John Howard and many others left wondering where our country has gone after Sydney’s day of shame

NSW Premier Chris Minns, with the Israel flag lit up in Sydney, Berlin and Paris.

There would be many Australians who saw the images of the Opera House protests on Monday night and wondered where their country had gone.

The Jewish community would be feeling not only let down but abandoned. And all right-minded Australians should be disturbed.

How could a government abandon their duty of care and their elected obligation to a community in distress? As John Howard described it, “A catastrophic descent from civility”.

Anthony Albanese so far hasn’t put a foot wrong in the eyes of Jewish leaders, yet Howard suggests he has lacked leadership.

At the heart of this is a clash of human instinct and reflexive political response within the Labor Party that risks leaving the Prime Minister exposed as bitter ­divisions within the party over the Israel-Palestinian conflict re-emerge.

This has been on awkward display over the past 48 hours.

When Albanese refused to ­repeat his Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s tone-deaf call for restraint following the Hamas attack, faultlines over the response were evident.

These were comments that could not have been interpreted in any other way than being directed at Israel.

The second was Albanese’s initial refusal to endorse Bill Shorten’s instinctive response to the Sydney protests as anti-Semitic. How could they be viewed otherwise? Albanese later came out and said they were.

Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan’s inability to say whether she thought the Hamas atrocities were terrorist attacks again was ­revealing.

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with the Star of David and the colours of national flag of Israel. Picture: AFP.

How could they not be? She later had to clarify this to confirm she believed they were.

NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns would have fought against members of his cabinet to light up the Opera House. To his credit, he stared them down.

But then he had to give his ­Attorney-General, Michael Daly, a clip over the ears for telling the Sydney Jewish community to stay at home for their own safety.

As of writing, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley had still failed to reach out to the community to apologise, let alone express sympathy.

Instead, Carley described the police escort of the protest as a ­success.

Pro-Palestinian protesters burn the Israeli flag in front of the Sydney Opera House. Picture: Jasmine Kazlauskas/news.com.au

Western Sydney federal Labor MPs Tony Burke and Chris Bowen, meanwhile, remained ­silent on the issue entirely until forced to comment, yet refused to condemn what was going on in their own backyards. Again, as Howard suggests, there can be no moral equivalence when the murder of young women and babies, the taking of hostages and the slaughter of ­civilians are involved.

It was inevitable that the moment Hamas embarked on its bloodthirsty assault, the politics of the Mid-East dispute would re-emerge on the streets of Sydney.

How the NSW government didn’t see this coming, and was ill-prepared to deal with the ­emotions it provokes, is another story.

Palestine supporters rally outside the Sydney Opera House. Picture: Getty Images.

What it has ensured, through its impotent response, is that October 9, 2023, will be a day of infamy … a day of shame for Sydney and a failure of character and leadership on multiple levels.

Two contrasting images now expose what is an international embarrassment for Australia and an unforgivable offence to the Jewish community.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech of solidarity to a synagogue in London after the horror of the attack as thousands of Jewish people gather across the channel in embrace underneath the Eiffel Tower.

Yet under the sails of an Opera House illuminated with the Israeli flag, anti-Semitic chants and burning of the Israeli flag sprang from a pro-Palestinian protest the NSW government and its police effectively admitted being powerless to stop.