have had a lot of back and forth with the (Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions) about the evidence, we are confident we are close on at least three matters," she told ABC radio.</p> <p>"I know this can be frustrating for the community but I want to make sure that we have the best chance of a successful prosecution because that will be the strongest deterrent."</p> <p>Hate laws needed to be strengthened if they weren't adequate enough to prosecute under, Ms Segal said.</p> <p>The special envoy also called for an end to pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking over cities, saying they could be held elsewhere, and said universities needed to do more to make Jewish students feel safer on campus.</p> <p>Anti-Semitism on campuses will be investigated during parliamentary hearings on Thursday with representatives from a number of major tertiary institutions and departmental officials giving evidence.</p> <p>Ms Segal previously told the inquiry universities were a "cauldron of anti-Semitism".</p> <p>Minister for Youth Anne Aly called for Australians to support the Jewish community that was feeling unsafe as they did when Muslims were fearful in the wake of the Christchurch attack.</p> <p>"When it happened to the Muslim community, it hurt us," she told ABC radio.</p> <p>"Remember how the community came together after Christchurch, remember that there is strength in community, remember there is strength in reaching out to each other."</p> <p>The Australian Human Rights Commission is looking into the impact of racism at universities, with a number of institutions suggesting it was a more appropriate avenue for action given a probe should include all forms of religious intolerance.</p> <p>Anti-Semitism, Islamophia, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism had dramatically increased, Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman.</p> <p>"Racism" poured out when there were ruptures in society, he said, adding the way it was tackled was disjointed and ad hoc.</p> <p>"We have a structural problem that is allowing racism to take place and we really need a whole of government, whole of society approach to tackle racism," he said.</p> <p>"We continuously have racism operating in our society and it's embedded in our systems and structures."</p> </body>