SYDNEY (JTA) — A woman with German ancestry is flying a Nazi flag in the front yard of her Australia home.
Her neighbors in the town of Beulah, in southeastern Australia, have complained to police. The municipality said it does not have any legislation in place that would allow it to demand the flag’s removal.
The flag features a large swastika in the center surrounded by several other Nazi-related symbols.
The homeowner, identified by The Age as Cheryl Lawdorn, has told reporters that she defends her right to fly the flag, noting her German ancestry.
The premier of the State of Victoria, Daniel Andtorews, called the flying of the flag “disgusting,” saying that “if there is decency in that household, they will take down the flag immediately.”
The chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Dvir Abramovich, called on the state government and the opposition to “lock arms,” and when the state parliament resumes to immediately pass legislation that bans the public display of the Nazi insignia.
Abramovich said the situation is “a stomach-turning outrage that is a stain on our community. The flying of the Nazi flag in the skies of our nation is like plunging a dagger in the heart of Holocaust survivors and spitting in the face of the diggers who fought to defeat Hitler and his genocidal regime.”
The president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Jennifer Huppert, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the “symbol represents pure evil and has no place in our Victorian or Australian society.”