High Steaks: Jewish leader David Ossip refuses to cower to hate
A young Australian Jewish leader who snubbed the PM’s invite to a funding announcement has suggested Mr Albanese should look to the NSW premier for tips on leading the way on battling anti-Semitism. Watch his High Steaks interview.
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When David Ossip received a death threat aimed at him, in a note featuring a hooded man beheading another knelt on the ground bearing the words “we are coming for you soon from Western Sydney,” he was “shocked”.
As an Australian Jew, he was not immune to occasional incidents of anti-Semitism.
Yet a hate note emailed in the immediate aftermath of October 7 Hamas attacks to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, over which he presides, felt orchestrated and deeply personal.
“It was aimed at me, and everyone associated with my organisation. I felt instantly shocked that, in modern day Australia, such a graphic image of a death threat could be sent,” he said.
Once he had overcome the trauma of the attack, he strengthened his resolve not to feel terrorised.
“This threat to behead me from some parts was the most grievous incident that I’ve experienced, personally,” he said.
“Look, I don’t think we can be intimidated or cowered by extremists in our society who are driven by hate and want to divide us based on what we believe or what we look like.
“If we give in to these individuals, and we’re scared and we’re cowed, and we don’t go about our normal day to day life as Australians then, ultimately, these extremists are winning.
“Even with all of the incidents which occurred to the Jewish community, we have received hundreds of messages of support and solidarity from Australians of different backgrounds, and that’s been extraordinarily encouraging.
“This (anti-Semitism) isn’t a Jewish problem, it’s an Australian problem, it’s for all Australians to solve,” he says tackling a piece of pan-fried barramundi at the Forrester’s pub in Sydney’s Surry Hills.
“Jews were on the First Fleet and arrived in Australia in 1788, and have been a proud and integral part of the Australian story. In the early 1800s, the First Lady of New South Wales was Jewish,” he said.
“The first detective was Jewish. The first police officer was Jewish. We have occupied all positions in the land and have proudly served this country, which we love.
“Unfortunately, over the past 14 months, we’ve seen more anti-Semitism than in all of the years up to that point combined, and it’s left the Jewish community shaken, disturbed and saddened, because up until this point, we never thought that something like this would be possible here in Australia.”
Nour Mohammed was released last month from Parklea Correctional Centre after being convicted of one federal charge of using a carriage service to threaten to kill, and a second federal charge of using a carriage service to menace or harass.
He served 53 weeks behind bars for sending the image of a journalist in orange clothing about to be beheaded by ISIS to the Jewish organisation on October 11, 2023.
There has been a 316 per cent rise in anti-Semitic attacks since October 7 last year with 2062 anti-Semitic incidents targeting Australia’s 100,000 Jews.
Ossip, 32, voted the board’s president two years ago (one of the youngest presidents in the board’s 79-year history), sees it as his duty to fight the scourge of anti-Semitism and temper fear in the community.
“Obviously there is fear in the community. If you are living in Woollahra, for example, and you’ve woken up two mornings over the past couple of weeks to cars being firebombed and defaced, houses vandalised, obviously, you go to bed concerned,” he said.
“You ask, ‘Are these individuals who wish ill on the Jewish community lurking in my neighbourhood?’ ‘Are they seeking to identify where I live?’
“But the Jewish community is a strong, proud, united, resilient community. And even with everything we face, we are determined not to be intimidated or harassed.”
As a businessman trained in commercial law, Ossip is not afraid to speak his mind.
He was elected to Ku-Ring-Gai Council at the age of 20 and served as deputy mayor from 2015-2017.
On Wednesday he spurned Anthony Albanese’s invitation to attend the Sydney Jewish Museum alongside senior Minister Tanya Plibersek and Wentworth MP Allegra Spender in the wake of the Woollahra arson and graffiti attack, as relations between Labor and sections of the Jewish community plummet to a new low.
Referring to the United Nations General Assembly vote, he said: “I couldn’t bring myself to go and hear the Prime Minister talk about anti-Semitism while his government plots further policy moves against Israel.”
Albanese, he says, should have acted sooner to curb the swell of anti-Semitism in Australia which, be believes, began on the steps of the Opera House on October 9, 2023, when protesters allegedly chanted “Gas the Jews”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns, however, has acted admirably and serves as an example to the PM, who has been “slow” to act, Ossip said.
“In NSW we have been encouraged, and we’re very grateful, to Premier Chris Minns, and to his government, for the strong stance he has taken over the past 14 months,” he said.
“Even yesterday, he was on the phone to me in the early hours of the morning; he had reworked his schedule so he could immediately be in Woollahra and had obtained a police briefing and ensured additional security resources were provided for the safety of Jewish community sites and the Jewish community at large.
“He has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community and demonstrated real moral clarity and leadership – he has really set the example for all leaders across Australia, and the Prime Minister and his colleagues, and the Federal Government as a whole, would do very well to learn from the premier’s example.”
In his role as president of the NSW JBD, Ossip, who is married, gets little sleep.
“It’s been an extraordinarily frenetic 14-month period, but we are so grateful for all the support we’ve received from ordinary Australians who have tuned into the news and are disgusted and appalled by what they’ve seen,” he said.
Referring to the weekly pro-Palestine marches through the Sydney CBD, he said: “We have a right to demonstrate but hate speech is not legal, and the NSW Police need to hold these people accountable.
“Societies don’t happen by default.
“They come together based on the choices that individuals make, and we each have a commitment to keep Sydney and Australia the way we love it, which is tolerant, harmonious, multicultural, where we can all live in peace and harmony, respecting, embracing each other’s differences.”
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