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On the Melbourne synagogue attack:

What is the difference between 9 November 1938 in Germany and 6 December 2024 in Melbourne? Nothing, except some 86 years. In both cases, Jewish synagogues were set alight. The ugly antisemitism witnessed in Germany last century is being repeated in so much of the West today, including here in Australia.

A horrific attack happened in the early hours of Friday morning at a Melbourne synagogue, and two individuals in the synagogue were fortunate to escape with their lives. As one media report says:

Counter-terrorism police and the arson squad are investigating the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue that both the prime minister and the Victorian premier have condemned as an act of antisemitism. A large blaze engulfed the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea in Melbourne’s south-east on Friday morning and police are treating the fire as deliberately lit. Victoria police are searching for two masked individuals who were seen spreading an accelerant at the synagogue before the fire broke out. About 60 firefighters and 17 trucks were called to the site about 4.10am…

Glen Eira is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Victoria with 25,585 people, according to state government data. The attack prompted widespread condemnation from state and federal MPs. The Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, and the deputy Liberal leader, David Southwick, said the Jewish community needed answers amid the “worst level of antisemitism in living memory”. “Nothing justifies the destruction of a place of worship and those responsible should face the full force of the law,” the pair said in a statement.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said the “outrageous” attack served as a chilling reminder that antisemitism was not a relic of the past. Jewish groups stressed on Friday they were shocked but not surprised about the attack. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s president, Daniel Aghion, said it was a “tragic day”. “We have been warning about the risk of this since last year, 7 October,” he said.

Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann described “two thugs” who broke the synagogue’s windows, threw fuel on the floor and set it alight as people were preparing to pray early on Friday morning. “It’s outrageous,” he told reporters at the scene. “Tonight is the sabbath, we must all go and find a sense of calmness, camaraderie and community by gathering for the sabbath tonight and praying together as one community.”

Escalating Attacks

This is just the latest in a long line of such attacks over the past year. The 7 October 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel has simply emboldened all this. Sharri Markson of Sky News said this about the latest attack:

The fire-bombing of a busy synagogue in Australia in 2024 is heart-wrenching and deeply shocking. The mere thought that Jewish Australians aren’t safe praying peacefully in our place of worship is unfathomable and unacceptable. Australia is meant to be the epitome of a successful multicultural society but we have watched that erode before our very eyes as racism against jews has been tolerated. The Jewish community has warned repeatedly that antisemitic incidents are exploding.

We have begged political leaders and police to take this more seriously. I personally have implored the prime minister on Sky News virtually every night for the past 14 months to take action on this despicable trend before it’s too late.

Yet, as little action is taken, antisemitic terrorist incidents, like these, have only escalated in frequency and severity. Australia’s Jewish community is being terrorised and intimidated. In response to the firebombing of the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne, the Prime Minister uttered condemnation of the attack on Friday at a press conference, in a voice that lacked emotion and heart…

There hasn’t been strong enough political leadership to unequivocally say that protests won’t be tolerated outside a synagogue; this sort of protest is only against Jews at their place of worship – it’s nothing to do with the Middle East and it cannot be tolerated. It is wrong and un-Australian to simply protest the Jewish faith. But when no action is taken, one thing leads to another and you can see how a synagogue is firebombed.

Everyone could see we were in dangerous territory, including Peter Dutton. He said that he would like to “pretend that this wasn’t expected, or that it couldn’t be predicted, but I can’t do that to the Australian people.” And even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Albanese publicly that he was inviting terrorism with his foreign policy changes including votes at the United Nations.

Not only has the Albanese Government failed to tackle this crucial social cohesion issue but Albanese and Penny Wong have, I believe, emboldened the pro-Hamas protesters. In my strong view, they need to tone down their language. Wong criticises Israel more than she does Hamas.

She demands Israel recognise a Palestinian state, even though a terrorist group, Hamas is the current governing body in Gaza. She continues to support anti-Israel United Nations resolutions, but where is her UN resolution for the hostages to be brought home?

It seems this government has an unhealthy obsession with criticising Israel when there can be no equivalence between the democracy of Israel that abides by the rule of law and the barbaric and bloodthirsty terrorist group Hamas that slaughtered babies, children and gunned down teenagers at a music festival.

