Sky News host Andrew Bolt on Thursday said he had been contacted by a couple of Melbourne Jews and one former Labor minister, who were outraged by a mural in Victoria that was funded by the state government.
The mural you see above, created by artist Mic Porter on October 28, utilizes the windows at 234 Carlisle St, Balaclava, Australia, to form images that are vaguely Jewish and very ugly.
Here’s the same building before the improvements:
“They’re appalled because they think it plays on ugly Jewish stereotypes, the big nose and all,” said Bolt.
According to Australia’s Sky News, Porter is “a pro-Palestine supporter.” But Porter also says that in no way is his work an antisemitic cartoon. He claims the images reference himself and his late brother.
According to Bolt, “The local council says it actually consulted with Jewish groups about it, and most … said it was not antisemitic, but the council says that was indeed before the war in Gaza, and there are heightened sensitivities now.”
See? What wasn’t antisemitic before October 7 may be antisemitic today. As Bolt explained, “The artist may not have meant it that way at all, but is it a work that should stay or go – I tell you what? The reaction today on Twitter is not kind.”
Yes, but should the mural be taken down because two Jews and a Labor MP say it is antisemitic? If you ask me, I prefer to stick with the classics. When Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart was asked in 1964 to describe his test for obscenity, he said: “I know it when I see it.”
The same goes for antisemitism. And, frankly, I don’t really see it here.
