Government must heed warning and act to end anti-Semitism

With Australia Day fast approaching, and after reading commentary pieces by Jillian Segal (“This conduct must end for all our sakes”, 15/1) and Zoe Booth (“Look out, there’s a new vibe about our national day”, 15/1), I am left wondering whether those who seek to intimidate and divide our society are aware of the words in our national anthem: “for we are one and free”.

All Australians should heed those words to ensure that our unity and freedom are not compromised by a vocal anti-Semitic minority and those who want us to feel ashamed for celebrating our national day, by devaluing and destroying our social cohesion.

This year I will be celebrating January 26, after previously being ambivalent about the day. Of course we should all acknowledge the past, both Indigenous and colonial, but now seek to unite for our common values of today and for the future.

Kathy Sharp, Neutral Bay, NSW

Jillian Segal has correctly outlined the problematic extent of anti-Semitism in this country but until governments, both federal and state, decide to take firm action rather than just mouth meaningless condemnations this blight on Australian society will continue to grow and become more mainstream and more normalised than it is now.

An unlikely alliance has developed between the jihadists, the radical left and the neo-Nazis that has stimulated a resurgence in the claims of illegitimacy of Israel, and our government has done precious little to stop it.

Alan Freedman, St Kilda East, Vic

Greg Sheridan’s excellent article (“ ‘Superior moral reasoning’ in the war on anti-Semitism”, 15/1) is a desperate notice being given about the unforgivable lack of performance by the Labor government. Anthony Albanese isn’t facing the real world. As an activist and long-term left-wing career politician he lives in an ideological miasma.

Jihad-oriented terrorists (disguised as “free Palestine” interlopers) move around Australia, daring to exploit the government’s cowardly weakness and indolence. The Prime Minister has appointed Jillian Segal as a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism and to help solve problems, and he cannot now ignore her advice.

Sheridan’s description of the Albanese government’s “confusing and multi-directional equivocation” is an apt description of the delusional cloud that characterises the Labor government.

Aviva Rothschild, Caulfield North, Vic

As Greg Sheridan says, the Albanese government’s “equivocations, hand-wringing and moral confusion left the space open for the worst outbreak of anti-Semitism in Australian history”.

Surely clear-thinking Australians will realise by now that the democratic world owes a great debt of gratitude to Israel for not bowing to the politically motivated whims of the UN.

Western society will now be much safer after Israel almost single-handedly, and with the backing of the US, has drastically weakened Hamas, Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthis and Iran, and undoubtedly also has helped bring the brutal Assad regime in Syria to an end.

Deirdre Graham, Moss Vale, NSW

Without a doubt, domestic harmony and security must become a central issue at the coming federal election.

The ongoing persecution that Jewish people have had to suffer since October 7, 2023, has reflected very badly on Australia.

Moreover, when any section of the community is hounded unrelentingly, national security is placed in jeopardy.

Should the government be returned, considering its woeful lack of responsibility so far, it seems fair to assume attacks against the Jewish people are unlikely to cease.

Frank Reade, Macquarie, ACT

Jillian Segal’s warning seems to dispel the theory that we all are a happy, harmonious society.

Our population is made up of a Pandora’s box of people of different nationalities and religions, which appears to be valuable but acts as a curse.

Geoff Davey, St Lucia, Qld