Being proud of my identity, and not ashamed of what I stand for, I wear a kipah (skullcap) in public and have done so in Australia for the past 25 years. Whilst I have occasionally been subject to anti-Semitism, it is far more frequent for me to encounter positive engagement in public settings as a result of being visibly Jewish.
Last month I was in Sydney and was in need of urgent medical attention. I was advised by my friend not to wear my Kipah to the hospital as a matter of safety. I was told “Sydney is not like Perth, there are hostile and dangerous people both in and outside the system”. I arrived in a baseball cap. Whilst the waiting time was worse than Perth (and that is saying something!), the service was nonetheless very professional and without incident. This was the first time I have been advised to conceal my identity out of fear of anti-Semitism.
Today Australia has been shocked by the video chat exposed by Israeli TikToker Max Veifer and two nursing staff at Sydney’s Bankstown Hospital. The management and political action and condemnation has been swift and unequivocal.
Tiktok and Instagram have taken down the video, and many social media accounts linked to those involved have been disabled. Aussie Dave sourced from Sky News that the Bankstown Hospital removed social media pages today that contained images of staff wearing “Free Palestine” t-shirts and displaying resistance fist symbols. It is an indication, further supported by other media reports, that this is not the first instance of anti-Semitism experienced at this hospital.
No doubt there will be more news to come.
Social media is suddenly full of claims that the ‘influencer’ Max Zeifer “trolls Muslims” and is “baiting people to expose their anti-Zionist views”. A quick review of his activity shows that he holds conversations and does not seek out to set a trap. He will however expose hatred when he sees it.
I would like to reflect on the intolerable culture and values that have emerged within sections of Australian society and seem to be exponentially increasing. We have had threats, service denial, racial taunts, protests, graffiti, arson, damaged cars, and a caravan packed with explosives. The difference here is that these cowards were not masked or wearing balaclavas, they were brazenly espousing their hatred in front of the camera.
Much of the initial reaction and commentary has focussed on the health system in which this vile tirade took place. As the enquiries and investigations unfold, there will also need to be an effort to address the elephant in the room, which is our immigration system. It is a system that is not able to fully filter out entrenched anti-Semitism, and continues to import an element of racial intolerance at a growing pace.
Over the past two years approximately half a million immigrants per annum have arrived in Australia.
Most fair-minded Australians do not have a problem with immigrants provided the proper channels are used and there is an appropriate screening and due diligence. In light of today’s events many may be asking the question, can the process be reversed if the immigrants become a danger to society? Can the Afghan immigrants who appeared in today’s video be deported for saying they would kill Jews that presented to them for medical attention?
Coupled with cultural radicalisation, racial vilification is a major threat to Australia’s multicultural harmony. Many European countries are now finding that a large number of migrants with intolerant Islamist views express them with impunity and then act on their threats. Their law enforcement is unable and unwilling to contain the violence.
Are we inviting the same ticking demographic time bomb into Australia? Is multiculturalism failing us?
Today’s news is not about two intolerant employees within the NSW health system. It is about the robustness of our immigration system. It is about whether migrants who are not able to adhere to Australian values to the extent that they risk the safety of their fellow Australian’s should forfeit their right to remain in Australia.
The Hippocratic Oath is still undertaken by medical graduates about to receive a degree in medicine. The World Medical Association version of the Hippocratic Oath reads as follows: `At the time of being admitted as a Member of the Medical Profession, I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity. I will give to my teachers the respect and gratitude which is their due.”
The Hippocratic Oath takes its origin from the Greek physician Hippocrates has no semantic connection to the word “hypocrite”. Yet any person in the health system who dedicates their lives to the recovery of the injured and healing from suffering, but can threaten the lives of their patient based on their ethnic identity, exhibits the most sickening form of hypocrisy there is.
As usual, political leaders have condemned the attack. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the footage as “sickening and shameful” and said “Individuals found to have committed criminal antisemitic acts will face the full force of our laws.”
In related news a Sydney law student who said she hoped Jewish children “get cancer and die. Enjoy your day. I hope it’s your last. Praise Hitler. If only he was here to continue the mass destruction of your bloodline.” has been found guilty of sending a threatening message to a school, but escaped a conviction for the offence. She told the court she had been “having a laugh” with a friend when she sent the message. The magistrate took her youth and lack of criminal record into deciding “reluctantly” not to record a conviction, instead handing down a 14-month conditional release order.
Just as the nurses involved in today’s incident told a newspaper “It was a joke, a misunderstanding.”
So much for the “full force of our laws”. The real joke is that our justice system is weak in delivering consequences for anti-Semitic hate crimes, and in the process, transforms the statements of our leaders in to hypocrisy.
It is somewhat ironic that if you are in Israel and enter the public health system, the chances are high that your nurses, doctors, and pharmacists will be respected professionals of Arab ethnicity. Israeli Jews don’t fear for their lives when accessing medical services. But Australian Jews may now approach their hospitals with trepidation and fear, in the same way I was cautioned just a few weeks ago.
One thought on “Hippocratic – not Hypocritic”
Brilliant
So awful that this is happening with both Albanese and the police and judiciary being complicit with this vile antisemitism and failure to properly ensure that there are consequences for those who are filled with such hatred.