Israel must be defended in fight between good and evil

A year on from the brutality of October 7 in Israel, the will of Western nations to defend democratic values against the tyranny of evil has been tested and found wanting. Too much of Australia’s response has been muddled and weak, with alarming public displays of anti-Semitism on the streets. Surely we are better than this.

When Iran, through its proxy, Hamas, set events in train to wipe Israel “off the face of the Earth” with beheadings, burnings, rapes and 250 kidnappings, it also, by design, set off the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. More than 60 hostages are still in captivity. One of those freed, Aviva Siegel, recounts her harrowing ordeal. Iran and Hamas knew Israel would have no choice but to defend itself, and Hamas put Gazans in as much harm as possible, misusing them as human shields in hospitals and schools. Hamas, not Israel, is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths in Gaza and untold suffering. Hezbollah is equally culpable for loss of life in Beirut.

In Australia, the terrorists’ sadistic immorality has drawn out alarmingly large numbers of Islamists celebrating the murderous events of October 7. The pattern began with those who turned out on October 8 and 9 last year to let off fireworks and burn the Israeli flag at the Sydney Opera House, and who were let off scot-free by NSW police. Demonstrators will be out in force again this weekend, like those who pitched their tents at universities, harangued worshippers outside synagogues in Melbourne, and hurled acid at police and lit fires outside the Land Forces 24 meeting. To the distress of many, especially our Jewish community, the government has not been up to the challenge and at times has even leaned towards Israel’s enemies. Yet the battlelines are clear and the conflict need not be overcomplicated. As Josh Frydenberg writes: “It is a battle of good v evil. Democracy v theocracy. Between those who celebrate life and those who celebrate martyrdom and death.”

The strategic shift of Foreign Minister Penny Wong against Israel while Anthony Albanese looks on, hapless, has been a major change from the positions of former ALP leaders. Senator Wong’s hostility, Paul Kelly writes, was revealed mid-year when Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts, on her instructions, called in Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon to warn against any military action in Lebanon against Hezbollah. That shameful stance, unworthy of our national character, was taken despite the fact from October 8 onwards Hezbollah, without provocation, attacked Israel with 9000 missiles and rockets across its northern border, forcing 60,000 Israelis from their homes. The tortuous rhetoric of senior Albanese ministers to avoid explicit support for Israel’s action against Hezbollah or Iran is an embarrassment. Likewise Labor’s failure to expel Iran’s ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, who praised the “martyrdom” of slain terrorist boss Hassan Nasrallah as a “remarkable leader”. Remarkably evil.

Too many of those lining up against the Jewish state are ignorant of the history of anti-Semitism. Some, including the Greens, despise Israel as a democratic, capitalist partner in the Western alliance they loathe. The ignorance of students and academics about centuries of anti-Semitic pogroms that reached their nadir in Germany in the 1930s and ’40s is a problem. They have much to learn from the history of families like that of Henry Ergas, who writes in the magazine of his ancestors’ centuries-long journey to escape persecution in Europe.

A “balanced” position in a fight between good and evil, lawyer Mark Leibler writes, is not the middle. A balanced position is siding resolutely with liberal democracy and doing everything possible to ensure the conflict does not play out on the streets of Australia. Even if not by design, he argues, the Albanese government’s rhetoric is having a serious impact on social cohesion, contributing to a sense of abandonment among Jewish Australians. That sense is causing many to question whether there is a future in Australia for their families.

Police and state authorities have been acquiescent in dealing with celebrations of terror and murder on our streets. Allowing pro-Hezbollah activist and Iranian national Arashi Rahbari to lead a march in Melbourne a week ago, waving the terrorist group’s flag and chanting pro-terrorist slogans, is a recent example. This weekend will be a salutary test of how much authorities have learned over the past year. If Australians are to turn the tide on anti-Semitism that, to the detriment of the nation, has become normalised, we need “leaders who are prepared to stand up and be counted in defending the values of our country”, as Mr Frydenberg writes.

Israel, with 10 million people, is battling its enemies in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and puppetmaster Iran – with more than 200 million people combined. Its progress over the past year, with little support from allies apart from the US – in destroying Hezbollah’s communications, killing terrorist leaders and using the Iron Dome – shows it is outnumbered but not outsmarted. Australia should be backing our ally and be proud to do so. The Haggadah – the text recited by Jews at Passover – as Ergas writes, is a reminder “there are, in every generation, those who rise up against us to annihilate us”. But each generation has those who oppose the murderers, bringing about fresh starts. The outcome of the showdown between Iran and Israel will shape the future not only of the Jewish state but the world. As Bob Hawke said: “If the bell tolls for Israel … it will toll for all mankind.”