One criminal hoax does not make antisemitism vanish

The police had undertaken some genuinely remarkable detective work. In a short time, they formed the view that 14 incidents of violent antisemitism that made firebombings in the dead of night in residential areas a fact of life for Australians generally, and the Jewish community more specifically, were all connected to a trailer packed with explosives and a mysterious criminal enterprise.

It was a terrifying development. Since October 7, 2023, the Jewish community has lived with public demonstrations glorifying terrorist leaders and lauding mass murder as a “day of courage and a day of pride”. It has endured the tragic captivity of hundreds of people, sadistic doxxing campaigns, street abuse, vandalism, harassment in schools and universities, and the destruction of a synagogue built by Holocaust survivors.

Police investigating an attack on Newtown Synagogue in January. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Now, in addition to conventional antisemitic forces, we had to come to terms with allegations that hardened criminals were paying low-level hoodlums through a shadowy mob structure to take Australian antisemitism to a whole new level. We were now dealing with claims of individuals somehow getting their hands on enough explosives to create a 40-metre blast, and we learnt of allegations that there were Australians who probably didn’t know what a Jew was, but for a few bucks were happy to risk burning them in their beds.

Yet some held the line that it was all a “hoax”, a “criminal con-job”, “fake”, “fabrication”. We could rest easy because no one allegedly associated with it seemed to have anything against Jews. They allegedly only wanted to strengthen their hand in a plea bargain in some macabre, inscrutable plot that would be the work of a Professor Moriarty-like criminal genius, if the whole thing weren’t so patently stupid.

As soon as the announcement was made, we confronted a surge of hateful messages on social media – claims that antisemitism itself is a hoax and a lie, and that everything that’s happened either hasn’t, or that the Jews just did it to themselves because that’s what they do.

The whole fight against antisemitism seemed to evaporate. New laws banning protests near places of worship are now the subject of a Supreme Court challenge, on the basis that they were enacted to protect Jews from something that didn’t really happen.

The other lesson that was spelt out for us by commentators and politicians following the police announcement was that we mustn’t be too hasty in passing judgment. If you see a trailer packed with explosives and a note referring to Jewish targets, it could all be nothing. If synagogues, former homes of community leaders and childcare centres are targeted in firebombings, and phrases like “f--- the Jews” are daubed on cars, don’t rush to think the perpetrators have a problem with Jews.

The great irony, of course, is that those who took the opportunity to unleash on their political adversaries the second the police announcement was made had themselves committed the same offence. In ruling out antisemitism as a motive, even though it wasn’t random buildings that were targeted or Hindu temples or (Sikh) gurdwaras, they had inexplicably jumped the gun.

When fine journalistic work uncovered that the suspected mastermind was a rabid antisemite of the “Hitler was only washing the Earth” and 9/11 was an “inside job” variety, no one was at all surprised. Yet antisemitism had already been stripped out of the story and all that remained in the public consciousness was the word “hoax”.

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Perhaps the ultimate insult from all this was the head-patting directed at the Jewish community. We were told that while none of this happened or, if it did, it wasn’t really about us anyway, we were still justified in being somewhat alarmed when, for example, my family and I were ostensibly targeted, or a childcare centre next to a synagogue was incinerated. In essence, we were treated like hysterics who needed a stiff drink and a lie-down.

But in reality our instincts should not have been discounted. I was asked repeatedly, when the news broke, “The Jewish community must be relieved, right?” But the real feeling of the community was one of confusion or, at best, a shrug of the shoulders. We know that throwing allegations of organised crime into the mix isn’t something to feel relief over. We know what has happened in our country since October 7. And we know that we, all Australians, have a duty to put an end to it.

Curious communications and cynical opportunism have momentarily stalled the efforts to fight antisemitism and push it back to the dark recesses of social media and fringe political movements, but we will fight on.

Alex Ryvchin visiting his former home, vandalised with an antisemitic message, in January.Credit: James Brickwood

Alex Ryvchin is the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

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