Some decades ago Rabbi Coleman, our much loved orator, was giving a sermon on the topic of anti-Semitism in Australia.
Whilst noting that Australia was amongst the most welcoming and tolerant societies for a Jewish community to reside anywhere in the world, he also cautioned against the irrational and historic experience of anti-Semitism that can suddenly arise at anytime and in any place.
In that speech he conjured up images of hoarding mobs of anti-Semites parading up Woodrow Avenue with pitchforks, in the context that things can change very quickly, and no Jew is immune from the reach of the world’s greatest hatred.
Who could have imagined, but metaphorically speaking, that day could have been today, at least judging by the rapid stream of Whatsapp messages late this morning. Which have now spread to mainstream news media items and Facebook posts across Australia and beyond.
But let’s not overdramatise.
Here is what we understand occurred.
Former Israeli Government spokesman and now freelancer Eylon Levy is in Australia as a keynote speaker for the JNF. He was addressing a group of Jewish students and young adults at the recently opened Jhub Jewish Centre. It appears the event was advertised on social media and subsequently picked up by trolling pro-Palestinian activists from a group called Political Intifada.
The real story of today is that the Community Security Group and the local police responded with rapid and absolute professionalism as they managed and diffused the situation. The students were advised of the protest and asked to remain clear of it. The police issued a move on order which was generally complied with as most of the small number of protestors dissipated, but one person was arrested in breach of the instruction.
This was a handful of disingenuous protestors. Although intimidating to the Jewish population in the area, and particularly the students at the event they were targeting, they had probably not arrived to target schoolchildren. Nonetheless, the location of the school at the centre of the Perth Jewish community is well known. As Rabbi Leiberman said, anyone has the right to protest, but if you are in support of a terrorist organisation and you’re chanting the slogans of terrorist organisations, it is common sense not to do that in front of a Jewish school.
Which is really what the story should be about. The protestors were carrying placards with the false accusations against Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid”. If we are talking about social cohesion, truth and decency then it doesn’t matter whether these messages are held up in the centre of a Jewish community, or anywhere in Australia. If we are going to stem the tide of anti-Semitism, then this should not be publicly acceptable protest. Not here, not anywhere.
Israel’s democracy and values are known to any informed person (and it is debatable whether senior members of our current Government fit the definition of informed). Israel’s regard for humanitarian concerns surpasses that of any other nation.
If Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, a population of 2 million people, then hundreds of thousands of casualties would have resulted over the past eleven months. Israel estimates that approximately 17,000 terrorist combatants have been killed in its efforts to eradicate Hamas. Further casualties have resulted from Hamas murdering their own people. Although Israel has done all it can to minimise civilian casualty, as Hamas shelter behind human shields there have been some civilians tragically killed. However, it is way less than the debunked figures of the “Palestinian Health Authority”, an agency of the terror organisation Hamas, which are mindlessly repeated by our media on a daily basis in an effort to stir up anti-Israel sentiment. The fact is that civilians are not targeted by Israel and even the false and lacking in context statistics bear out this truth. This is not a genocide. It is a defensive war against terrorism.
Anybody has the right to protest. But with rights come responsibilities. To be respectful. To be honest. To be non-threatening.
So to all the commentators, politicians, and reporters who condemn the presence of protestors outside the Perth Jewish community centre, please don’t just condemn the choice of location of the protestors. Condemn the messages that they display, and explain why they are lies. Explain why they fuel anti-Semitism. And help reset the standard for acceptable discourse in the public spaces of Australia.