Voice of reason, 99, speaks as hostage deal pauses war

The reopening of Melbourne’s Holocaust Museum on Wednesday was a reminder of what remains at stake in the Gaza conflict, even after the hostage deal agreed by Israel with the Hamas terrorists. Since the October 7 atrocities, Anthony Albanese told the gathering, Jewish Australians “have been bearing a pain you should never have had to bear again”. Peter Dutton was there beside him. Within the museum’s walls, the Prime Minister said, quiet dignity coexisted with awful truths, giving meaning to the words “never again”.

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the hostage deal in which at least 50 captives – women and children who were ripped from their homes on October 7 – will be released across four days while there will be a lull in fighting reflects the Jewish state’s “sacred duty” to do whatever it takes to bring its people home. The release of every 10 additional hostages will result in an additional day of respite from fighting, allowing humanitarian supplies, desperately needed by Palestinian civilians, to be replenished. Hamas is holding about 210 of 240 hostages taken on October 7; Palestinian Islamic Jihad has the rest. It is not an even swap. At this stage more than 150 Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails (including convicted terrorists) are set to be freed. The depravity of Hamas is writ large in the deal. The terrorist outfit has no moral justification to hold any innocent civilians including 40 children wrenched from parents, who then were massacred.

Prisoner swaps are never simple and some far-right parties in the Knesset bitterly oppose the deal. Many recall, with justified apprehension, the aftermath of the 2011 deal with Hamas when Israel released 1027 prisoners to secure the return of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas five years earlier. Among the freed jihadists, 280 were serving life sentences for terror attacks. One of those was Yahya Sinwar, now 61, a founding member of Hamas and a man so embittered that during his 23-year incarceration he refused to speak to any Israeli and punished fellow prisoners who did, bashing the head of one inmate against a burning stove. After his release, Sinwar became the leader of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza. He was a mastermind behind the October 7 atrocities.

By agreeing to a deal, Mr Netanyahu and his war cabinet have gone some way to fulfil what critics of Israel’s strong response to the attacks wanted. Israel, rightly, is not backing down from its determination to destroy Hamas. “The war will continue until all our goals are achieved,” Mr Netanyahu said. Just as the US went after the 9/11 terrorists, backed by Australia and other nations, no self-respecting country could do otherwise.

It should not be forgotten that, proportionately, the number of Israelis killed on October 7 was equivalent to 3850 Australians and 650 abducted, or about 50,000 Americans killed. The grim reality of the present as well as the losses of the past were addressed at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum reopening. Auschwitz survivor Abram Goldberg, whose mother was murdered at the camp, drew the audience to its feet when he said: “At 99 years of age I never thought we would be faced with such vehement anti-Semitism in our wonderful country. Our voices need to be heard and the voice of reason needs to be heard.” Parents and teachers of students who are thinking of joining Thursday’s School Strike for Palestine should encourage young people to consider Mr Goldberg’s words.

The facts matter, which is why 5000 audience members have signed an open letter to the ABC expressing concern over a “troubling pattern of inaccurate reporting, leading to misinformation” by the public broadcaster. It cited examples where the ABC had questioned verifiable facts presented by Israel while uncritically accepting claims from Hamas. There is a need, as the Opposition Leader said at the museum, for “moral courage and clarity” in opposing anti-Semitism. Attendance of leaders from both sides of politics sending an unequivocal message that anti-Semitism was not tolerated in Australia was timely, as Josh Frydenberg, a prominent member of Melbourne’s Jewish community, said. “What we are seeing in Australia and around the world has echoes of the 1930s, it is incumbent to speak out.”