Homegrown or foreign-funded, violence feeds on inaction

Recent events in Australia raise the question: Just how riddled is our nation with those who support the likes of Hamas?

Labor would have us believe anti-Semitic outrages are from “local criminals being paid by overseas actors”. But the rot began on October 7, 2023, when some people were “elated” and celebrated Hamas’s carnage of Israeli innocents. It’s a rot fed and exacerbated by laissez-faire or supportive attitudes towards the endless anti-Israel protests, university demonstrations, the slow, or no response to increasingly violent harassment and attacks on Jews, and by Labor’s changes to Australia’s longstanding policy of solidarity with Israel.

If it is true that overseas actors are financing and facilitating the attacks on Jews, it’s because the groundwork had already been laid to make such an escalation possible. What has been allowed to be sown is being reaped.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

The possibility that the anti-Semitism activity within Australian capital cities could be related to sources outside the nation does not let the Prime Minister off the hook completely for what has occurred under his leadership but it does take a little of the pressure off him. It is now incumbent upon the Prime Minister and the Australian Federal Police to thoroughly investigate this recent threat to our safety. The perpetrators are here in Australia and need to be hunted down, arrested, charged and sentenced.

Peter D. Surkitt, Sandringham, Vic

The AFP’s suspicion of foreign influence behind acts of anti-Semitism may or may not be a red herring, but the truth is that, essentially, the eruption of hatred towards Jews is homegrown, and governments must bear the blame for inaction over the past 15 months (“James Bond enlists local crims”, 23/1).

Belated action in appealing to the premiers to step up on policing and Anthony Albanese’s heightened rhetoric against anti-Semitism are welcome, but the vibes are still weak, as Peter Wertheim notes (“Shutting down this hateful breeding ground”, 23/1). Overall, this government seems to view national security and social cohesion as public relations issues, rather than substantive problems.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn, Vic

How could the Prime Minister believe that foreign actors have paid criminals to commit anti-Semitic acts of violence?

Anti-Semitism is a disease that when not treated grows. The government in its “even-handed” approach since October 7, 2023 only seems to have encouraged this virus.

Gordon Starke, Subiaco, WA

Our government must have completely forgotten the cause-and-effect dimension of history.

If only for the sake of social cohesion, which has seriously been undermined over the past 15 months, the leaders of Australian governments need to immerse themselves in a deep study of the experiences of Jewish people in the ancient and modern worlds, culminating in the horrific, systematic torture and murder of six million Jewish human beings in the years spanning the Holocaust.

Julie Whitting, Taringa, Qld

The anti-Semitism in this country has been fuelled by the hate speakers in the street and on the steps of our magnificent Sydney Opera House after October 7, 2023. Our government chose not to act. NSW Premier Chris Minns set an example for the federal government by showing true leadership. Well done, Premier.

Ross Veale, Echuca, Vic

It saddens me that the headlines proclaiming a crisis in anti-Semitism (“Anti-Semitism crisis”, 22/1) do not find their counterparts in the condemning of Islamophobia. We must stand together against all forms of hate, recognising that solidarity among marginalised communities is essential for healing and progress.

PG Evans, Carrum Downs, Vic

Thank you, Aftab Malik, your commentary is a timely reminder to all of us, particularly as Australia Day approaches, to treat each other with tolerance, understanding and respect, regardless of race, colour or creed, and to maintain Australia’s uniquely pluralist society as a showcase for the rest of the world (“Maintaining a scorecard on hate no way forward”, 23/1).

Nick Palethorpe, Turramurra, NSW