Envoy Jillian Segal urges PM: Unleash our plan to stop anti-Jewish hate
In her strongest comments since unveiling her blueprint on tackling anti-Semitism in July, special envoy Jillian Segal told The Australian that Jewish Australians cannot be expected to ‘build higher walls’ and rely on constant security.
Anthony Albanese’s hand-picked anti-Semitism envoy says Labor must reveal to the nation how it will act on her now three-month-old plan to end anti-Jewish hate and avoid a Manchester-like attack on Australian shores.
In her strongest comments since unveiling her blueprint on tackling anti-Semitism in July, special envoy Jillian Segal told The Australian that Jewish Australians could not be expected to “build higher walls” and rely on constant security to go about their lives and worshipping.
The Prime Minister on Friday morning declared the nation stood side by side with Britain and its Jewish community against anti-Semitism, after two Jewish people were murdered and others were harmed in a car ramming and stabbing attack in the UK’s biggest northern city.
Syrian national Jihad al-Shamie has been revealed as the now-dead terrorist and three other people have been arrested by Manchester police over allegations they commissioned, prepared and instigated the attacks.
“There is no place for terrorism in our streets and all Australians stand with the UK at this dreadful time,” Mr Albanese said on Friday.
After 18 months of firebombings, vandalism and threats on the streets and on university campus, Jewish leaders fear the next anti-Semitic attacks could lead to deaths such as those in the UK.
But the nation’s Jewish leaders are increasingly concerned about the lack of public action on Ms Segal’s July report, following a strong backlash against her recommendations from the Greens and anti-Israel groups and personal attacks on the envoy’s character.
Concerns have been compounded by anti-Israel protesters planning a major rally at the Sydney Opera House just days after the anniversary of the October 7 massacre on Tuesday, which NSW police are trying to block.
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday warned that the nation was losing the fight against anti-Semitism, while eminent legal figure Mark Leiber told Labor it must repair relations with Israel to get the country back to the moral centre and Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the government needed to shift its priorities from foreign affairs to its own Jewish community under threat and back the Segal report.
The Segal plan would teach the dangers of anti-Semitism in schools, aid artists who have been doxxed back into work, engage with other envoys on online hatred, and ensure police and prosecutors understand anti-Semitism and how to carry new hate speech laws.
It has also called for funding to be stripped from universities and arts festivals that fail to stop anti-Semitism, training of border force officials on how to screen anti-Semites trying to enter Australia, and implementation of a nationwide definition of anti-Jewish hate in all levels of governments and public institutions.
The special envoy told The Australian on Friday it was time for Mr Albanese and his government to reveal publicly what actions they were taking on her recommendations.
“In July, I released a plan to combat anti-Semitism. It includes concrete actions to address the root causes of anti-Semitism and to restore the Australian Jewish community’s confidence in its place in our country. I was grateful for the Prime Minister’s presence at the launch and support for the plan,” she said on Friday.
“Many actions noted in the plan are progressing, including those driven by state governments. It is time for the federal government to respond publicly to the key recommendations of the plan and give their support to its detailed implementation to speed up the work that needs to happen to urgently push anti-Semitism to the margins of society.”
Mr Albanese recently expelled Iran’s ambassador to Canberra over revelations the Islamist regime in Tehran was behind anti-Semitic firebombings in Sydney and Melbourne.
Labor has also set up a federal police taskforce on anti-Semitic crimes, strengthened hate-speech laws, boosted security at synagogues and schools, and banned Nazi symbols and salutes.
Education Minister Jason Clare said in July he would wait until a report into Islamophobia to act on Ms Segal’s recommendations on tackling a now-years-long crisis on campuses. The Islamophobia report was released publicly three weeks ago.
On Friday, Mr Clare said he had written to state ministers on how to implement Ms Segal’s anti-Semitism plan and the Islamophobia report. “I have written to state and territory education ministers seeking their feedback on the recommendations in the reports of the Special Envoy to Combat anti-Semitism and Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia,” he said.
“I have also announced plans to strengthen the powers of the tertiary education regulator to step in and act when it is in the public interest. Public consultation on this is under way right now.”
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was approached for comment. His department’s spokesman said there was no place for anti-Semitism but did not detail any progress on the Segal recommendations.
Health Minister and key Labor left figure Mark Butler rejected the idea that recognising Palestine had encouraged anti-Semitism and terrorism in Britain.
With NSW police moving to block an anti-Israel protest at the Sydney Opera House due days after the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, massacre and both Jewish and Muslim Australians awaiting the outcome of Donald Trump’s attempt to end the Gaza war, Ms Segal said the Jewish community in Australia could no longer bear to live in fear.
“In Australia, the tone of the conversations in the Jewish community overnight has less been one of shock and more one of anguish, concern and dread,” she said. “The attack might have taken place in Manchester but it was an attack on Jewish people everywhere.”
“The Jewish Australians who attended Yom Kippur services around our country (on Thursday) had to pass security guards and in many cases be checked to confirm their affiliation with the synagogue before they could enter to pray. This has become normal.
“We cannot be expected to build ever higher walls and retreat behind ever more layers of security. That is no way to live. No other community lives this way.”
The Manchester attack is just the latest anti-Semitic attack committed in the West in recent months. Mr Ryvchin said.
Young US couple Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were shot dead outside Washington DC’s Jewish Museum in May while the alleged killer Elias Rodriguez chanted “free, free Palestine” when he was taken into custody.
In Germany last week, three suspected members of terror group Hamas were arrested in Berlin over an alleged plot to attack Jewish and Israel sites.
Mr Frydenberg – the nation’s highest ever ranking Jewish federal minister – said the massacre was a red alert for leaders in Australia.
“Unchecked hate has led to the murders in Manchester. It’s tragic, but unsurprising,” the ex-Liberal deputy leader said on X.
“It’s another red alert for our leaders, and a call for stronger action. For too long, a foreign conflict has been allowed to radicalise our domestic debate.
“This means, Prime Minister, taking on some of your own side. This is not just a fight against anti-Semitism, this is a fight for Australia, and right now, we are losing.”
Mr Leibler writes in The Australian that Labor and Australia must return to a bipartisan position on Israel.
“By attempting to appear balanced in its criticism of Israel, the only democracy in a troubled region, and Hamas, an openly genocidal terror movement, our government has unwittingly opened itself and our nation up to extremes,” he writes.
“The Albanese government failed to get that balance right.”
Mr Leiber said bipartisanship could be restored by stopping protesters calling for a global intifada or labelling Zionists as terrorists, and making sure foreign policy distinguishes Democratic Israel from the terrorist forces in Palestine.
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