Top Catholic urges Christians to protect Jewish-Australians against ‘destructive’ anti-Semitism

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president and Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe calls for Jewish-Australians to be protected from ‘violent and senseless’ anti-Semitism.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Timothy Costelloe. Picture: Fiona Basile

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Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Timothy Costelloe has urged Christians to actively support and protect ­Jewish-Australians under attack from “the violent and senseless attitude which goes by the name of anti-Semitism”.

After dozens of anti-Semitic attacks across the country and terror plots targeting the Jewish community, the Archbishop of Perth has issued a call to arms for all Australians to join the fight against “pernicious and destructive” anti-Semitism.

Writing in The Australian, Archbishop Costelloe said the country was confronting a “deeply unpalatable truth that for some in our society the notion of tolerance and respect for each other should not include our Jewish brothers and sisters”.

“It is a cause for shame that ­places of Jewish worship are being firebombed; that Jewish schools and other institutions are forced to engage security firms; that university students are afraid to be on campus in case they are verbally or physically abused; that Jewish homes and cars are defaced by vile graffiti,” he said.

“All purportedly in the name of peace and justice but in reality as an expression of that senseless ­hatred for the Jewish people which, when once it went unchecked in Europe, resulted in the brutal ­horrors of the Holocaust.”

The intervention by Archbishop Costelloe comes after Sydney Catholic, Anglican and Greek Orthodox archbishops in January issued a joint call rejecting the “normalisation of hatred” based on religious beliefs and the “seriously misguided” use of the ­actions of the Israel Defence Forces to justify attacks on Australians Jews and synagogues.

Since the high-level faith leaders’ declaration, there has been a spike in anti-Semitic incidents, including a firebombing of a Sydney childcare centre and a foiled terror attack following the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives.

Archbishop Costelloe, who was appointed to lead the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in 2022, said “in his teaching, Jesus insists that everyone is our neighbour … that is the point of his parable of the good Samaritan”.

He said it was important for Christian Australians to “recognise the danger of anti-Semitism and do everything we can to work against it. When our neighbours are in need, we do our best to come to their aid. Because of the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia today, our Jewish sisters and brothers now have a particular claim on our support and protection.

“I invite us all to search our hearts and ask ourselves what we can say and do in our local contexts to reassure the members of the Jewish community they are welcome, respected and safe here in Australia,” he said.

Archbishop Costelloe said the cowardly, murderous attacks by Hamas terrorists on innocent Jewish people on Oct­ober 7, 2023, had “sowed the bitter seeds of violence, destruction and untold suffering for thousands of people”.

The senior Catholic leader, who hopes the fragile ceasefire means the “worst of the violence might be behind us”, said nothing could compare with the torment and suffering of the victims, “nor can we minimise the horror of the death and destruction that has unfolded in Gaza”.

“Pope Francis is right when he says war is always a defeat for humanity. It lays bare the frightening power of evil, which can so easily take hold in people’s minds and hearts, blinding us to our common humanity and leading us to treat others not as our brothers and sisters but as enemies,” he said.

“Tragically, manifestations of this inexplicable blindness and evil have become visible in our towns and cities.”