Tony Abbott: Domestic terrorism result of weak government response to anti-Semitism

In the face of weakness from the federal government, anti-Semitic attacks have escalated to the level of domestic terrorism, writes former prime minister Tony Abbott.

Just because a horror is hard to eradicate, or has been around a long time, doesn’t make it any less vile.

Nor should any prime minister use that as an excuse to be feeble in the face of it.

Ever since the October 7 atrocity, the Australian government has tried to be “impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire”.

Like Churchill, I refuse this false equivalence because there is a right and there is a wrong.

It’s bad enough that it could never denounce anti-Semitism without linking it with an all-but-non-existent Islamophobia.

To every anti-Semitic outrage, its response has oscillated between mild criticism and hand-wringing impotence, even as it’s steadily changed Australia’s position at the UN to full-scale support for the position favoured by those who want to expel every Jew “from the river to the sea” in what would be a new Holocaust.

Since when has any Australian government rewarded terrorism? And what’s happened to the Labor Party that it’s so comprehensively departed from Bob Hawke’s position that “if the bell tolls for Israel, it doesn’t just toll for Israel, it tolls for all mankind”?

The Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne burns after being firebombed.

Hate preachers have not been prosecuted or expelled; illegal encampments have not been closed down or academics punished; disruptive and intimidatory protests have not been banned.

In the face of such weakness, the attacks have now escalated to the level of domestic terrorism with the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne.

A man holds a placard saying “Hate won’t bring pease” in front of the Adass Israel synagogue. Picture: NewsWire

The contrast between the way authorities crushed demonstrations in favour of freedom during the pandemic yet have all-but facilitated protests in favour of pogroms since October 7 could hardly be more stark.

Is this because our government thinks that Jewish people are somehow fair game because modern Labor has been captured by the hard-left or because they’re worried at the voting power of Islamists?

Either way, it’s contemptible and wholly unworthy of the government of Australia.

The Jewish people who have made such a wonderful contribution to our life as a nation should always be reassured and protected, and the Middle East’s only liberal democracy must never lose our support.