Anti-Semitism v Islamophobia? No comparison

Rabbi Gutnick at the Synagogue in East Melbourne where a fire was lit at the doorway on July 5. Picture: David Crosling/NewsWire

It’s fashionable in modern-day word usage for some to declare, “I’m sorry to say this but …” before stating something they fully intended and concerning which they are unapologetic.

For my part, I’m not sorry for expressing the opinion that there is no valid comparison between the acts of anti-Semitism and acts of Islamophobia in contemporary Australia.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment in Canberra on February 19.

Two days later he was interviewed by Sally Sara on the ABC Radio National Breakfast program. Asked by Sara whether Islamophobia was “of equal concern to ASIO” as anti-Semitism, Burgess replied, “They’re both incredibly wrong.”

He added: “But it’s clear that, actually right now, we are seeing way more anti-Semitism in terms of significant incidents my agency is investigating.

“My organisation is split on two parts of dealing with threats – threats to life (and) threats to way of life. On the threat to life, our No.1 priority now is investigating anti-Semitic acts in this country.”

The ASIO director-general said this after the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea on December 6 last year. This matter is before the courts. But it can be said that, if not detected early, it could have led to many deaths.

Another six months and another arson attack, this time at the East Melbourne synagogue on July 4. This matter is also before the courts. But it is reasonable to assume that, if not for security arrangements and early detection, there would have been deaths.

Now move to Sydney. In January, there was anti-Semitic vandalism at the Newtown Synagogue in the city’s inner west along with an attack in the eastern suburbs on what was incorrectly thought to be the current home of a high-profile Jewish Australian leader.

Head south again. I’m not into hyperbole. However, the storming of the Israeli restaurant Miznon in the Melbourne CBD on July 4 by some two dozen angry protesters was a reminder of the early acts of anti-Semitism in Germany after the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933.

Having read Jillian Segal’s Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Anti-Semitism, I look forward to reading the report by Aftab Malik, the special envoy to combat Islamophobia. I’m sure it will make important contributions to the public debate.

However, according to available evidence, there have been no firebombing attacks on Sunni or Shia Muslim mosques in Sydney or Melbourne and no angry disruptions of Australian Muslim restaurants.

Anti-Semitism was rife in Australia well before Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. I wrote about this in my column on September 23, 2023, concerning the judgment in the Federal Court in Kaplan v State of Victoria. Chief Justice Debra Sue Mortimer upheld most of the claims made by five applicants who had experienced acts of anti-Semitism while studying between 2013 and 2020 at Brighton Secondary College, which is administered by the Victorian Department of Education.

Move back to Sydney. I wrote about the unauthorised demonstration that took place at the Town Hall to the Opera House on October 9, 2023. This was before Israel took military action against Hamas in Gaza. NSW Police did nothing as sections of the crowd chanted “Where’s the Jews” (the police version). It sounded to some like “Gas the Jews”.

Whatever the words, the anti-Semitic meaning was the same. Australian citizens were being targeted by other Australian citizens simply because they were Jews.

It stands to reason why Jewish Australians – old, middle-aged and young – fear for their safety. Not only on the streets but within organisations, many government-funded, that will not protect them. The weakness of universities in this regard comes immediately to mind. And some police forces could do better.

The Segal report is an important document. However, the authors erred in suggesting that governments should “ensure that public funding to cultural institutions, artists, broadcasters and individuals is not used to support or implicitly endorse anti-Semitic theories or narratives”.

Such a recommendation is unlikely to happen and it provides an opportunity for publicly funded individuals to claim that they are about to suffer for their beliefs.

It is true that, as Chris Mitchell has argued, large sections of the Australian media are hostile to contemporary Israel.

However, the only way for this to be challenged is to call for viewpoint diversity.

The problem was evident when ABC 7.30 presenter Sarah Ferguson interviewed Segal on Thursday, July 10. Avoiding the main points of the Segal report, Ferguson focused on what is termed the IHRA non-legally binding working definition of anti-Semitism and the contemporary examples attached to it. This is of interest but of little relevance to firebombings in Melbourne or Sydney.

It was a hostile interview. The interviewer interrupted the interviewee on no fewer than seven occasions with “just let me stop you there” and “just let me jump in there”. It turned out that Ferguson was more interested in the fate of journalists than in anti-Semitism. She alleged that Segal was asking for a role in monitoring the output of the ABC and SBS and calling for cultural events to be “cancelled”.

Segal denied this. In any event, it is a bit much for one of the leading journalists on the ABC – which is a conservative-free zone – to be alleging that others are into cancellation. After all, the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster is Australia’s canceller-in-chief. Which explains its evident lack of viewpoint diversity.

The ABC’s two key current affairs programs – 7.30 and Radio National Breakfast (currently presented by Steve Cannane) – have managed to move the focus of Segal’s report to matters of definitions and themselves in their role as journalists.

It is against this background that Education Minister Jason Clare announced on Wednesday that he did not “intend to look at this (Segal) report in isolation”. Clare added that “next month the (Albanese) government will receive a report from the special envoy in combating Islamophobia” and will “wait to see what his recommendations will be”.

The problem is that synagogues are already burning – and one report should not depend on another.

I’m not sorry for saying this.

Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.