IN THE MEDIA
Our multicultural ideals must be upheld by our leaders
March 18, 2025 | Colin Rubenstein
The Australian – 18 March 2025
With this year’s federal election rapidly approaching, it is an unfortunate reality that the nation’s antisemitism crisis will be one of the salient issues of the campaign. It’s an issue that matters not only to Jewish voters but to many other Australians who care about law and order, as well as rehabilitating what had been our multicultural success story.
Nobody wishes this wasn’t the case more than Australia’s Jewish community.
The antisemites, and their oft-naïve helpmates, must be given their due. One can’t say they haven’t been creative in their ways of dishing out the world’s oldest hatred, or finding new avenues to escalate the feelings of alienation and anxiety experienced by the Australian Jewish community.
The antisemitic volcano began erupting outside Lakemba Mosque a mere 24 hours after Hamas’ slaughter of around 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. This was followed on October 9 by the hateful rally in front of the Sydney Opera House. It has been spewing out its bile ever since.
Antisemitism – and violent anti-Zionism indistinguishable from antisemitism – have been everywhere: On university campuses; at rallies in the CBDs of major cities every weekend, occasionally even in front of synagogues; in arts circles, where Jewish professionals are doxxed and harassed; in a daily parade of graffiti, stickers and posters; in a successful arson that claimed one synagogue and attempted arson on another; in the burning down of a childcare centre; in a hoax bomb plot designed to spread communal terror and more. Much more.
Soberingly, for all the antisemitic incidents that have made headlines, the country’s top intelligence official has said that we have almost certainly just scratched the surface.
The recent exposure of murderous antisemitic threats by Australian healthcare workers was shocking. Even more shocking was that some groups in our society excused them. Yet focusing on healthcare alone is too narrow – what that incident showed is that antisemitism left unchallenged can and will manifest itself in every sphere of life.
Antisemitism does not stop at the boundaries of any electorate, and it makes sense that efforts to stop it are more effective when pursued in a bipartisan fashion. It is thus welcome that the Albanese ALP Government has shown more urgency and determination in confronting our national antisemitism crisis in recent weeks and months.
Unfortunately, this improvement follows a record in which the consensus within the Australian Jewish community has been that the Government had at times been overly defensive and flat-footed in handling this unprecedented crisis. Therefore, the Opposition has not been unjustified in pushing the Government to confront the 17-month antisemitism crisis in a more effective and timely manner.
At the end of the day, the onus rests on our elected leaders, and this Government cannot escape the reality that Australian Jews are experiencing the worst antisemitism in living memory. Worse, most of the Jewish community feels the Government exacerbated the situation by constantly questioning Israel’s lawful efforts to fight a war against a foe that intentionally puts civilians at risk, and embarking on a dramatic shift away from Australia’s long-standing and bipartisan position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This shift, however unintentional, effectively rewarded and emboldened antisemitic extremists.
We hope the upcoming election will see greater two-party consensus in the fight against antisemitism, including agreement not to allow the increasingly extreme Greens, who have been effectively enabling antisemites who operate under the guise of anti-Zionism, to derail these important efforts.
Any genuine fight against antisemitism is entirely incompatible with a future government relying on votes from a party that makes the Orwellian argument that no demonisation of Israel or Zionists can ever be considered a form of antisemitism, as the Greens frequently do.
For that reason, Prime Minister Albanese should rule out forming a government with the Greens if the Government’s recently improved record on confronting the antisemitism crisis is to be seen as both serious and sincere.
But it is important that both our major political parties recognise that this is indeed a crisis.
Australia’s unique model of multiculturalism, which underpins our tolerant, stable and cohesive democratic society, has never been more under threat since it was first developed back in the 1970s.
Australian Multiculturalism emphasises not only one’s rights, designed to safeguard cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, but also the overriding responsibility to respect and maintain core Australian values – such as the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance and equality of the sexes. This vital responsibility element is too often ignored. With the correct balance between rights and responsibilities, Australian Multiculturalism is a framework of policy and institutions aimed at ensuring harmonious intercommunal relations while deterring and marginalising racial vilification, hate speech and incitement to violence.
The policy framework of Australian Multiculturalism, including critically the responsibilities it entails, has not been adequately enunciated and enforced by our leadership in recent years. It certainly has not been protecting the Jewish community over the past 17 months. Yet the unravelling of Australia’s model of multiculturalism would be a national tragedy. This should – and doubtless will – be an important consideration for many Australians as we go to the polls this time around.
