Australia and the World Past and Present

Since the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, the level of animosity towards Jews and towards Muslims in Australia has ratcheted up.

Australia has been a successful multicultural nation.

Waves of immigrants have brought their languages, cultures, religious practices, histories and memories of their homelands to their new home.

For the most part, that transition has been peaceful and successful.

While migrants come with views about conflicts in their homelands, they have also acknowledged that the hatred and violence of those conflicts should not be imported and replicated here in Australia.

The Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 and Israel’s response have contributed to a rising temperature here in recent times.

At a pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney shortly after the Hamas attack, protesters outside the Opera House were reported chanting “Fuck the Jews”. It was hard to believe that we would see that kind of hatred here in Australia – especially after such an horrific attack.

In December 2023, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed. A place of religious worship was targeted and attacked.

Vandals torched a car and painted “Kill Israiel” (sic) on a garage door in Woollahra, New South Wales.

I recall a Jewish friend of mine who, in the early 2000s, told me of his grandmother who still had fears that one day people would come to get her. I thought that this was quite unbelievable – that more than half a century after the Holocaust, such fear was still out there. I could imagine such belief perhaps in Israel, but on the other side of the world? In Australia – a successful multicultural nation?

Since the October 7 attack, we have seen fear within the Jewish community grow wider and deeper.

The other side of the coin is that the latest iteration of the conflict has also inflamed sentiment towards Palestinians and Muslims within Australia.

Up to this point in time, we had no Special Envoys against antisemitism or Islamophobia.

In July 2024, Australia’s Prime Minister appointed a Special Envoy to combat antisemitism. Two months later he appointed a Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia.

The fact that we even need such roles indicates that something has gone very wrong here.

It is bad enough that the Israel/Palestine conflict has unleashed the suffering that it has in the Middle East. Events there have inflamed events here to a level not seen before and it it is pulling at the strings of our social cohesion.

Previously, I thought that the term ‘social cohesion’ was a strange one. It seemed like a manufactured buzzword. But in times like this it takes on new relevance. When you have social cohesion, social cohesion doesn’t seem so important. But when you are in danger of losing it, it suddenly becomes something worth talking about.