A Jewish gravestone desecrated with a white supremacist sticker. Photo: Anti-Defamation Commission

A leading Australian civil rights organization has condemned a “reprehensible” desecration of a Jewish gravestone at a Tasmania, Australia cemetery.

A white-supremacist sticker with the words “White Force – Old School Aussie Hate” was discovered placed on top of the Star of David on a gravestone at Launceston’s Carr Villa Cemetery,  the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) said Friday.

It was found by a Jewish mother and daughter who pay weekly visits to the cemetery, the group said, and perpetrated on the anniversary of “Pogromnacht” — the Nazi-led violent riot against the German Jewish community in 1938.

Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, called it a “repulsive desecration of the dead,” with the aim “to intimidate and sow fear.”

“Make no mistake: those who committed this vile act of violation, if given the chance, would once again operate the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and the contagion of antisemitism that is spreading like wildfire throughout our nation has now reached Launceston,” Abramovich commented. “To violate the sanctity of those who are deceased and to trample on their memory with the dangerous rhetoric of white supremacism is a cause of grave concern.

“We call on all political and community leaders to deplore this cowardly, stomach-turning outrage that is a stain on our community,” he added.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in October that the country would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism (IHRA).

In September, the Australian state of Victoria revealed a proposed legal ban on Nazi symbols to be presented next year, which would be the first such measure in the country.