Sir Frank Lowy: “enough is enough” plea to politicians to speak up against anti-Semitism
Holocaust survivor and business icon Sir Frank Lowy has implored the nation’s leaders to tackle anti-Semitic hatred, as a Jewish leader apparently targeted in a firebombing issues a warning.
Holocaust survivor and business icon Sir Frank Lowy has implored the nation’s leaders to tackle anti-Semitic hatred “regardless of any political advantage” they gain from silence, as a Jewish leader apparently targeted in a firebombing says the crisis will lead to murder.
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of Australia’s peak Jewish body, warned the country was in a “state of self-delusion” about anti-Semitism, after his former house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was attacked and defaced by anti-Jewish thugs in the middle of the night.
The firebombing left Anthony Albanese “shaken” and prompted NSW Premier Chris Minns to condemn “animals with hate-filled hearts”.
NSW police are investigating if the attack was specifically targeting Mr Ryvchin and his family, in a shocking new development in an anti-Semitism crisis that began to spiral more than 15 months ago. The attack was the latest in a summer explosion of anti-Jewish hate crimes at synagogues and people’s homes.
Standing outside his former house – which was covered in graffiti and the remnants of a burnt-out car – Mr Ryvchin said business leaders and other influential Australians must join politicians in the fight against anti-Semitism before an anti-Jewish attack led to deaths.
“I fear that we’re going to wake up before long with someone dead. I think that’s the trajectory we’re on, and we’ve been there for a long time,” Mr Ryvchin said in the Sydney suburb of Dover Heights.
“When you have people in our society who were so consumed by wickedness and hatred that they would set fire … to suburban streets and risk the lives of everyone who lives here, simply because they disagree with certain views or opinions – it shows that we’re in a very dangerous state.”
Sir Frank told The Weekend Australian he was “hurt deeply” by the rise of anti-Jewish hatred in this country “at the worst possible time for Jews after the Holocaust”.
With a federal election imminent, the founder of global retail giant Westfield Corporation said “I don’t want to become political but I do want to say, OK, enough is enough”.
Sir Frank’s comments came as Israel and terror group Hamas formally signed a ceasefire deal in Qatar on Thursday (Friday AEDT), giving hope to the families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7 massacre – the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust – and ending months of fighting that has killed thousands of Palestinians.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a full meeting of his cabinet was not slated to sign off on the deal until Saturday night (local time), and the truce was likely to go ahead from Monday.
Upon the approach of the 80th anniversary commemorations on January 27 of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of Nazi Germany’s evil extermination camps, where his father Hugo Lowy died, Sir Frank questioned how Jewish people could suffer so much and still be the target of hate in Australia today.
He said: “How do I look at myself, now there is this anti-Semitic world and I have survived the Second World War? I lost my father in the process, my mother lost her brothers and sisters, and now anti-Semitism raises its head. There has to be a way for governments, influential people in governments, to speak out against it regardless of their political advantage of this event, if you know what I mean.’’
Police and emergency services were called to Dover Heights in the early hours of Friday following reports cars were graffitied with shocking slurs, two vehicles were set alight, and Mr Ryvchin’s former family house was doused with red paint.
One of the cars destroyed by fire, a Mercedes, had “f..k Jews” sprayed on the side and a Honda had “f..k Israel” on its rear windscreen and trunk. Both vehicles were towed away as police investigated the scene and sourced CCTV of the horrific attack. The Weekend Australian understands the current residents of the home are not Jewish, but of Asian descent.
Mr Ryvchin said he could not be certain the perpetrators knew it was his old house, but “it might be the world’s biggest coincidence if, of all the houses in all the streets of this neighbourhood, they hit my former home by accident”.
“To target someone’s home. Someone’s sanctuary. Someone’s family. To endanger the lives of the good and decent Australians who live here. To light a fire on a residential street where families were sleeping,” he said. “There is an evil at work in this country. We have to recognise that.” Mr Ryvchin said Anthony Albanese, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had called him personally on Friday morning, with the Prime Minister saying he was “deeply hurt by what had transpired”.
Speaking on Friday morning, the Prime Minister labelled the attack an “outrage” but stopped short of backing calls from Australia’s envoy against anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, for tougher sentences for anti-Semites.
“This is an outrage, another anti-Semitic attack that is against everything that we stand for,” he said, pointing to charges laid on Thursday against a man who allegedly threatened a Jewish organisation. Asked if legislation should be strengthened, he said laws “need to be enforced”.
Mr Minns on Friday unveiled plans to criminalise the incitement of hatred, not just violence, in his state’s anti-discrimination laws, as he voiced his disgust at the latest attack.
“I never thought I’d see this kind of naked racism and anti-Semitism repeating itself on Sydney’s streets in such an organised, horrifying manner,” he said. “Incidents of anti-Semitism and violent behaviour are increasing … (and) we have to stand together to condemn it unambiguously and send a clear message to these animals that their actions will not be tolerated.”
The anti-Semitism crisis in Australia has left Sir Frank – one of the nation’s greatest business success stories – perplexed and alarmed. “I can’t figure out why,’’ he said. “What happened on the 6th and 7th of October, we needed to have sympathy. A lot of people think about Gaza, but whatever it was, it was a war.
“How could they have turned on us on the 6th, 7th and 8th of October, unless they are deep anti-Semites? I cannot understand that particular phenomenon.”
Sir Frank, 94, is “hurt” that the Australia that warmly welcomed him as 21-year-old immigrant after he had survived the German occupation of Hungary, allowing him to work in a tool factory and calling him “a New Australian, which I took to be an endearment”, has witnessed this sudden eruption of hatred for Jewish people.
“No one asked me if I was Jewish or Hungarian, it was just ‘hello, how are you?’. There was no anti anything,’’ he said of his arrival in Australia in 1952. He embraced Australia’s opportunity and encouragement to build a property and retail empire worth $33bn in 2017 when he sold Westfield.
Sir Frank said he was not laying blame – “I don’t know who to blame, but it’s not fair’’.
“What do we do? I don’t have an explanation, I don’t blame, I don’t give credit, but I know it hurts, it hurts deeply.’’
He said very little can be done against prejudice because people “think they are right, and that’s why they are wrong”.
“I just pray and hope this phenomena following the (October 7) disaster, that those people will realise it is not fair to be anti-Semitic, it is not right to be anti-Semitic, it is not Christian to be anti-Semitic. Anything you are, you are not entitled to hate somebody because of their religion.”
Sir Frank has lived primarily in Tel Aviv in recent years but spends considerable time in Sydney. He said he didn’t think about leaving Australia, but came to Israel because friends there were 10 or 20 years younger than him, and his Australian friends were a bit older.
“It attracted me to try something new at 88 years of age,’’ he said. “Not too many people can do that. I had the opportunity, as I had built a house here 20 years ago. I said I will give it a go.’’
This month he received Israeli’s highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal.
