Published: 15 May 2025
Last updated: 19 May 2025
For candidates running in “Jewish seats” at this year federal election, the campaign felt like being on the receiving end of a blowtorch. The temperature was destined to be high after the Hamas massacre of October 7, Israel’s retaliation and ongoing offensive in Gaza and the spate of attacks against Jewish property and institutions.
Even so, the personal targeting of candidates was a recurring theme. “Particularly nasty in respect to matters concerning the Jewish community and antisemitism,” was how Daniel Aghion, President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), described the campaign on ABC radio.
“The most negative campaign I have ever seen,” Allegra Spender told her adoring supporters when she stepped up to acknowledge victory on election night at Bondi Bowling Club in Sydney’s east.
Comments1
Zed15 May at 08:14 am
Kos Samaras (“The Jews have gone for Tim Wilson – 100%”) is wrong.
I am a Jew in Goldstein and I voted for Zoe Daniels, with preferences to Labor and Greens. I know for a FACT I’m not the only one.