Anti-Semitism in Australia is abhorrent

It is astonishing this needs to be said but there is now overwhelming evidence that "the world's oldest hatred" made its way from its poisonous core in Europe to the very place where victims of that hatred sought - and thought they had found - safety.

Utterly abhorrent anti-Jewish chants were heard (and filmed) at the demonstration in Sydney when the Opera House was lit in sympathy with Israel after the massacre by Hamas terrorists of 1400 people, including babies who had their throats cut.

A survey by the Zionist Federation of Australia found 64 per cent of Jewish students had experienced anti-Semitism at university. More than 100 Australian survivors of the Holocaust have written a letter denouncing the "senseless and virulent" anti-Semitism they feel is rising around them. So there is little doubt anti-Semitism in Australia is raising its hate-filled head more often in this country.

It is important not to confuse issues.

Disapproval of the policies of the government of Israel should not slide into anti-Semitism. Many will be angry about the way Israel has allowed illegal settlements on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan.

The ferocity of the Israeli response to the massacre on October 7 has also sparked fury in parts of the community. But this should not ever be turned into animosity towards Jews.

Outrage at the plight of the Palestinian people, particularly those in Gaza, has brought to the surface a previously deep-seated anti-Semitism in some people. It has offered an excuse to those who previously hid their bigotry. No doubt, many pro-Palestine campaigners would say their objection is to the treatment of Palestinians. Some say their anger is about Zionism - the idea of a Jewish state - and not about Jews as a group.

But that's not the way it appears to Jews. They do not see similar mass demonstrations of anger at the Hamas massacre.

One form of anti-Semitism is to hold Israel to higher standards than those to which other countries are held. Many countries have terrible human rights records.

Russia is currently devastating Ukraine (following the devastation of Chechnya). China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide, against the Uighurs. Saudi Arabia executed a journalist in one of its embassies and cut up his body using a bone saw.

In its 2022 report, Amnesty International said of Iran: "Enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, including through the deliberate denial of medical care, were widespread and systematic."

None of these outrages seem as outrageous to some Australians as does the treatment of Palestinians by the Jewish state. None, apart perhaps from the invasion of Ukraine, has brought demonstrators out onto the streets of Australia in large numbers.

But the failings of the Jewish state seem very different. Why?

Messages can mean whatever people perceive them to mean, and to many Jews the message from the fringes of the recent pro-Palestine demonstrations is one of hate.

It is important not to see the situation in Israel and Gaza as a binary choice. It is not one of: do you think Israel is right or do you think Hamas is right? That is the simplistic mindset of the student union.

Some truths remain: Israel exists; the plight of Palestinians is desperate; Hamas is an anti-Semitic terrorist organisation which aims to obliterate not just Israel but Jews; Israel should have stopped the illegal settlements. But wisdom is needed, not slogans.

And Jews, reeling from the unspeakable horrors in Israel of October 7, need reassurance they are welcome and treated with love, not hatred.