Why I believe Macnamara’s Jews must save Josh Burns 

I am the grandson and great-grandson of Shmuel and Yaacov Inslicht—proud Jewish, left-wing Zionists from Galicia, in what is now Western Ukraine. They lived through the rise and fall of empires, pogroms, the rise of communism and fascism and, for Shmuel, the unimaginable horror of the Shoah. He lost his first wife at Auschwitz. And yet he lived on. So do we. 

In 1905, amid the political ferment of Lviv—then Lemberg—Yaacov and Shmuel helped lead a Jewish revolt. When Zionist Jews demanded formal national recognition from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the local assimilationist, anti-Zionist Jewish leadership tried to shut them down. At a packed counter-conference in Lemberg’s Jewish Community Centre, Yaacov, representing the Tlumacz community, rose to condemn the establishment. He was dragged out by police on the request of other Jews—along with his son—for daring to speak the truth. 

It has never been easy to be a Jew. It has never been easy to be a Zionist, not in Shmuel and Yaacov’s time, when they were among the minority to attend the first World Zionist Congress of 1897 and in the former’s case edited Poale Zion’s Vienna version of Der Yidisher Arbeyter. 

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And it has never, ever, been easy to be a Jewish, left-wing, or socialist Zionist. 

But that is my lineage. That is the tradition I carry forward. And I suspect my forebears would be proud of many things: the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, its survival against impossible odds, and its democratic resilience. They would also be proud, I hope, of my role in co-founding Australian Labor Friends of Israel, alongside Eric Roozendaal and Mike Kelly. Because Jewish identity and progressive politics are not—and must never be—mutually exclusive. 

I live today with my children—Yaacov and Shmuel’s descendants—a stone’s throw from the firebombed Adass synagogue. My late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who bore witness to Kristallnacht before fleeing Nazi Germany, lived metres from Josh Burns’ firebombed electorate office. We do not live in fear, but we do live with eyes wide open. The threats are real. The atmosphere has changed. We must respond with moral clarity and political seriousness. 

This brings me to Macnamara. Jews in Macnamara are angry. I share that anger. What we have had to endure over the past 18 months has been un-Australian. October 7 was not just a catastrophe for Israel; it marked a turning point for Jews across the globe—including here in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Many feel abandoned by the left, rattled by the sheer brazenness of antisemitism in public life. And yes, many Jews are deeply disillusioned with the Labor government. But let’s be blunt: those feelings must not cloud our political judgement. 

Let’s not fool ourselves. On May 3, the choice in Macnamara is binary. It is between Labor’s Josh Burns and the Greens’ Sonya Semmens. The Liberals cannot win. And however aggrieved we may feel, we cannot afford the luxury of protest. The stakes are simply too high. 

Josh Burns is not perfect—but he has been principled. Josh is not just “one of us” in the parochial sense—though, yes, he is proudly Jewish, deeply connected to our community, and, like me, the grandson of Holocaust survivors. More importantly, he has been a consistent, principled voice of decency and moral clarity on Israel and antisemitism. Josh has fronted up and he has spoken up. We cannot afford to lose that voice in our nation’s parliament. 

To reward this party with victory in Macnamara would tell the Greens that their tactics work and embolden their anti-Israel politics

Losing Burns would be a gut-punch. It would hand Macnamara to the Greens, a party that has repeatedly and unapologetically crossed the line from criticism of Israeli policy into not just anti-Zionist conspiracy theories but outright antisemitism. We’ve seen it in their formal statements, on social media, and disgusting conduct in our nation’s parliament. 

A Greens victory in Macnamara would not be seen as a repudiation of the Albanese government’s foreign policy. It would be interpreted, loudly and triumphantly, as an endorsement of the Greens’ extreme agenda—including their calls to cut ties with Israel and their refusal to meaningfully engage with Jewish concerns about antisemitism. 

Sonya Semmens has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with anti-Israel activists who openly demonise the Jewish state. She has failed to meaningfully engage with Jewish constituents and has ignored or downplayed the antisemitism festering within her own party. A vote for Semmens is not a neutral gesture. It is a message: her views are acceptable in our national politics. 

I’ve seen many shameful things in my life but never a more crass and shameful direct mail-out than the one recently issued by Semmens. Outrageously titled “Caring for Community,” it contains a tawdry commitment to tackling antisemitism—buried at the very back, under the insulting heading “Safe and Thriving Neighbourhoods,” wedged between pledges about street lighting, the arts, Islamophobia and a random image calling for a ban on gambling ads. 

It’s an obscene piece of political marketing. Antisemitism in this country has reached unprecedented levels—with much assistance from the Greens’ violent rhetoric and contempt for social cohesion. They have opposed meaningful action on antisemitism at every turn—the polar opposite of what Semmens absurdly claims in her flyer. Imagine the gaslighting Semmens will commit against our community should she win the seat of Macnamara on May 3. 

To reward this party with victory in Macnamara and boost the numbers of Adam Bandt and Mehreen Faruqi in Canberra would not just be self-defeating. It would be historic in the worst way. It would tell the Greens that their tactics work and embolden their anti-Israel politics. 

Josh Burns represents hope. Hope that politics can empower Jews. Hope that Jewish voices need not retreat into cynicism or quietism. Hope that Zionism and the fight for justice can still march hand-in-hand. We owe it to our past—and to our future—not to abandon that hope. 

So yes, feel the anger. But do not give in to despair. This is not a time for revenge voting. It is a time for strategic solidarity. If you care about Israel, if you care about the fight against antisemitism, if you care about the future of a Jewish voice in Canberra—then there is only one choice in Macnamara. Vote for Josh Burns and make sure to put the Greens as low as possible. 

If they had the chance in 2025, when being Jewish, Zionist and of the Left is once again fraught with danger, I I know what Shmuel and Yaacov would do in our unenviable position.