A Wagga creative designer is calling for greater attention on Palestinian victims in the Israeli-Hamas war after taking down a controversial poster on the city's main street this week.
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Fitzmaurice Street business Advision owner Michael Agzarian removed the poster after it drew the ire of a Sydney broadcaster on Monday.
The poster, which stated that "Israel has blood on its hands", featured blood-spattered images of suffering women and children on the backdrop of the Israeli flag.
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It also featured a quote attributed to Holocaust survivor Gabor Mate which took aim at the state of Israel.
"Think of the worst things to say about Hamas then multiply that by a thousand times and it will still not match the Israeli oppression, killing and dispossession of Palestinians," the quote read.
But the head of Australia's leading civil rights organisation fighting antisemitism has spoken out strongly against the messaging and its timing.
The Israeli-Hamas war was sparked after Hamas terrorists went on a rampage in southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1400 people and taking upwards of 212 hostages back into Gaza.
In response Israel declared war with Hamas and began bombing the densely populated enclave, with health authorities in Gaza saying this week that at least 4600 people have been killed in the past two weeks.
Mr Agzarian told The Daily Advertiser on Monday the poster had been up a week before it was replaced with another calling for peace in Palestine on Monday.
Mr Agzarian said he put up the initial poster in reaction to "disproportionate response that Israel inflicted on Palestinian children and civilians living in Gaza."
"Gaza has been described as the largest open air prison in the world," he said.
"I am an artist who believes that I have the skill and the ability to create a visual statement to engage those who care.
"It is clear my response is based on documented research and fact checking.
"It will at times offend and upset some but when there are thousands of innocent people suffering I feel that I can't sit back and do nothing."
Mr Agzarian said while the poster was on display "more than a dozen people walked in and said they totally agreed with the sentiments and message it portrayed."
"No one who came in every expressed anger or opposition to the poster, but obviously someone was clearly offended by it, and I don't apologise for that, because they sent a photo of my shop window to Ray Hadley in Sydney," he said.
"Without contacting me or my studio, [Ray Hadley] went on a rant about how 'the people in Wagga don't need this'. As if he knows or cares."
Mr Agzarian ultimately took down the poster saying it was "getting noticed for all the wrong reasons."
"I felt it was going to shift the narrative from the message to me," Mr Agzarian said.
"It is clear that, as shown during the referendum debate, facts were jettisoned and replaced with racial or untrue comments.
"Put simply, I didn't want this to overshadow my main objective which was to inform and show that there are facts about this bloodshed that continues to be deliberately ignored by much of the traditional media.
"And I didn't want a brick through my studio window."
But chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Australia's leading civil rights organisation fighting antisemitism, Dvir Abramovich, said he was "sickened" to hear of the poster.
Dr Abramovich has been closely affected by recent terror attacks, with a cousin police inspector Chen Amir murdered in an August attack in Tel Aviv.
More recently, another cousin was forced to hide in a safe room at Kibbutz Reim while Hamas terrorists stalked and killed their neighbours.
"I am sickened by this twisting of the facts that will shock the conscience of every resident of Wagga," Dr Abramovich said.
He said the "hateful propaganda that could have been taken directly from the anti-Israel playbook, turns a blind eye to the evil slaughter and cult death of Hamas terrorists who... executed children in front of their parents, raped women and torched houses with Holocaust survivors inside."
"Clearly, dead Jewish children don't count," he said.
Dr Abramovich said while the poster is directed against the state of Israel, it affects the entire Jewish community because it features the Star of David.
"To accuse Israel - and by extension, the Jewish community, given the large presence of the Star of David, which most associate with Judaism - of the murder of Palestinian mothers and babies as if this is part of a deliberate, unprovoked plan is inflammatory, misleading and dangerous," he said.
"The Israeli Defence Force is the most moral army in the world, going to extraordinary lengths to avoid harming civilians, and the only group responsible for the deaths of Palestinians is Hamas that committed war crimes and began this war."
Dr Abramovich said there has been a surge of antisemitism in recent weeks following the terrorist attacks and the outbreak of war.
"Words matter, especially during this disturbing atmosphere in which Australian Jews have been confronted with a whirlwind of escalating levels of antisemitism, enduring a torrent of racist abuse that is chilling in its intensity," he said.
"This poster further fans the flames of division, and such targeting, a slow-burning poison, can take on a life of its own and can end in violence."
Dr Abramovich said the poster stirs "immediate revulsion and animosity."
"Who knows how they would act if they saw a visibly identifiable Jewish person walking nearby," he said.
"Australia's reputation of being a tolerant, inclusive country safe for the Jewish community is being torn to shreds.
"We need our elected representatives, federal, state and local CEOs of companies, public figures, and sportspeople to come out and say that antisemitism will never find a haven here."
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