Nation’s night of shame a warning not to be ignored

Surrounded by smashed glass, upended tables and splattered food – the handiwork of pro-Palestinian thugs, some in keffiyehs, chanting “death to the IDF” – no wonder Jewish artist Nina Sanadze thought “this is Kristallnacht” as she looked around Miznon restaurant in Melbourne on Friday night. “Death to the IDF” is the same sinister cry given a platform by rap duo Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury festival in England last weekend that caused outrage across Britain. Also on Friday night in Melbourne, a man who described himself on X as a “single, Iranian, forklift driver, music lover”, allegedly tried to firebomb the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue in which worshippers had gathered for Shabbat. He has since been charged with the crime.

As Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, flanked by former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus, the government’s most senior Jewish MP, said on Sunday outside the synagogue – a hub for Jewish life for almost 150 years – the attacks, targeted at Jewish organisations, were also “an attack on Australia”. In contrast to the government’s flat-footed response to the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea in Melbourne’s east in December, Anthony Albanese and the government have been quick off the mark this time. Those responsible must face the “full force of the law”, the Prime Minister said. “The Victoria Police are leading the investigation, but we have pledged Australian Federal Police support, as well as our security and intelligence agencies, including ASIO.”

Friday night’s events, as Alex Ryvchin of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said, are “a severe escalation directed towards our community and clear evidence that the anti-Semitism crisis is not only continuing but getting worse”. It is striking at the heart of our civilised society and casting a dark cloud over international perceptions of Australia. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is correct when he says “there have been too many anti-Semitic attacks in Australia” and the Albanese government must “do more to fight this poisonous disease”. Proactive security and law enforcement, while important, is only part of the answer.

Anti-Semitism has been increasingly prevalent in Australia since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre of 1200 Jews in Israel and the kidnapping of 250 others, including 24 hostages Israel believes remain alive in Gaza. Despite more than 75 years of close friendship between Israel and Australia, some of the federal government’s responses to the crisis have been hostile to Israel’s handling of the crisis. Calls for “de-escalation”, before the IDF brought Iran’s terrorist proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, to heel, were not helpful. Nor was Australia’s position in several UN debates. In May 2024, for instance, we voted against the US and Israel in a General Assembly motion declaring that “Palestine”, with none of the internationally accepted requirements for statehood, was “qualified” for full UN membership. Australia will recognise Palestinian statehood “when the time is right … Australia no longer believes that recognition can only come at the end of a peace process”, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at the time. Labor MP Josh Burns was prescient when he said the move would further isolate Australia’s Jews amid rising anti-Semitism. The government was also too quick to back the United Nations Relief and Works Agency after allegations, later verified, that some of its staff were involved in the October 7 horrors.

As Israel considers its next step, after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, uncertainty over the future of the Strip continues. Australia, both in foreign and domestic policy, must double down against actions and views likely to fuel the scourge of anti-Semitism. Friday night’s atrocities are too serious a warning to ignore. Our social cohesion is at stake.