Beyond belief that anyone would want to take part in anti-Israel protests in Australia when Jewish community is in mourning

I know the shame that terrorism can bring a nation. I know the scars it leaves. What we have seen on Australian streets is completely unacceptable, writes Keith Woods.

Although now a proud Australian, like so many on the wonderful melting pot of the Gold Coast, this columnist was not born and bred in this country. In my case, Ireland is the land of my birth and the capital, Dublin, where I grew up.

It seems a world away now, but the Ireland of the eighties and nineties was a different place.

Unlike today, it was an economic backwater with chronically high unemployment.

A big part of what held the country back was the miserable stench of terrorism in the north of the island.

Now I can’t claim to have great insights into what went on – although geographically close by Australian standards, life in south Dublin suburbs was comfortably far from the ‘troubles’ up north.

But I well remember the mood of terrible anger and despair that would descend on everyone, in my house included, when another terrorist atrocity was perpetrated.

Although my family despised the men of terror with every fibre of their beings, and had zero time for their apologists, there was always a sense of shame as well as anger and shock.

Shame at being Irish at a time when the most vile and evil deeds were being committed, beneath our flag, and supposedly in our name. What it was not, ever, was a time for chanting and flag-waving. Far, far, from it.

‘Rally For A Free Palestine’ protest on the forecourt of The Sydney Opera House on October 9. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Those memories, dim and distant now, came back to me when I saw videos of pro-Palestinian protests around the country in the wake of the truly vile Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

The scenes, to me, were frankly unbelievable.

How could anyone, having heard what happened to innocent women and children in southern Israel, possibly think this was a time to take to the streets waving Palestinian flags?

And much less, as happened in Sydney, to do so at the Opera House when it was being lit in blue and white in solemn tribute to the victims?

What exactly were Jewish community across Australia, already deeply distressed by the barbarity shown by Hamas terrorists in Israel, supposed to make of these scenes? And indeed Australians with Palestinian roots who must have been horrified to see what was being done under their flag.

Palestine supporters rally outside the Sydney Opera House on October 09. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

I feel deeply for our beautiful Jewish community on the Gold Coast, having to witness these scenes taking place in their country.

Anyone has the right to protest, and there is a legitimate debate to be had about how Palestinian people are being treated. Being a democracy, it is a debate that vigorously takes place in Israel itself.

But when people are in deep mourning, following the most savage of murders, it is neither the time nor the place.

It is obviously worse again when such a protest is attended by people chanting the most vile anti-Semitic chants, letting off flares and burning Israeli flags.

Organisers said they were a minority who hijacked the event. Accepting that, it seems bizarre to me that the same people would go and organise further protests, risking the same thing happening again. Is there no shame?

There is only one proper response to outrages like that perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 – unequivocal condemnation, mourning for the victims, and empathy for innocents affected on all sides.

“We are currently living in our own miracle”#LateLatepic.twitter.com/yOLyhVd8iM

— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) October 14, 2023

An Irishman with far more right to comment on these matters, a TV presenter named Patrick Kielty, went viral last week for a monologue at the end of his popular Late Late Show show that managed to hit all the right notes.

Mr Kielty was speaking from a place of true understanding – unlike this author, he was directly affected by terrorism in Ireland, losing his father to a terrorist’s bullet.

“Before we go I’d just like to say that tonight so many of us here on the Late Late Show want to send our love to the family of Kim Danti (an Irish-Israeli woman killed in the Hamas attacks) and all the families whose lives this week have been ripped in Israel and Palestine.

“There are no words that will even touch the sides on the pain and the loss and the ongoing horror that’s been felt by so many tonight.

“But as someone who grew up during a conflict where the rights and wrongs of politics were always writ large, one common truth was that the hurt and the pain on both sides was sadly the same.

“We all shared something, but we just didn’t realise it at the time. And there were days when we thought it would never end.

“Tonight there are many parents and children in Israel and in Gaza who also think this will never end, and are praying for a miracle to make it stop.

“In the midst of despair, miracles are hard to believe in but it’s worth remembering that we are currently living our own miracle on this island because we are living in peace.

“And for all those in Israel and Palestine tonight, it mightn’t seem like it, but there is always hope, and we hope that your miracle comes soon.”

It’s incumbent on everyone, wherever they are – including us here in Australia, with our many backgrounds and experiences – to do their little bit to help that miracle come true.

Follow @keithjwoods

Originally published as Beyond belief that anyone would want to take part in anti-Israel protests in Australia when Jewish community is in mourning