Published: 10 December 2024
Last updated: 10 December 2024
Over the past few days, the Australian Jewish community has received two powerful messages. The first is from the terrorists: we hate you and we want to do you harm.
The second is from the Australian government, police, and many ordinary fellow citizens: we are appalled by racist violence and want you to live among us in peace and freedom.
It is essential that in the grief and pain of hearing the first message we do not close our ears to the second.
Police now say the firebomb which destroyed the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne on Friday morning was very probably a terrorist attack. “By default, it’s an attack on the Jewish people,” Victoria Police commissioner Shane Patton said at a media conference.
The government has moved quickly to establish a federal police antisemitism taskforce, a special operation under the National Counter Terrorism Framework, called Operation Avalite. The taskforce will be given expanded powers to investigate three key antisemitic attacks: the Adass Israel synagogue attack, the attack on MP Josh Burns’ office in July, and the antisemitic vandalism of private property targeting Jewish residents of Woollahra in Sydney last month.
The Government has also announced $32.5 million in additional funding for Jewish community security.
There is more to be done, particularly in the education sector. Freedom of protest must not mean freedom to abuse or intimidate. The Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal is already working with universities to address a campus environment that has included incitement. The Victorian government is considering banning protests outside places of worship, a good idea.
It is natural to look for fault and to find resonances from familiar battles, but we must temper that instinct with a sense of proportion
In addressing the question of how it could happen here, we have already noted that Friday’s attack must be seen in the context of a dramatic and deeply disturbing increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia. There is no doubt that many of these incidents have been spurred by polarising conflict over Israel-Palestine which has been insufficiently contained.
It is also inevitable that it will be seen in the context of Australian foreign policy, of the multi-generational trauma of our Holocaust survivor community, and of both a Jewish and an Australian community that have become deeply divided over the Middle East.
But we should be careful that blame is directed where it is due — at the terrorists and the extremists whose intemperance has made an enemy of Jews and Israel.
No group knows more about scapegoating than the Jewish people. It was we who invented the ritual which gave the phenomenon its name, and it is we who have most often been the victims of the human instinct to find someone to blame.
In the face of shock, distress and fear, it is natural to look for fault and to find resonances from familiar battles, but we must temper that instinct with a sense of proportion.
We are not reliving Kristallnacht
Faced with the evocative image of Torah scrolls being carried out of a burned-out synagogue, we wrote on Friday that references to Germany in the 1930s now seem not quite so hysterical.
The image is powerful: a burned synagogue, damaged scrolls, one of them a remnant from the Holocaust. But any suggestion that this synagogue attack is the harbinger of another Holocaust remains ludicrous: ahistorical, insensitive and alarmist.
Kristallnacht, the 1938 coordinated wave of antisemitic violence which began the Holocaust, was a mass attack by Nazis who controlled the German government and had the cooperation of authorities. The Adass synagogue firebombing was a single illegal act which has prompted an immediate response from every level of public institution: police, state authorities, federal government, opposition.
There is no reason to think anti-Jewish violence will become widespread. Yes, there are more incidents than in previous years and that is reason for concern, but most Australians have a positive attitude towards Jews and don’t want the conflict of Israel-Palestine to affect life here. They certainly don’t endorse racist violence.
We are not victims of a hostile government
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the claim that the synagogue attack is connected to Australia’s votes at the UN, which have become more supportive of a Palestinian state over the past year.
"Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia, including the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible',” he said, also citing Australia's decision to deny a visa to Ayelet Shaked.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has similarly sought to blame government policy and vetoed a show of unity by Liberal and Labor MPs.
It is possible that more sympathy for Palestinians at a political level has emboldened the most extreme fringe of their movement in Australia.
But nothing about the Australian government’s position on Palestine could be read by any sane person as an endorsement of violence against Jews, not in Israel and certainly not in Australia.
As the sun set on that awful day, we began a weekend living as we always do, as Jewish Australians
Some Australian Jews agree with Foreign Minister Penny Wong that a Palestinian state must now be seen as a necessary waypoint on the path to a solution. Many take the position expressed by the Zionist Federation of Australia that a Palestinian state cannot be endorsed until there is Palestinian leadership that recognises the right of Israel to peace and security.
But none of us should be fooled by the self-serving rhetoric that seeks to leverage the synagogue attack for political point-scoring.
It is not the fault of Jews, any Jews
Rape is not the fault of women, whatever the victim is wearing or doing. Antisemitism is not the fault of Jews, whatever Jews do or say.
The synagogue attack is not the fault of Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas terrorists in Gaza, whatever one thinks of the way that action has been conducted.
It is not the fault of right-wing Jews, even those who support Israel’s most troubling treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
It is not the fault of left-wing Jews, even those who repudiate Israel or express sympathy for Palestinians.
It is not par for the course
In dealing with the pain of the synagogue attack, we must not forget that it was an exceptional event. That’s why it has sparked such a strong reaction in the media and from politicians, as well as in our own community.
The travel alert warning issued by the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center suggesting Jews may not be safe to travel to Australia is ridiculous.
As the sun set on that awful day, we began a weekend living as we always do, as Jewish Australians. We gathered to share Shabbat with our families. We walked to synagogue wearing kippot and we played sport wearing Star of David insignia on our shirts. We spoke Hebrew or Yiddish on the street. We rented church halls for Israeli dancing and held wedding chuppahs in public parks. We attended rallies and waved Israeli flags. We did so safely and freely because Australia is our home.
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Synagogue fire being treated as deliberate anti-Jewish attack (TJI)
Comments3
Fiona16 December at 09:37 pm
Thanks for this rational and measured article.
We need to call out rising antisemitism and insist that our governments take action. Yes we say this with the memory of the horrors of our shared past. However we must not distort the Holocaust. We do not have a totalitarian government in place with mob violence. We are not disenfranchised. I fear that the Holocaust is being used as a weapon for political agendas.
rosie hersch11 December at 03:39 am
I dispute your quote
“In the face of shock, distress and fear, it is natural to look for fault and to find resonances from familiar battles, but we must temper that instinct with a sense of proportion. But any suggestion that this synagogue attack is the harbinger of another Holocaust remains ludicrous: ahistorical, insensitive and alarmist.”
Sorry but may I remind you dear writer of this article that your words were exactly what Jews in Berlin, Poland and in other European cities were all saying in the early thirties in an effort of denial and convincing themselves that violence against jews would quieten down, and nothing bad will happen. Well look how that ended!! Yes, we have to keep making as much noise as we can before this antisemitism does escalate to something we cannot control.
Pauline Shilkin10 December at 08:29 pm
Thank you so much for this rational, thoughtful and important editorial. To allow ourselves to be used as a tool for political wedging is indeed a dangerous thing.