Antisemitism, Racism, Religion, Xenophobia

Four words which denote so much of the hatred we see in the world today.

And also in Australia.

But at the moment it seems that only one matters. Or at least only one which is grabbing headlines and is used in political pointscoring. Australia, sorry, the Albanese government is ‘dragging its feet’ in prosecuting antisemitic attacks such as that in NSW several days ago and in Victoria recently. That came from Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel; “Obviously the attitude of the current Australian government towards Israel is inflaming a lot of these emotions and giving […] some acceptance when you do not fight it,” she told the ABC.

The former Attorney General (2013-2017) George Brandis KC, has weighed in on the criticism of the government’s ‘inaction’, that caused Albanese to be “brought kicking and screaming” to a hurridly called national cabinet.

What seems to be forgotten here is that police in NSW have now 10 people in custody over the antisemitic attacks… and further investigations are on going. It seems that the Albenese government has not got the magic touch of clicking the fingers and all problems are solved… but progress is being made.

There are a couple of important points to make, apart from the arrest of now 10 people accused of the antisemitic attacks.

One is that while the attacks on Jewish sites have been noted, there have been other incidents, anti Islam, anti Arab graffiti has been painted on various buildings near Mosques and shops. But that is not mentioned. Racist and discriminatory behaviour is evident as daily occurrences against Muslims, as well as against Indian and African refugees who have settled here. A church recently built near where I live has a huge blank white wall facing the road at the rear of the building. A very tempting target for graffiti attacks… And yes, they are graffitied and cleaned off regularly.

The second is that Australian security forces, both state and federal police are involved in further investigations into who is behind these antisemitic attacks, and the investigations include the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA agencies. Would the opposition welcome compromising those investigations by releasing what information has been gathered to date, letting the perpetrators, whether here in Australia or acting from an overseas base know that they are being investigated, that their arrest may be imminent?

“More information” is the rallying cry from the opposition on just about anything.

The third is that Australia has anti discrimination laws and hate speech laws which are in place not just to protect attacks on Jewish sites or on Jewish people, but on all religions, races and other means people are discriminated against.

These laws are not specifically aimed at antisemitism, perhaps that is the problem. Perhaps to appease the opposition and the Deputy Foriegn Minister of Israel, not to mention George Brandis KC, the former Attorney General and currently professor at the Australian National University teaching at the ANU College of Law. He, of all people should be aware of the laws and the sensitivities in needing to have time and space to investigate the incidents, to collate and examine evidence to ensure that charges laid will stand up in a court of law. The letters KC indicate that he is or was a very senior lawyer or barrister.

And there is a fourth issue to deal with in considering the rise of antisemitism here and abroad, and that is the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people in Israel. Currently, while the cease fire is holding in Gaza, people on the West Bank are being hounded out of their villages and farms. Israeli forces have surrounded a hospital in the West Bank city Jenin and in a nearby refugee camp. In a ‘shift in security strategy’, the IDF has increased its presence in the West bank, carrying out air strikes in Jenin and detonating roadside explosive devices killing at least 10 people, wounding more than 40 and effectively denying access to the hospital for the wounded to be treated. All to render the Plalestinian Liberation Organisation powerless so that it does not become an influential player in a post war Gaza. The word used to describe Palestinians is ‘Terrorists’.

President Trump appointed Elise Stefanik to be his UN Ambassador and she, in a recent interview proclaimed something to the effect that; “The West Bank belongs to the Jews! Palestine is a myth!”, backing Israeli claims of biblical rights to Judea and Samaria, the biblical names for the West Bank.

Mike Huckabee, Trump’s ambassador to Israel has echoed similar sentiments, declaring; “There’s no such thing as a West Bank” when he visited in 2017.

And Peter Dutton has found another dog whistle, amplify the discrimination against the Jewish community but ignore anything that could be considered as a cause for such behaviour… No I don’t condone it at all, but it must also be considered in context.

I cannot imagine why any one would be a bit angry that those ‘terrorists’ in Samaria and Judea should be being pushed aside, being cleared from the lands they have occupied since time immemorial. I cannot imagine why any one should feel the need to make a statement that some things are just not right, that as a result of 1200 people being killed in an attack on October 7, 2023, 47,000 people have had to pay with their lives, that a further 100,000 are injured, that their homes have been demolished. How many more are buried in the rubble will slowly come to be known, but it will bring the number of fatalities much higher. No thought given to why those people who attacked on October 7, 2023 should even want to carry out such an attack. It would have very little to do with the fact that Gaza was a virtual outdoor prison, a narrow strip of land housing over 2.3 million people who look out from that land, through the electrified fences at the lands their forebears farmed for thousands of years.

No, I do not support antisemitism, I do not support the Palestinian violence, whether the October 7 attack or the verious intafadas where Israeli lives have been lost through terrorist attacks, bus bombings and the like, but cannot stand by as those claims to Palestine/Israel are made which are as brutal an act of colonisation as any in the long history of colnials taking the lands from indigenous peoples.

I guess the bit I find hardest to understand is that the Israelis have suffered through history, they, the Jews of Eastern Europe have suffered pogrom after pogrom, have been throughout history pushed aside and called back when convenient, but always with the threat of being moved on again, and then the target of the most coordinated, planned, sophisticated act of genocide during the time of Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany.

As to Australian laws to deal with the antisemitism, as stated, they are some of the strongest anti discrimination laws there are. And the agencies charged with investigating and prosecuting those crimes are well and trully on the job.

My plea is for Israel to be as sensitive to the needs of others as they are to defending their needs.

 

 

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