Anti-Semitic attack. Photo: AJN file

AJN STAFF

MEMBERS of the community who have been the victim of a hate crime or who have experience dealing with the issue have been invited to make submissions to a government review.

The Victorian Department of Justice is calling for input into an investigation of the state’s laws on the matter.

Key representatives from the Jewish and other communities who have experience dealing with victims have already been consulted, and others are now being asked to voice their views. The findings are expected to be presented to Attorney-General Rob Hulls in September.

The review follows last year’s amendment to the Sentencing Act, which came about after a spate of religious and racially motivated attacks in Victoria, many of them on Indian students.

The Sentencing Amendment Act 2009 implemented a requirement that courts regard “whether an offence was motivated (wholly or partially) by hatred of, or prejudice against, a group of people with common characteristics with which the victim was associated, or with which the offender believed the victim was associated”.
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Anti-Semitic graffiti. Photo: AJN file

NAOMI LEVIN

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Rob Hulls introduced the Sentencing Amendment Bill into the Victorian Parliament last week.

When it passes, Victorian judges will be required to take hate motivations into consideration when sentencing offenders.

The Bill implements the Sentencing Advisory Council’s recommendations on crimes motivated by hatred, including anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice.

“Our courts must have regard as to whether offences are motivated by hate for, or prejudice against, a particular group of people with common characteristics,” Hull said.

“That is why our Government is providing leadership to build respect in our society.”
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PETER KOHN

AN 89-year old Melbourne woman is mourning the death of her great-nephew, who was one of the victims of a shooting rampage at a Tel Aviv centre for gays.

For Tema Alexander of Caulfield, the murder of Nir Katz is a double tragedy, as her nephew, Ram Katz, Nir’s father, died in an operational accident in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) 19 years ago.

Ram was killed in what came to be known as the ‘Tze’elim disaster’ in 1990, in which five soldiers were killed during training, when Nir was seven years old. Read the full story

A wounded man is taken to hospital in Tel Aviv following the fatal shooting at a youth centre. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — A masked gunman wearing black shot and killed two people in an attack at on a gay community center in Tel Aviv.

The victims, killed at the scene with a machine gun Saturday night during a support group meeting for gay teens, were ages 26 and 17. Some 15 others were injured, 4 seriously, according to Ha’aretz.

The attacker has not been apprehended. Police, who have swarmed the Tel Aviv area in search of the gunman, are treating the attack as a hate crime.

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