Councillors, Jewish residents intimidated by local government Palestine campaigns

Editor's note: Police were called to a council meeting in Sydney's Inner West on Tuesday night after council members were trapped in the building by pro-Palestinian campaigners. The campaigners became aggressive after a motion censuring Israel and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was narrowly defeated.

The case is not anomalous. Local government has become a major battleground for Israel-Palestine issues, aggravating a hostile environment for Jews in suburbs with few Jews. This article offers a personal reflection on that impact.

My children and grandchildren live in a northern Melbourne suburb. Travelling from my home in Caulfield to visit them over the past few months has distressed me.

Late last year, the Greens-dominated Darebin Council took down the Aboriginal flag that had flown for years above chambers and raised a Palestinian flag in its place.

Darebin Council's extended substitution contravenes the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet protocols governing flags on the three poles above Council buildings, which detail the display of Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. The Council’s action is disrespectful to Darebin’s and Victoria’s many Aboriginal citizens.

Unlike the Aboriginal flag, the Palestinian flag does not represent residents or express community diversity. According to the 2016 census (the latest available statistics), there were 772 people born in Gaza or the West Bank in the whole of Victoria, about 86% of whom were Australian citizens.

Flying the flag of another country or disputed territory on a council building is the opposite of encouraging social cohesion and inclusivity. That is the experience of my family in a suburb with few Jews and strong support for Palestinians.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, antisemitism, including overt threats against Jewish Australians, has increased. Support for Palestinians often blurs into antisemitism.

Jews living in or near Darebin understandably feel deeply unsettled. Flyers and stickers are posted daily on lamp posts and walls, with slogans such as "Zionists are terrorists", “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free", and an Israeli flag with a no entry sign crossed through it.

Perhaps the people who post flyers are persuaded that anti-Israel and anti-Zionist activism isn't antisemitic. That’s not how it feels to a Jewish child who constantly sees attacks on Israel's right to exist.

A municipal council’s main tasks are to collect rates, administer street lighting and empty the bins. Local government is not the place to broadcast international political preferences, especially when the impact can intimidate Jewish citizens.

I do support the right to protest. However, I am conscious of the effect of frequent marches and demonstrations around residential areas on the residents’ sense of security, especially for young children.

The Council's flying of the Palestinian flag dismisses Jewish people's experience of intimidation and makes Darebin's Jewish residents feel unwelcome.

Recent constant exposure to this material and views has deeply unsettled some Jewish residents, especially those born in Israel or with family members there. If Israel should not exist, what does that say about their birthplace or their families? They are aware of the history of antisemitism in Europe and the Middle East, which has led over centuries to the annihilation of Jewish communities and the violent death of millions of Jews.

To friends, who do not see being anti-Israel or anti-Zionist as antisemitic, some ask the terrible question: If they came for me would you hide me?

According to recent data gathered by Monash University, the majority of Jewish people in Australia support Israel wholeheartedly and their deep gratitude for its existence links to the trauma of centuries of tragic and virulent antisemitism, informed in part by our large community of Holocaust survivors.

The massacre of October 7 has led most of Australia's Jewish community to feel despair and deeply wounded. There are 55,000 Jewish people who live in Melbourne, most in the Glen Eira council region but no one is suggesting Glen Eira should fly an Israeli flag instead of their Aboriginal one.

Councils should fly Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags and commit to representing all Australians – and no one else. 

The conflict in Israel and Gaza is long and complicated. It calls for education and nuance in thinking and responding. Lacking such knowledge, many people in Australia feel pressured to take sides. What they fail to realise is that doing so, such as by flying a flag on a Council building, intimidates Jewish people and leads them to feel unwelcome and even afraid. 

Darebin is a Greens-dominated council and the Greens' strong support of Palestinians no doubt affects the decision to display the Palestinian flag. But the Greens also claim support for multiculturalism, which is not evident in the experience of Jews living in Darebin.

In Australia, we pride ourselves on our multiculturalism and giving everyone a fair go. Discrimination and intimidation have no place here.