‘Like the 1930s all over again’: Josh Frydenberg’s tough warning for Australia

US-style campus protests, young people proclaiming support for terror groups, and a rising tide of anti-Semitism is a ‘virus’ that is affecting not just Jews but all Australians, ex-treasurer warns.

Australia must act “before it is too late” to stamp out the “virus” of anti-Semitism that is threatening not just Jewish people but the nation’s harmonious way of life, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned.

“In the last week we have seen the flag of a terrorist organisation hoisted on campus and chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ which is an inherently violent statement, as well as calls to ‘globalise the intifada’, which saw a wave of suicide bombings that cost thousands of innocent lives,” Mr Frydenberg told this masthead.

“We have students openly and publicly stating their support for atrocities on university campuses, and this hate, this virus, is infecting the next generation of students … administrators can’t be in indifferent, and there have got to be much tougher consequences for this sort of behaviour.”

“It feels like the 1930s all over again.”

Mr Frydenberg, who is presenting a documentary on Sky News Australia called Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism premiering May 28, said Australians will be “shocked when they realise the depth, extent, and impact of the problem.”

Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will present a Sky News documentary on ant-Semitism called Never Again in late May 2024. Picture: Sky News Australia

The former treasurer’s blunt warning comes as pro-Palestinian protests and encampments, modelled on ones in the US and often characterised by anti-Semitism, have sprung up on university campuses across Australia.

Along with offensive chants and flags, last week it was reported that young children had been taught to chant anti-Israel slogans at the University of Sydney.

Terrorist flag on display at the Pro-Palestinian protest camp, Great Court, UQ Campus, St. Lucia. Picture: Liam Kidston

At Melbourne University, pro-Palestinian demonstrators have entered classrooms, asked students who supported their cause, and photographed those who did and didn’t raise their hands.

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to intervene after Education Minister Jason Clare, whose western Sydney seat of Blaxland is home to a large Muslim population, claimed that the anti-Israel chants of “intifada” and “from the river to the sea” can have different meanings.

But Mr Frydenberg said the problem went far beyond university campuses though he worried that “vice-chancellors were reluctant to act.”

“On a very human scale, we have seen families who have had to shut down businesses, had death threats against their children, even lost their jobs as a result,” he said, describing the stories that would be told in his upcoming documentary.

“How is it that it can be in modern Australia that Jewish kids say they no longer feel safe publicly identifying as Jewish?”

Mr Frydenberg said that there was much more to be done at every level of society.

“I think what we are seeing right now is a level of indifference that is dangerous.”

“What we are seeing is the entire community under threat, and we have to act now, before it is too late.”

“This is Australia’s fight, not just the Jewish community’s fight, because what is happening now is contrary to our fundamental Australian values of tolerance and diversity.”

Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism

Premieres Tuesday 28 May at 7.00pm AEST

Stream at SkyNews.com.au or download the Sky News Australia app

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Originally published as ‘Like the 1930s all over again’: Josh Frydenberg’s tough warning for Australia