On Israel, we’re being swamped by a king tide of moral equivalence

A member of the Palestinian community in Chile takes part in a protest outside the Israeli Embassy against its military operations in Gaza.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a king tide. It was a sunny, dry season day at Gantheaume Point, just out of Broome township. The kind of day you wish you could bottle. A perfect sky. Warm but not hot, and the softest of sea breezes. The pindan-drenched coloured sand stained my bare feet ochre as I walked along the beach.

I turned to look out to the horizon, thinking about nothing in particular when I felt it. A rush of water at my feet. I looked down and saw so much water swirling about me that I was momentarily confused. How is it moving so quickly? My feet, then ankles, then halfway up my calves.

The rocks I’d been looking towards were submerged and I turned to run (I use that word generously) towards the car. I’d parked right on the beach rather than up behind the dunes, at the time wondering why I was the only one.

The speed of a king tide will take your breath away. That day its arrival nearly swamped me. But what about when the tide goes out, literally and metaphorically? There’s truth to the old saying that when the tide goes out you can see who’s swimming naked. Nothing could be truer of the last two weeks in Australia’s social and political discourse. So much skinny dipping it’s enough to make an old gal blush.

What it has revealed is what many of us suspected all along: a soft underbelly of weakness and moral equivalence. A country where anyone can say day is night, up is down, and to disagree on such things is violence.

Ido, the husband of Israeli-French citizen Celine Ben David Nagar, killed during last week's attack by Hamas militants into Israel, is comforted during her funeral in Holon, south of Tel Aviv.

Ahh, but what about when it comes to actual violence, the kind of violence that sees babies decapitated, terrorists live-stream the execution of a grandmother to her own Facebook page, the murder of pregnant women, the kidnapping of children. Then, apparently, it’s complicated.

It’s not really. Let me help.

Hamas didn’t accidentally parachute hundreds of murderous maniacs into Israel. They didn’t accidentally slaughter 1400 civilians. Neither did they, in passing, rip children from their mothers, take civilians hostage, murder elderly Holocaust victims in their homes and burn people alive in their own homes.

Palestine supporters gather during a protest at Town Hall in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Getty

Those actions, the savages who commissioned them, planned them and carried them out, and their unequivocal condemnation is in fact the least complicated thing around.

It is the embodiment of evil. But still, a disturbing number of folks, not just those in sections of the media and politics, have spoken of these things as if they were some kind of accident, some kind of event you can just brush aside. Like dropping the F-bomb after stubbing your toe.

I’m sure Martin Bryant had a complex upbringing, but not one part of his murderous rampage at Port Arthur was complicated. It was planned. It was deliberate. Condemning him, and what he did, was never complicated.

The same people who brought you “believe all women” did not believe the women who were raped in public on the streets of Gaza and paraded for all to see. Believe all women except Jewish women. The same mob who regularly say language is violence refuse to condemn actual violence. The shame on federal teal MPs Kylea Tink and Sophie Scamps.

Kylea Tink holds a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

In the face of overwhelming evidence, so many refused to believe Hamas had beheaded Jewish babies. In the face of absolutely no evidence, these same people were quite happy to say Israel had fired a rocket at a hospital in Gaza and killed 500 people. When the truth emerged, that it was a terrible, tragic own goal, there was no commensurate condemnation for the culprits.

It’s an absolute truth to say there have been civilian casualties in the West Bank through the decades of conflict.

It is absolutely true to say there are things that have gone terribly wrong during Israel Defence Forces incursions. But these were not deliberate. And those responsible were held to account.

To say these are one and the same is implausible. It’s not just a false equivalence, it’s a fundamental moral failure. I don’t understand the need for it. What makes a person so blinded by ideology that all reason goes out the door, unable to accept facts at face value?

As teal MP for Wentworth Allegra Spender said this week, “I support the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for statehood … but Hamas is committed to the destruction of Israel so can never be a partner for peace.” There it is. Nuance. A recognition that there can be no peace when one side’s primary purpose is annihilating the other.

Even as Australia was waking up from its referendum hangover, the same sort of weird narrative invention was at play. For equal parts mental preservation and the fact I felt I had nothing of value to offer the conversation, I declared myself a voice referendum Switzerland as soon as the date was announced. As the results came in on Saturday night, I was astounded to see both sides of the debate make all kinds of wild claims about why their side won or lost.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets US President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.

According to the most vocal, visible Yes campaigners, more than 60 per cent of Australians are fundamentally racist. Some couldn’t stop there; more than 60 per cent of Australians are too dumb to understand, especially those in Sydney’s western suburbs.

Gloating, feral No voters proudly parroted their favourite lines too. They don’t REALLY care about reconciliation, they’re just in it for the gift. Speaking of national unity, many gladly told the other side where to go in language way more colourful than can be printed here.

I’m exhausted by it all, truth be told, but more than that I’m perplexed. This pogrom hit like a king tide. Like a cannonball to our collective hearts. There are friends of mine, colleagues and clients who have lost family and friends in the most horrific deaths. Someone asked me this week, “Why are you posting this stuff, are you Jewish?”

Does it matter that I’m not? I am human. I can distinguish between Hamas and the subjugated people of the disputed territories. And can tell the difference between good and evil.