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by Menachem Vorchheimer

Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory recently expressed concern that new anti-hate speech laws could do more harm than good. However, his discussion about introducing new laws misses the mark. It gives oxygen to the false narrative peddled by federal and state Labor governments and the authorities, that Australia suffers from an absence of laws, and that the introduction of new laws could solve the anti-Semitism crisis. But that is not the reality.

In mid-May, Australian Labor hit an all-time low when it gaslit Australia’s Jewish community by claiming that the spate of fire-bombings on Sydney’s Jewish community was a “hoax”.

The sad reality is this was pure political spin.

The alleged mastermind of the attacks is Muslim man Sayet Erhan Akca, who has been exposed as having a deep-seated hatred for Jews, including reportedly writing on social media, “Hitler was only washing earth, they made him out to be evil”.

Official Gaslighting

Australian Labor’s labelling of attacks on Jews allegedly orchestrated by Sayet Erhan Akca as “hoaxes” is the latest instalment of dishonesty from the Labor Government and law enforcement agencies since the tidal wave of anti-Semitism came crashing down on Australian shores in the wake of the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel.

Authorities previously gaslit Australia’s Jewish community when they sought to downplay the vile actions of the baying mob that descended on the Sydney Opera House in October 2023 shouting, “F***k the Jews”, “Where’s the Jews” and burning Israeli flags, at what was meant to be a solemn occasion to mourn the loss of 1,200 Jewish lives and the taking of 250 hostages by Hamas terrorists; the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

However, the dishonesty and political spin run a lot deeper than these events. Labor Governments, both state and federal, have repeatedly claimed that they cannot act against the vile anti-Semitism because of an absence of laws, but that assertion is fundamentally false.

In a landmark case, neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell was charged and convicted for incitement against Muslims, emanating from his “protest” against the building of a mosque in Bendigo in 2015.

Following his conviction, Cottrell appealed, asserting that the conviction was invalid, because he was merely exercising his implied constitutional right to “freedom of speech” and his right to engage in “political debate” under Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.

While the court agreed that “freedom of speech” and the right to engage in “political debate” exist, the court made clear that such rights were not unlimited, rather were subject to reasonable limitations including not to seriously vilify another based on their race and/or lawful religious beliefs.

Despite this clear legal authority, law enforcement agencies have consistently failed to enforce the law and charge those who have seriously vilified and/or incited hatred for members of Australia’s Jewish Community.

Double Standards

However, the failure of law enforcement agencies runs a lot deeper than not enforcing hate speech laws. In November 2023, on a Friday night, at the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath – the holiest day of the week – a mob descended on Caulfield in Melbourne, home of Australia’s largest Jewish community.

The mob came baying for Jewish blood, incited by a false allegation spread on social media that Jews had firebombed a Palestinian-owned burger shop.

The mob threw rocks, bottles and other projectiles, all while shouting various vile epithets towards members of the local Jewish community outside a synagogue. What should have been a night of prayer on the holiest day of the week, descended into chaos. So riotous was the crowd, that prayers were cut short and the synagogue evacuated.

Yet protest organisers and those responsible were not charged, despite Section 21 of the Summary Offences Act 1966, making it a criminal offence, with a penalty of up to three months in jail, for disturbing religious worship.

The failure to charge those responsible set an awful precedent. Not only did it represent an abandonment of core law enforcement principles – including the “theory of broken windows”, which is that by policing minor crimes, you create an environment of order and lawfulness – it also represented an abandonment of every Australian’s lawful right to “freedom of religion” and “religious worship” as articulated in Section 116 of Australia’s Constitution.

This failure to enforce the right to “freedom of religion” and “freedom of religious worship” demonstrates that our law enforcement agencies have been politicised by left-leaning state and federal Labor governments, which have, along with the Greens, a toxic anti-Israel, anti-religious ideology.

The consequence of the failure to enforce Section 21 of the Summary Offences Act 1966, resulted in Synagogues around Australia losing their sanctity and being deemed legitimate targets, culminating in the terrorist attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in December 2024.

Australia has always had laws to deal with anti-Semitism, but the political ideology of those in power has prevented their enforcement.

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Republished with thanks to News Weekly. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.