Sydney man banned from Bondi over alleged antisemitic threats on Bali flight

The incident comes just days after the deadly attack on members of the Jewish community at Bondi Beach.

Planes on a tarmac

The 19-year-old was arrested upon his arrival at Sydney Airport. Source: AAP / AAPIMAGE

A man who allegedly threatened a member of the Jewish community who lost friends in the deadly terrorist attack has been banned from Bondi Beach.

Nazih Chahine, 19, is accused of making antisemitic threats and using his hand to mimic a gun toward a female passenger during a flight from Bali.

Federal police arrested Chahine once the flight landed at Sydney International Airport on Wednesday.

The Sydney man was charged with threatening force or violence against members of groups and appeared before a bail court on Thursday.

The court was told Chahine had no prior history of extremist beliefs.
The conflict occurred as the female passenger threatened to film Chanine vaping during the flight, the court was told.

"What's clearly occurring is that there's a 19-year-old man who's refusing to accept that he can't vape on a plane," defence barrister Ertunc Ozen said.

"It might show a cavalier attitude towards the regulations that pertain to being on a flight, but it doesn't evince any terrorist intent or extremist ideology.

"The applicant absolutely denies any gun gesture or direct threat towards the complainant."

Ozen said Chahine mingled among fellow passengers without incident before the flight and was aware that the complainant was Jewish.

"The complainant made it clear not just that she is a person of Jewish faith, but that she has had friends who were victims of the atrocity committed four days ago," Ozen said.
"These are young men who go out of their way to disavow any support for or empathy for what took place on Bondi Beach."

He said the incident happened during a time of heightened emotions, but his client posed no threat to the Jewish community.

"He's a young man who, at the end of a long journey from Bali, says something stupid and frankly, quite distasteful at the worst possible time.

"This is not a hate crime, even if the words were to be proved."

Chanine was granted bail on strict reporting conditions, including not entering Bondi or Bondi Beach and not going within 100 metres of any Jewish school, cultural centre, or place of worship.

The court refused an application to suppress Chanine's identity and the charges are set to return to court for mention on 23 December.

Law enforcement remains on alert for antisemitic incidents in the aftermath of Sunday's terror attack at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach.

On Tuesday, NSW Police officers arrested a man and charged him for allegedly displaying a Nazi symbol on a boat in the Lake Macquarie area, north of Sydney.

Sydney and Melbourne have experienced a spate of antisemitic attacks in recent years, with synagogues and other Jewish community spaces being sprayed with offensive graffiti or firebombed.

Iran was found by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to have orchestrated at least two of the attacks, on a Jewish kosher deli in Bondi and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.


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Source: AAP




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