She concludes:

The Albanese Government could have changed its language; it could have publicly said over and over again that the war would end if Hamas returned the hostages. It could have publicly supported Israel in its existential fight for survival as it endeavours to defend itself from terror attack on seven fronts.

Instead they’ve allowed moral confusion to reign supreme and allowed sections of the public to confuse Israel with the terror regime they seek to eliminate. This moral confusion has emboldened the pro-Hamas agitators, rather than calmed the situation down. The Prime Minister’s view may be that voters don’t care about this issue, that they think the crazies on both sides have been killing each other for centuries.

But if he thinks mainstream Australians don’t care about the antisemitism and lawlessness that’s unfolding in our country, he’s dead wrong.  Australians hate that our peaceful, accepting, tolerant, inclusive country is being torn apart by radical racists bringing the hatred of Hamas to our beautiful streets.

The horrendous moral confusion of the Albanese Government has to end. We just want to live in peace, safety and security. Anthony Albanese, this shouldn’t be too much to ask of you.

Dangerous Policies

A week ago, Mark Leach of Never Again is Now penned a piece looking at how Australia’s increasingly anti-Israel policies and stances are fuelling a rise in anti-Semitism here. He wrote in part:

Did you know that the policy our government towards Israel may well be fueling antisemitism in Australia?

Policy Changes Towards Israel: Over the past 2 years the current Australian government has made 5 significant changes to its policy towards Israel (reversal of Jerusalem recognition, referring to Judaea and Samaria, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip as ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’, voting in Favour of a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, recognizing Palestinian sovereignty over natural resources in ‘occupied territories’, considering recognition of Palestinian statehood, and declining to supply weapons to support Israel in its defensive war against Hamas).

I believe these policies have fueled antisemitism in Australia by rewarding the strategy of the Islamist and anti-Israel/antisemitic forces in Australia. The war in Israel is not about real estate: Islam teaches that once a land has been conquered by Islam, it belongs to Islam/Allah forever. It is a theological and moral imperative to recapture such land for Allah. Any non-Islamic government on that land is evil and must be overthrown. Re-conquest alone will remove the shame that the loss of the land entails, and restore honour to Allah.

He finished his article this way:

There are only two options when it comes to the Middle East and Israel: support the existence of the State of Israel or support the replacement of Israel with an Islamist state. Only by making it clear, by its actions in both domestic and foreign policy, that Australia will never support the eradication of Israel and its Jewish population, will there be an incentive on the part of the Jihadists in Australia, to abandon their campaign against the Jewish community and more broadly western civilization.

Only when Islamists and antisemites understand that their campaigns against the Jewish community, against Israel, and Western civilization will never work, will they abandon this strategy and will Australia regain the social cohesion which we have enjoyed for so long. Far from bringing peace, appeasement will only fuel division and hatred. The Jewish community in Australia will never be safe while the government of the day appeases groups who are historically, ideologically, theologically and militarily committed to the destruction of the Jewish state and the cleansing of the Middle East of its Jewish (and Christian) population.

What should we then do to ensure Australia is a safe and free civilization for Jews? We need to work together to ensure that mainstream Australia understands and rejects the Islamist agenda for Israel. We need to ensure that no Australian political party ever adopts policy which encourages Islamist agendas and strategies here in Australia. This is what it means to “make antisemitism unthinkable”! Sign up, support us, and let’s keep Australia “one and free”!

There is a petition that now can be signed to show support for our beleaguered Jewish community. It begins this way:

Australia stands at a crossroads: will we protect the values of safety and inclusion that define our nation? Join us in urging Parliament to take decisive action against rising antisemitism and ensure every faith community can live without fear.

The truth is, Jewish people no longer feel safe in this country. Yet Albo does nothing – he is only worried about keeping Muslim voters in western Sydney onside. Recall that just two days after the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists, we had ugly anti-Israel protestors on the steps of the Sydney Opera House with signs proudly saying, “Gas the Jews”. Nothing was done then, and nothing has been done since then.

Past Labor leaders such as Hawke, Beazley and Gillard would not have stood for this. But today’s woke and weak Labor leaders will do nothing about this. In such a climate of derelict and morally vacuous leadership, things for Jewish Australians – and for all of us – will only get worse.

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Republished with thanks to CultureWatch.