Politicising our trauma is not in the Jewish community’s interest

The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously said, “a week is a long time in politics”.

What then to make of 52 weeks – an entire year – of politics in the shadow of October 7?

During October 2023, communal mourning and rally events were held at Caulfield Shule and Caulfield Park. There was a sense of shock and sorrow, but also unity and resilience.

Politicians spoke from both sides of the political divide with sympathy and solidarity. There was little thought of partisanship, why would there be?

In federal and state parliaments, bipartisan motions were passed by Labor governments with the support of Liberal oppositions, condemning the Hamas attack and expressing solidarity with both the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

October 7, 2023 does not feel like very long ago but that spirit of political unity does.

One year on, October 7, antisemitism and Israel have all become casualties of our domestic political fray.

Last week in federal parliament, a motion on the October 7 anniversary was the subject of a hyper-partisan political debate. Both the government and opposition put up their own motions, voting against each other’s, unable to find any bipartisan consensus on commemorating the date.

Many will try to apportion blame for this. I have no interest in doing so here. But I am saddened that it has come to this.

In my time as a parliamentary staffer, I always dreaded the days when Israel or the Jewish community became a topic of political debate. I valued the relative bipartisanship wherever it existed in regard to our community. It is just one of many things I miss from the days before October 7.

A day before the parliamentary debate, the October 7 commemoration in Melbourne was held. Its theme was “Illuminate” – a message of light overcoming darkness, of resilience in the face of a year that has been as demoralising and devastating as any in the life of modern Jewry, certainly for those of us born in the post-Holocaust era.

This message resonated through the combination of prayer, music and testimonials – from friends and family of victims and hostages, and even from survivors of October 7.

On the whole, I found the proceedings both moving and fitting of the occasion. I do not say the following to gratuitously criticise.

But there was something else that pervaded the event, and it felt less like the light overcoming darkness and more like anger overcoming a spirit of optimism and hope.

Much like a year ago, politicians were present at this commemoration, but there was no prevailing sense of unity or gratitude in respect of their attendance. There were no speeches from the politicians, nor individual acknowledgements. This decision by organisers – one I agree with – helped to minimise the political tension that existed throughout the grounds of the event from tainting its formal proceedings.

The lead-up to the event saw something of a campaign waged against the invitation and attendance of the Prime Minister. Some in the community argued it was wrong for the organisers, Zionism Victoria, to invite him.

At this point, I acknowledge that I worked in Prime Minister Albanese’s office for a year – prior to October 7 – the culmination of a decade working as a political adviser for Labor ministers and MPs.

But whether in my time in politics or in the Jewish community, I have always understood engagement to be important. Governments exist to serve the communities and people who elect them. They can better represent communities they engage with directly, and that engage with them in return.

It’s obvious that many in our community have not felt adequately represented by their governments over the past year. But that is all the more reason we needed our leaders there on Monday.

Zionism Victoria was right to invite the Prime Minister and we should be glad he attended.

If the Prime Minister wants to spend four hours of his time on a Monday night listening to testimonies about October 7, that is a good thing. If he wants his attendance to signal support for the Jewish community, that is also good.

Take it from someone who knows, Prime Ministers almost never attend events where they have no formal speaking role, let alone receive no acknowledgement. He attended because he felt that Australia’s Prime Minister should be with the Jewish community on October 7.

Clearly, his attendance wasn’t the easy decision to make. He was heckled during the march, and then attacked from the podium with a political barb, but he sat through until the end.

So it’s a shame that the story of his attendance ended up being one of anger and rage rather than of light and hope. Although most of our October 7 commemoration was about remembrance and resilience, media coverage of the event focused on the Jewish community tearing shreds out of the Prime Minister.

I don’t believe any of this did the occasion the justice it deserved, nor did it serve our community’s interests.

I understand the anger and betrayal our community feels about its treatment over the past year. It has been as miserable a time to be Jewish as most of us have experienced in living memory.

And at this low point, we have had to endure not only the antisemitism itself but the denials of its existence, the dismissal of its significance, the gaslighting of our lived experiences. Though far-right antisemitism is still a real and rising threat, this denial phenomenon has been most obvious from progressive elements of society.

And it is understandable that when confronted with animosity and belittling from the left, many Jews are shifting to the right, choosing to find comfort on the side of politics that is offering them support.

If the left doesn’t want to see the Jewish community shift rightwards, it needs to lift its game. It needs to empathise with the legitimate grievances we have. It needs to acknowledge that the horrific situation Palestinians in Gaza face is neither our fault, nor within our control, and attempts to hold us responsible for war in the Middle East are plainly antisemitic.

But as a community, we also have to do our bit. We shouldn’t surrender to the notion we no longer belong on the left, or that we can afford to only deal with one side of politics.

And we should remain careful to distinguish between those who have committed actual acts of antisemitism and those who have offered criticism of the Israeli government’s handling of the war.

Only speaking to one side of politics is a dangerous path to go down. We must be able to engage with people who have control over our lives, even those we disagree with. We should put the onus on politicians on both sides to recommit to bipartisan efforts to tackle antisemitism.

The Jewish community’s success in multicultural Australia has always been tied to our openness to the world around us, to our engagement with different sides of politics and different communities. We have never made ourselves insular or isolated.

We have far more friends than enemies out there. Even if the loudest voices are often the nastiest, they are a tiny minority of society.

Now more than ever, we should embrace the light over darkness, remain resilient and engaged, and not allow ourselves to become victims of the political fray.

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