Australia Bans Nazi Symbols and Salutes

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry reports that it has seen a six-fold increase in anti-Semitic incidents. This is the first legislation of its kind.

Members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally in Draketown, Georgia, on April 21, 2018. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A rise in anti-Semitism in Australia spurred by the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war has led to a ban by the federal government on the selling and promoting of Nazi symbols and the use of Nazi salutes.

The new laws were announced by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in response to reports of an upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents since the war started on Oct. 7 last year.