We need a bipartisan war on antisemitism

Operation Avalite, the federal police taskforce set up in late December to investigate three major antisemitic attacks, is now investigating 102 incidents.

These more frequent and more severe attacks, including two on Sydney synagogues in the past week, have placed antisemitism firmly on the agendas of our political leaders.

That attention might appear to be good news for the Jewish community, and for all Australians who care about social cohesion and the peace and security of our multicultural society. The violent targeting of any segment of our society should be treated with utmost seriousness by our leaders and law-enforcers.

But Operation Avalite has yet to make a single arrest, including in the case of the horrendous firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue last month. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has declined an interview request from The Jewish Independent to update the community on its progress.

The judiciary is failing to treat cases of antisemitic vandalism sufficiently seriously. Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal wrote this week that when antisemitic incidents do make it to the courts, they are often treated as mere graffiti cases rather than as hate crimes that are part of a systematic pattern of intimidation.

Segal called for a national cabinet to address antisemitism, an idea Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to back, although he met with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen, Acting NSW Premier Penny Sharpe and AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw this week to discuss an integrated response to antisemitism.

As we begin an election year, both sides of politics seem more interested in approaching this national crisis with an eye to political advantage than in doing everything possible to fight antisemitism.