More than once since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel last weekend and slaughtered hundreds of innocent men, women and children in their homes, at a music festival and on the streets, I have felt grateful to call Australia home.
It’s deeply distressing for anyone following these events to see vision of mothers and their babies being kidnapped by barbarians and held hostage. But for Jewish Australians this horrifying depravity has felt incredibly personal – even though seemingly a world away from our sparkling way of life here in Australia.
A world away, that is, until Monday evening, when the NSW government allowed the barbarians who had murdered entire families in Israel to be celebrated on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. Absurdly, NSW police urged Jews to stay in their homes, not to come into the CBD, to keep away from the Opera House and the Town Hall, saying it wasn’t safe to walk the city’s streets. That’s the inexplicable path the NSW government took as pro-Palestinian protesters, chanting “Death to Jews” and “Gas the Jews” and burning the Israeli flag, celebrated the slaughter of innocent Israeli civilians.
Fuelled by anti-Semitism, the protest was vile in its hatred and shocking for all Australians – regardless of faith or ethnicity – to watch. It was clearly hate speech: unlawful behaviour that drives a terrifying wedge between Australians when we’re supposedly embracing inclusivity.
For a Jewish Australian walking down the street, there’s now a discernible feeling of fear and worry. Should we take our children to school, having just seen these people – our fellow citizens – chant “Kill the Jews” and “Gas the Jews” on the streets we love? These are the questions I am now seriously asking myself in the city in which I was born and raised, and where I have always felt safe.
In allowing this hateful, divisive, anti-Semitic protest to go ahead, the NSW Labor government, the police and the Greens are fostering an atmosphere of fear and distrust in our beautiful, peaceful country.
The images beamed around the world on Monday evening were supposed to be of a national landmark – the Opera House – lit up in blue and white lights in solidarity with Israelis and those of the Jewish faith across the world. It was a heartwarming gesture. Instead, what we witnessed was a shambles as the Minns government allowed an ugly protest to be conducted on the steps of that landmark.
The NSW government allowed Australians (as many of these protesters were) to use a national symbol to project images of hate, without any action or intervention from police. Make no mistake, those images of Sydney, beamed around the world, will provide a moral ballast to the terrorists who are murdering young families.
Instead of taking action to rein in the protest, the NSW government acted in a cowardly way; it was despicable and corrosive. It essentially surrendered the Opera House to those who openly celebrate terrorism. This is what appeasement looks like. Failing to shut down or curtail a protest that even police felt wasn’t safe for Jews is the sign of a feeble government.
Moreover, the police should’ve moved decisively against those people openly threatening Jews. The Opera House now is tainted by the vilest sentiments imaginable.
The only known arrest on Monday evening was of a Jewish man, waving an Israeli flag, who was handcuffed for his own safety. All the while, safe passage was provided for those chanting murderous slogans and celebrating terror.
Let’s be absolutely clear: Labor allowed hate crimes to be perpetrated without intervention of any kind. It’s only in the aftermath that Assistant Police Commissioner Tony Cooke claims he’s examining CCTV to try to track down the perpetrators. This is all too late. All around the world, Jews are in hiding while pro-Palestinian protesters take to the streets. In New York, Toronto, even outside the White House, chants of “Allahu Akbar” celebrate the deaths of hundreds and the kidnapping of at least 160 innocent Israelis. It seemed unthinkable that such cruelty could be inflicted on women and children; even more unthinkable that our fellow citizens could rejoice in this suffering.
But here’s where it gets even more concerning. The celebration of these terrorist attacks in Sydney’s southwest and in the city this week have shone a spotlight on the voters the Albanese government and the Labor Party have been pandering to and courting in recent years. It has been well-reported that Labor has long been a supporter of Israel – until the demographics in western Sydney changed with increasing migration. To appeal to their voters, Labor MPs walked away from supporting the democracy of Israel and started pushing for boycotts and recognition of a Palestinian state, even wanting to ban sponsored trips to Israel.
Terrorist group Hamas applauded Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s policies in a press release when she hardened Labor’s position against Israel this year. Labor’s national foreign policy has been catering to the minority of Australians who do not share our common values of mateship, tolerance and acceptance. Instead, they wish death to the Jews.
They do not believe the Jewish community should exist. Never has this been more clear than in the wake of the worst atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish people in decades. This should serve as a wake-up call for federal Labor to examine exactly who it is that the party has been bending over backwards to appease.
For me, as a Jewish Australian, the barbaric nature of the Iran-funded terrorists has been deeply upsetting, as it has been for most Australians of different faiths and backgrounds. It’s impossible to watch young girls being paraded and beaten by thugs without being emotionally affected. But what has been upsetting too is the realisation that Labor has been too weak to stand up to anti-Semitic sections of the Australian population who support this barefaced inhumanity.
In not shutting down the protest, in allowing protesters to use the platform of the Opera House, in changing foreign policy to appease this group of people, it’s clear that Labor has lost its moral compass. It has done so not for peace. How can you have peace when Hamas’s reason for existence is to annihilate Jews? But for politics and the promise of a few votes.
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