Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott weighs in on Jewish ‘terrorism’

To every anti-Semitic outrage, our government’s response has oscillated between mild criticism and hand-wringing impotence, writes Tony Abbott.

Former Prime Minister, the Hon Tony Abbott during the October 7th vigil at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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.

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 Labor that it has 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”?

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Israel's Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon during the October 7 vigil at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Hate preachers have not been prosecuted or expelled; illegal encampments have not been shut 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 Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue.

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 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.

Australia’s Jewish people should always be reassured and protected, and the Middle East’s only liberal democracy must never lose our support.

Originally published as Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott weighs in on Jewish ‘terrorism’