Anti-Semitism on the rise long before Gaza war

The anti-Semitic acts that took place at the Sydney Opera House on October 9, 2023 occurred when Israel was still retrieving the burnt and butchered bodies of its citizens. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

Appearing on Sky News’ Sharri program on Thursday night, Melbourne-based businessman Michael Kroger made a quite shocking revelation.

Kroger reported that he had heard from a Jewish Australian about the prevalence of anti-Semitism at Bankstown Hospital in Sydney during 2018.

The man (who provided a name and mobile phone number) texted Kroger that he was booked to have an operation at Bankstown Hospital.

But he cancelled the procedure after being advised by one of his friends, who was working there, about how some Jews were treated – including quite unpleasant acts of commission and omission.

That was seven years ago – well before Hamas broke a ceasefire and invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

As we know, this led to the murder of the most Jews since the end of the Nazi Germany Holocaust in mid-1945. And there were the acts of barbarous brutality – including the rape of women and the murder of children – along with the kidnapping of civilians, some of whom have died in captivity.

The Free Palestine rally outside Sydney Opera House on October 9, 2023. Picture: AAP

Writing in these pages on September 23, 2023, I referred to the decision by Federal Court of Australia Chief Justice Debra Sue Mortimer in the case of Kaplan v the State of Victoria.

The judgment was handed down on September 14 that year.

Five Jewish Australian applicants, including Joel Kaplan, initiated proceedings alleging that they had experienced acts of anti-Semitism from other students while studying at Brighton Secondary College in suburban Melbourne. The BSC is a government school run by the Victorian Department of Education.

The students maintained that the BSC staff had done nothing to protect them and that they were treated differently from non-Jewish students.

The evidence was overwhelming and the Chief Justice found for the applicants under the Racial Discrimination Act on most matters.

What was surprising was that the Victorian Department of Education used taxpayers’ funds to contest the case rather than settling. Then, as now, Victoria had a Labor government.

Not long after the Federal Court decision, the Minns Labor government in NSW decided to light up the Sydney Opera House with an Israeli flag on the evening of October 9, 2023.

People wrapped in Israeli flags watch the Opera House illuminated in blue to show solidarity with Israel on October 9, 2023. Picture: AFP

In the event, Jewish Australians were advised by NSW authorities to stay away from the Opera House, which became the site of an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish demonstration.

This was an unauthorised demonstration in which thousands of anti-Israel protesters carried Palestinian flags and chanted “From the river to the sea/Palestine will be free” – a call for Israelis to be forced from the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

At the Opera House, a combination of Islamists and green-left agitators chanted “Where’s the Jews?” – which many heard as “Gas the Jews”.

No matter the words, the message was much the same. Jews in Australia, whether Australian citizens or not, were the target. And the Israeli flag was burned.

The Opera House anti-Semitic acts took place before Israel retaliated by attacking Gaza, leading to the Israel-Hamas war.

In other words, there is no causal connection between the Israel-Hamas war and the acts of anti-Semitism in Australia – since the latter were prevalent even before Israel began its defensive war against Hamas.

The current scandal at Bankstown Hospital in which two nurses, one male and the other female, boasted on social media about wanting to kill Israeli patients is but the latest instance of a domestic war in operation against Jewish Australians.

NSW government officials are investigating after nurses at Bankstown Hospital, Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, were filmed declaring they refuse to treat Israeli people and would "kill them" if they present to their ward. Picture: NewsWire

Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea, not far from Brighton, was firebombed.

Regular intimidatory marches have been made in areas of Sydney and Melbourne that have a relatively high Jewish population – cars have been torched and anti-Semitic graffiti painted on walls. Note that the Jewish population of Australia is relatively small at a bit over 100,000.

It is a sad reality that Australia, which until recently was regarded by many as the embodiment of a successful multicultural, tolerant and accepting society, is now making international news for acts of anti-Semitism.

What is to be done? – to ask the question made famous by Vladimir Lenin. Of the various governments, the Minns Labor government in NSW has performed best. But more can be done by non-government organisations. Especially at the ABC, which prides itself as the national broadcaster.

Melbourne-based businessman Joe Gersh, who until recently was a member of the ABC board, appeared on Sky News’ The Kenny Report on Thursday.

Gersh (who is a board member of The Sydney Institute) acknowledged that the ABC had done some objective coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, citing the example of some interviews by 7.30’s Sarah Ferguson.

But Gersh maintained that, at the moment, the ABC was part of the problem rather than the solution. He referred, for example, to John Lyons, the ABC’s global affairs editor.

ABC global affairs editor John Lyons. Picture: ABC

Gersh described Lyons as “an experienced journalist”, but said in his view Lyons had been critical of the state of Israel in his book Balcony Over Jerusalem and critical of the “Jewish organisational structure in this country and many of the Jewish leaders and individuals” in his monograph Dateline Jerusalem.

Gersh also asked why the ABC did not send one of its reporters from London to cover “the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz” – which the Seven and Nine networks and Sky News attended.

He asked: “Where was the ABC?” There has been no answer.

Then there is the weakness of many Australian tertiary campuses – with the obvious exception of Western Sydney University where Jennifer Westacott is chancellor.

Last Tuesday, The Australian Financial Review reported University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott had been interviewed on the 15 Minutes with the Boss podcast.

Scott said he had “failed” the Jewish students, as had “the university”. But he is intent on keeping his $1m a year job while the university has promised to construct a safe room for Jewish students. Really.

Greg Craven, the Australian Catholic University’s former vice-chancellor, has called for a judicial commission into the “monstrous failure of truth (with respect to anti-Semitism) in our institutions designed most to expound it”.

A good call. But don’t hold your breath.

Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute. He appears every Friday on Sky News’ The Media Report.