Facing terror and keeping our heads

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.