A bridge in Gisborne received a swift paint job after upset residents walked along a footpath underneath and were confronted with antisemitic graffiti on its structure last Tuesday morning.
The bridge’s pillars were spray painted with swastikas, cartoon drawings of faces with exaggerated noses, and statements – “f**k Israel” and “Jew scum” – on the Kilmore Road bridge that is positioned near the town’s centre and surrounded by parkland.
The graffiti was reported to Macedon Ranges Shire Council that afternoon and painted sometime within the following 24 hours.
Resident Tom O’Dea was with his dog when he noticed the vandalism on his regular walk. He said it wasn’t there when he passed by on the popular walking trail a day earlier.
“I was bloody disgusted,” Mr O’Dea said.
“There was people walking past shaking their head in disbelief. You don’t expect to see this stuff in this area.
“I’ve lived in this area year all my life, we’ve never had this sort of rubbish. I’m 81 years of age, our community has been divided, we’re becoming tribal,” he continued.
“Its just not on.”
The incident comes after a recent UN report found Israel to be committing genocide in the newly-recognised state of Palestine. And while public outcry has resulted in consistent protests around Melbourne and the rest of the world since 2023, similar sentiment has fallen short in this region.
Council’s director of assets and operations, Dom Testoni, said the council believed the politicised nature of Tuesday’s graffiti was isolated.
“This instance of graffiti is incredibly disappointing, but we appreciate it being reported – public reports allow us to organise for our asset to be cleaned and reported to Victoria Police as necessary,” he said.
“We would hope this would be a relatively isolated incident, as we are not aware of a significant increase in reports locally or recently of these types of graffiti.”
