<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/19/ted-hui-kevin-yam-antisemitic-attack-letters-democracy-campaigner-ntwnfb>
"A prominent Jewish group has condemned a “disgusting” attempt to intimidate an
exiled pro-democracy campaigner who fled to Adelaide from Hong Kong, with the
federal opposition accusing a foreign actor of weaponising antisemitism.
Human Rights Watch said a separate attempt that encouraged people to inform on
another dissident, Kevin Yam in Melbourne, was designed to make critics of the
Hong Kong government feel “unsafe and hunted, no matter where they are in the
world”.
On Monday,
Guardian Australia revealed Ted Hui and Yam were both subjects of
anonymous letters and pamphlets that were mailed from Chinese-controlled
territories. It is not clear who created and posted the material, which the
Australian government has condemned.
Hui and Yam are wanted by Hong Kong authorities for allegedly breaching a
controversial national security law that grants authorities sweeping
extraterritorial powers to prosecute acts or comments made anywhere in the
world that it deems criminal.
Hui said an Australian government official had told him a pamphlet falsely
accusing him of being a pro-Israel lawyer willing to “wage war” against Islamic
terrorism was allegedly sent to “a few mosques” in Adelaide, where he resides.
Hui said it was an attempt to intimidate him and undermine social cohesion.
The pamphlet, mailed from Macau, falsely quotes Hui as saying: “I am a
pro-Jewish man and siding with Israel to wage war against those Islamic
terrorism [sic]”. It also states Hui can “provide assistance to local Jews”.
Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian
Jewry, said “referring to one’s enemy or opponent as a Jew is an ugly feature
of antisemitic discourse”.
“The fact that whoever produced this material thought that referring to someone
as pro-Jewish would serve to discredit them speaks to the antisemitism of the
authors,” Ryvchin said.
“There is much work to be done to rebuild empathy between communities and these
disgusting stunts only seek to deepen suspicion and animosity.”
Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the government would “not accept
any one of our citizens or on our shores [to be] bullied or harassed or
threatened by a foreign power”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
