Preacher to tour Qld as PM cracks down on anti-Jewish hate

A church leader who made headlines when he was chased by pro-Palestine protesters in Sydney two days after the October 7 massacre will tour Queensland next week as the PM announced plans to combat anti-Semitism.

A church leader who made headlines around the world when he was chased by pro-Palestine protesters in Sydney two days after the October 7 massacre will tour Queensland next week to warn Australia is at a critical turning point in the war against hate.

Rev. Mark Leach, co-founder and CEO of Never Again is Now will speak at events on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, and Fraser Coast, rallying communities and churches to stand united against hatred and extremism.

The tour comes as the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced a wide ranging plan to tackle hate against Jewish people.

It will include universities and arts bodies losing government funding if they fail to combat anti-Semitic bigotry from staff, students and artists.

All parts of society would be pushed to adopt a national standard definition of anti-Jewish bigotry under the plan.

Flowers left at the door of a Jewish synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

It comes after a series of alleged anti-Semitic attacks across Australia, which has prompted groups including Human Rights Watch, Jewish Council of Australia, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Australian National Imams Council, Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International to condemn the behaviour.

Rev. Leach said that over the past 16 months, Australia had witnessed an unprecedented rise in antisemitism with Jewish homes, schools, and places of worship vandalised or set on fire.

Pro Palestine students at University of Queensland campus took over the Advanced Engineering building in May last year. Picture David Clark

In Melbourne a synagogue was torched, and Jewish business owners have been driven to close their businesses.

Rev. Leach said Queensland had also experienced a sharp increase in incidents.

In May, disturbing antisemitic graffiti with Nazi symbols was discovered in Robina on the Gold Coast.

Jewish holiday celebrations in Brisbane were disrupted by aggressive protesters, neo-Nazi propaganda has appeared in local suburbs, and a woman wearing a Nazi-symbol shirt was seen outside a Sunshine Coast school.

“Our nation stands at a critical turning point,” Rev. Leach said.

“We face two futures: one marked by division, decline, and fear; the other defined by unity, strength, and hope.

“Now is the time for Australians—Christians, Jews, and all people of goodwill — to come together and build a society that is safe, free, and united.”

An anti-Semitism rally in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Rev. Leach says he would share “a bold, hopeful vision for a resilient and inclusive Australia, drawing from his leadership at Never Again is Now, a movement committed to combating antisemitism through education and community mobilisation.”

The Christian minister has particularly called on churches to play their part in standing against attacks on Jewish people.

“There is a long, and tragic history of Christians persecuting the Jewish people. The ideas that for example the Jews were guilty of at least two terrible sins: the killed God, and they rejected Jesus as their Messiah,” Rev. Leach said.

He said Christians should be supporting the people of Israel who were “cousins” in the faith.

Rev. Leach acknowledged there was concern among Australians about the impact of the war in Gaza.

But he said the response of some pro-Palestine supporters in targeting Jewish people was not acceptable.

“They are holding Israel to a different standard to any other country.

“There are no such protests about Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, China etc.

“These rallies are part of an explicit agenda to destroy the state of Israel, the standard call is for the ethnic cleansing of the land from its original inhabitants, the Jew.

Pro Palestine protesters pictured outside The Greek Club in Brisbane last year. Image/Josh Woning)

“Finally, these ‘protests’ are resulting in attacks against the Jewish community, they are stoking hatred.”

“War is always terrible. There is terrible suffering happening in Gaza.

“Certainly, large numbers of children are being killed. The problem, however, is that the numbers are unreliable, inflated by Hamas, which doesn’t diminish the level of suffering, but it means they are being massively inflated in order to demonise and isolate Israel.”

Anglican minister Reverend Mark Leach, one of the co-founders of the Never Again is Now movement, speaks at a Sydney rally. Photo: Contributed

Rev. Leach said it was “completely unreasonable to hold Jewish people here in Australia accountable for the actions of a sovereign national state defending themselves against an existential threat.

“We don’t see Russians being attacked by Ukrainians here in Australia because of the conduct of Putin and his army in Ukraine.

“No matter what your views are of what’s happening in the Middle East, here in Australia, we do not attack each other and kill each other and threaten each other and firebomb each other’s places of worship on the basis of religious, ethnic identities, or activities of people on the other side of the world.”

Details on the Never Again is Now Qld events are on their website.

Originally published as Preacher to tour Qld as PM cracks down on anti-Jewish hate