Scomo swaps church for synagogue in Liberal love offensive

BDS attacks on independents, staged public embraces - the government has turned Jewish ‘allegiance’ into an election weapon and cheapened it in doing so

IF SOMEONE ON the other side of the world digested the media coverage of the election campaign these past few weeks, they could be excused for thinking half of Australia is Jewish.

In Wentworth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Dave Sharma has reminded everyone how much he loves Israel and has attacked his independent rival Allegra Spender with BDS slurs; in turn Spender spent a lot of time rejecting the BDS link and took out a full-page ad in the Jewish News to assure Jewish readers how much she loves Israel. Media follow-ups spoke to rabbis and community leaders, who gave Spender the thumbs up.

In the seat of Goldstein in Melbourne, the independent candidate Zoe Daniel has been fending off attacks over her signing a Palestine petition during last year’s Gaza conflict and hosing down Nazi comparisons made by her staff. In Kooyong, treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s campaign poster was defaced with antisemitic graffiti.

In the Sydney seat of Warringah, the Liberal candidate Katherine Deves had to apologise after she compared anti-trans activism to opposing the Holocaust.

To cap it off, the front page of the Australian on Easter Saturday featured a huge photo of Scott Morrison, wearing a yarmulkah, hugging Frydenberg, also in a yarmulkah, at a Passover service – in a craven “photo opportunity” conceived by the Liberal Party with the consent of the synagogue.

The image was manufactured not just to help Frydenberg in the battle to retain his seat but also to send a message to the Jewish voters of Wentworth, Macnamara, Goldstein and beyond: the government loves Jews and its leader is “hug-close” to the senior Jewish member of the government. In short, the Libs are the party for the Jews.