Our values give us cause for optimism amid the terror, fear
Some weeks ago, I wrote a column about Australia and why I am optimistic about our country. The reaction was, to say the least, negative.
The comments were all very pessimistic, especially our social cohesion.
Yet I am still optimistic about Australia. As the rabbi of Newtown’s synagogue, Eli Feldman, has said, the majority of Australians believe in a fair go for all.
Australia is “not falling to bits … A few rotten apples are puncturing the country’s peaceful multicultural society”.
The recent discovery of a caravan packed with explosives intended for a Sydney synagogue, the latest in a series of outrages, has cast a new pall of pessimism over the nation. Perhaps we should ask how can we still be the exemplar of freedom and harmonious multiculturalism after what seems to be, let’s face it, terrorism? Where does this violence come from?
I do not think this is sheer anti-Semitism.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has revealed the offenders could be local criminals being paid by overseas actors in cryptocurrency.
This is about fracturing the Australian community through fear and intimidation. It is a classic terrorist technique.
These actions have not grown from some weird wellspring of anti-Semitism in the general community.
Protesting is one thing, burning a synagogue or a childcare centre, defacing someone’s home, is quite another. This type of crime requires organisation, and lines of communication. This is, as Anthony Albanese has said, “aimed at dividing the community”.
Dividing who? The Muslim community from everyone else, the Middle Eastern Australian community from each other, and further dividing naive people who want to keep on marching down George St, despite the ceasefire, from people who think it is a waste of time. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Australians of any ethnicity and religion just want all the violence and the protests to stop. If there is one thing Australians of all backgrounds really cannot bear, it is people bringing their grievances on to the streets whether about Israel and the prosecution of the war or anything else. People have a right to protest, but to hear people say they will continue to march despite a ceasefire makes one wonder who these fanatical people are.
Yes, there is blatant hatred of Jews, by some people, but there are also obviously professional agitators who might have links with overseas terrorist organisations.
We know agitators were in the universities when this began. Some have been involved in marches, and who knows what else?
Who remembers what happened before October 7, 2023 and the war in the Middle East?
Who remembers the stabbing of Bishop Mari Emmanuel, a Christian Assyrian bishop? Where did the young man who was charged get the motivation and the information?
We know organisations in Australia have links with overseas groups that are fanatically against Israel.
The Palestinians are desperate and isolated, and after Gaza was destroyed they have understandably gained great sympathy and credibility in the West.
No one wants to see children dying and families homeless.
Ironically, however, it is Israel that in world opinion is now even more isolated. In fact, if we go back to the original October 7 incident that sparked this war, we know the immediate reason for the Hamas attack was to break down the Abraham Accords – and Hamas will continue to do all it can to stop that historic diplomacy.
However, these latest attacks against Jews, aimed at Jewish facilities and even ordinary people’s homes, are not designed to further the Palestinian cause in Australia.
Terrorist groups are not really aiming at that.
Ironically, fewer Australians will be interested in the Palestinian cause the worse this gets, but it might have the desired effect of causing division and fear.
More of this terrorist activity will further isolate Israel, and those who support Israel, but, overall, for the Australian population in general, it is already adding to ongoing concerns over crime and security.
A Freshwater poll in January showed law and order had jumped into voters’ top priorities, overtaking the environment and climate change in importance but still below the cost of living.
Whether the people who organised this latest outrage are “a few rotten apples” or a much more dangerous grouping is unknown at this stage.
However, despite everything that is happening, we should not feel too pessimistic, and we should stubbornly stick to our values: respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual; freedom of religion (including the freedom not to follow a particular religion), freedom of speech and of association; commitment to the rule of law; democracy whereby our laws are determined by parliaments elected by the people; equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of race, or national or ethnic origin; a “fair go” that embraces mutual respect; tolerance; compassion for those in need; equality of opportunity, and; the English language as the national language and as an important unifying element of Australian society.
Excuse my optimism, but I tend to think Australia still embraces those values. As a result, we live in a magnificent, fortunate multicultural country that will be so for a long time to come.
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