An American DJ who used the term “Zio-Australian-Epstein empire” during a performance in Sydney is being investigated for “hate speech” after a Jewish group referred her comments to police.
Jewish community peak body the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies reported Biennale of Sydney performer DJ Haram, real name Zubeyda Muzeyyen, to NSW Police for possible violations of the state’s laws against “inciting racial hatred”, and Commonwealth laws against advocating for terrorism.
During the show at White Bay Power Station on Friday the DJ, who was born in the US but is of Syrian and Circassian descent, urged the crowd to “oppose the Zio-Australian-Epstein empire” and led chants of “long live the resistance” and “glory to all of our martyrs”.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has since confirmed the comments were being investigated under Premier Chris Minns’ “hate speech” laws, which were passed following lobbying from Jewish groups including the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
In a letter to police, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the statement referencing paedophile Jewish financier Jeffrey Epstein was “capable of inciting hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule” towards Jews, ABC News reported.
“The statement appears to promote a conspiratorial narrative suggesting malign influence by Jewish Australians,” Mr Ossip wrote.
“The reference to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child abuser, compounds this insinuation by implicitly associating Jewish Australians with criminality and abuse.”
Commissioner Lanyon told ABC Radio Sydney on Wednesday police were reviewing the performance and promised to lay charges if they believed the speech laws had been violated, even though the DJ flew out of the country on Monday.
“It’s important to know that hate crimes, hate speech, has a high bar. There’s a reason for that high bar. Obviously free speech is something we value in this country,” he said.
“We need to make sure an offence has been committed. If so, we’ll take action.”
NSW passed strict new “hate speech” and anti-protest laws after the Dural caravan hoax in February last year, and has since introduced a new bill seeking to ban “Nazi ideology”.
Father-of-one Brandan Koschel last month became the first person jailed under the legislation when he was sentenced to one year in jail for saying “Jews are the enemy” in a 40-second Australia Day speech.
Header image: Left, DJ Haram (supplied). Right, Mr Ossip and Mr Minns (Facebook).
