Sydney – A retailer in the Australian North Queensland city of Cairns displayed a sign in its window saying that it does not serve Israelis.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Israeli tourist Mohr Wenger posted a photo of the sign in the window reading “No Israelis served here” on Facebook.
Wenger wrote in her post that she and a friend with whom she was traveling around Australia entered a body piercing store to have their noses pierced only to be told by the owner that he would not serve them since they were from Israel.
The owner of the Cold Steel Piercing store told the women that “he doesn’t serve Israelis out of principal (sic). He said he doesn’t agree with what our government does and there for we are not welcomed in his shop. He even pointed out a sign that we missed saying ‘No Israelis served here,’” Wenger wrote.
“A sign that means ‘I don’t want to listen, I don’t care who you are but if you are from Israel go away.’ That’s sugarcoating anti-Semitism. That’s sugarcoating racism,” she also wrote.
Wenger also wrote: “I remember learning about such things in history class but I never thought I would be in such a situation myself. Not alone at the other end of the world in the land of ‘no worries.’ By the way, when we left the shop he told us ‘no worries.’ Well I didn’t, before I met you.”
Fairfax Media reported that Cold Steel Piercing in Cairns did not respond to attempts to talk to them about the incident. Since the Facebook post on Saturday, more than 100 negative reviews of the business have appeared online, including one calling for people to boycott the shop.
Cairns-based Rabbi Ari Ruben told JTA: “Mohr is one of the Israelis that came to our Seder. A couple of Israelis here saw the sign and want to go tomorrow to confront him…and we’ll see if it’s still there tomorrow.”
Totally unacceptable in modern day society, but not to confuse anti Israel with anti semitism.
I feel very bad for this Israeli representative, I hope she already has her nose piercing by now.
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes discrimination to remind us that we are Jews; and that we should hold to a higher standard than body piercing.
When we boycotted businesses operating in the USSR, it wasn’t because we were bigoted anti-Russian, but because we opposed USSR emigration / religious freedom policy. This Australia incident has nothing to do with antisemitism and everything to do with Zionists using that card to try and confuse opponents to the Israeli government’s policies. The BDS movement is the same type of political movement that successfully ended apartheid in South Africa. In South Africa, it wasn’t “anti-white”, it was anti-government policy, and here it isn’t anti-Jew, it’s anti-government policy. This is what peaceful political protest is.
Conveniently for my comment, VIN also printed today an article from an Israeli source that does exactly what I’m saying: intentionally mislead people by claiming political protest acts against the Zionists are acts of anti-semitism.
The Israeli in this article admits that she was told the incident was because of her government’s policies, and that she had taught (or brainwashed) in school that for goy to object to Israeli policy is ‘sugar-coated anti-semitism’. Well, it isn’t. It’s just objection to a government’s policy, and it happens to be hers.
Higher standards then whom exactly? The Matriarchs were pierced too! Do some research. The Torah definitely says to be accepting of others however.
The obvious problem with the store owner’s arguments is that it implies strongly that the store owner does agree with the government of anyone actually served. But is there any other nation mentioned on that sign – from North Korea to Iran to the U.S.? So does this mean the store owner agrees with Trump or does it mean the store owner does not serve Americans?
Maybe a brick through the window would be useful. Or, we can hide under a rock and make believe this will go away.
If you think anti-Israel is not = to anti Semitic you are fooling no one but yourself.
And to the others with problems with someone else piercing their nose that completely misses the point for starters if they had been denied ear piercings then you would’ve defended the victims??
The shop owner has been brainwashed by the one sided reporting of the middle east where a recent knife attack was reported on news.com.au as “Israeli police kill Palestinian man”.
people who engage in body piercing are not from the highest echelon of intelligence; so we would not expect the proprietor to have an open ear to facts.
Rather he probably has a hole not only in his ear, but also in his brain as well.
To #13 - I’m glad that I don’t know a self-hating Jew, such as yourself, either. The term “Heeb”, which you use, is a derogatory ethnic slur, pertaining to Jews.
To all of those who are stating that it is acceptable regarding having one’s ears pierced, why do Jewish girls have to imitate the gentiles, pertaining to having other areas pierced, such as their belly buttons, their noses, their lips, their eyebrows? Would any of you like your daughters to undergo such ridiculous procedures? I think not!