I am appalled by the brutality of October 7 and by the brutality of Israel’s response

I have only visited Israel once, maybe 40 years ago. While changing money at a bank, the teller looked at me and asked: So when will you make Aliyah? The question struck me as bizarre: I was born in Australia, a country that had given refuge to both my parents, and Israel was for me a foreign country.

The past year has taught me that it is not possible for a Jew to feel no connection with Israel. Neither the Israeli government, who offer me citizenship while denying it to Palestinians whose ancestors have lived there for generations, nor the opponents of Israel, who too often confuse Jewishness with support for Israel, will allow me that possibility.

Yet there is a crucial distinction to be made between Israelis and Jews. Twenty percent of Israel’s population are Arab; most Jews do not live in Israel. Of course, if we include the Occupied Territories the percentage of non-Jews is far higher. For many years Israeli commentators themselves have made the point that Israel’s policies of systematically settling the West Bank are creating a situation where Israel cannot remain simultaneously a Jewish and a democratic state.

I was appalled by the brutality of October 7, but not surprised. The conditions under which Palestinians have been subjected - and the de facto acceptance by the Netanyahu government of Hamas’s role in Gaza - was a tinder box waiting to conflagrate. If I was surprised, it was at the failures of Israeli intelligence to foresee the attacks, which were clearly well planned and coordinated.

I am equally appalled by the brutality of Israel’s response and the incontestable fact that it is breaching international law. The Gaza War has done more to explode Australia’s long-standing support for Israel than 70 years of history. As more Australians come to terms with the brutality of Israel’s occupation, they are led to question the very basis of Israel’s existence.

Ours is a country that accords citizenship to people based not on their ethnicity or religion but on their willingness to settle and live in a multicultural society.

The idea of a Jewish state confronts our notions of national identity, just as does the Islamic Republic of Iran or Chinese suppression of the Uighurs. If Israel is to survive as a liberal democracy, it can only do so by recognising equal citizenship for everyone within its borders, whether by redrawing the borders to allow for a genuine Palestinian state or moving towards a multi-ethnic polity in which Jewish and Arab communities enjoy a real co-existence.

To be appalled by Israel’s belligerence is not to deny the rise of antisemitism over the past year. The Gaza War has seen old hatreds unleashed, many of which go beyond hatred of Israel. While we are conscious of antisemitism in some Muslim communities, there is a long tradition of traditional Christian hostility towards “the killers of Christ”, which still influences attitudes in some of the communities which make up Australia.

The Australian newspaper, which has become a cheer squad for Israel, can simultaneously dredge up any anti-Israeli comment from a Green Parliamentarian while its foreign editor, Greg Sheridan, praises the Hungarian leader Victor Orban, whose antisemitism is well established.

In my encounters with Australian Palestinians, I have heard less antisemitism than I observe from some Anglo lefties. Indeed, I feel a sense of solidarity with local Palestinians who are also exposed to hatred and censorship. Readers of The Jewish Independent are very aware that supporters of Israel have been targeted, but are we also conscious of the many cases where pressure has been put on supporters of Palestine to silence them?

In fact, there have been relatively few criticisms of Israel that are also antisemitic, although statements by some Islamic clerics in Sydney are deeply concerning and will, I hope, be properly addressed as breaches of anti-defamation laws. But the kneejerk response of major Jewish organisations to uncritically defend the Netanyahu government is counterproductive.

Claims of bias in reporting out of Gaza become increasingly less credible, as evidence mounts of Israel’s ruthless assault and apparent unconcern for civilian casualties. Wiping out Hamas is pure fantasy, rather as was the American goal of wiping out the Taliban. Does anyone believe the Palestinians who survive this onslaught will not be attracted to terrorism in future if there is no prospect of genuine recognition and equality?

When the war ends - or realistically, when it collapses out of exhaustion on both sides - Israel faces an existential crisis. For years Netanyahu believed he could maintain an uneasy status quo, while cosying up to Arab autocrats whose concern for the Palestinians was largely rhetorical. That illusion has been punctured: there will be no return to the status quo.          

There are 14 million people in the lands that people on both sides speak of as “between the river and the sea”. Until Israel accepts that peace demands equal dignity for all of them, the conflict will continue.