Melbourne Golf Club Vandalised with Anti-Semitic, Homophobic Graffiti

The Victoria police are investigating after Swastikas and homophobic graffiti were sprayed on to the green at the Cranbourne Golf Club in Melbourne.

The Club in a statement said that its staff arrived on the morning of Wednesday May 20 to find the offensive images sprayed on the fourth green. Besides the anti-Semitic Nazi symbol of swastikas, the vandals had spray painted images of a penis as well the word “golf fag’s” on to the green.

The Club, founded in the 1950s by a group from the Jewish community after they were excluded from other clubs, said the vandalism was unacceptable and it was a place “where everyone is welcome regardless of race, religion, faith or gender”.

“It is for this reason more than any other that we find this vandalism abhorrent in its nature and unacceptable in any forum, at any time… The Club has reported the matter to the police, who have increased patrols in the areas in and around the Club, and also to the Anti-Defamation Commission,” club management said. They added that the staff had removed the hole from play so that players did not have to see the vandalism and were painting over the graffiti with a specialised turf paint.

Dr Dvir Abramovich of the ADC condemned the attack as “sickening and chilling’ and said that the incident “reminds us that there are white-supremacists in our midst wishing to intimidate us.” Abramovich has been campaigning to criminalise the public display of the Nazi swastika and other Third Reich insignia.

Aleph Melbourne, a Jewish LGBTQI organisation, said that it was disturbed by the senseless and cowardly act.

“The anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti demonstrates profound immaturity and insensitivity by the perpetrators. “As a support group for LGBTQI Jews we feel the pain doubly. We are targeted for being Jewish. We are targeted for our sexual orientation,” the organisation said in a statement.

“What makes this type of vandalism especially pernicious is that it was laced with hate. It wasn’t an ordinary case of self-expression on a fence or wall, but rather, a calculated and targeted act of intolerance designed to hurt people. We hope that the perpetrators are brought to justice. More than that, we hope that they come to understand the nature of their crime and make amends for their actions,” Aleph said.