FRESH AIR

Australia’s Antisemitism Problem Is No Longer Shocking—It’s Normalised

July 7, 2025 | Joel Burnie

The East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
The East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation

The Herald Sun and Courier-Mail – 7 July 2025 

I want to say that I’m shocked. I want to say that I’m appalled. I want to say that I’m stunned. But the truth is that I’m none of those things.

The arson attack on a synagogue in East Melbourne Friday night, along with the assault on diners at an Israeli-owned restaurant by antisemitic thugs, should send shockwaves through all of Australian society. But it doesn’t. These attacks are no longer shocking. They’re no longer surprising. They’re no longer unprecedented.

They haven’t been for a while. I doubt there’s a single Jew living in Melbourne, in Australia, or perhaps anywhere in the world, who is surprised that once again the Jewish community has been targeted.

Since October 7, 2023, the world has changed dramatically—at least for Jews. The security we once felt living in a free, tolerant, multicultural democratic society has been ripped away. The Jewish community no longer feels safe or secure. For too many, that sense of home—of shelter from the turbulence of the world’s storms—no longer exists.

Not anymore.

On Friday night, we once again saw the meaning of the words, “Globalise the intifada.” It means that Jews and Jewish institutions are not safe anytime, anywhere. And the chant of “Death to the IDF” heard during these attacks is not a protest against Israeli policy. It is a genocidal threat, because the only thing preventing Israel’s population from mass slaughter at the hands of some of its neighbours—who have openly promised it—is the Israel Defence Force.

Now, undoubtedly, it’s nice for Australia’s political leaders to once again roll out the lines: “There is no place for antisemitism in Australia” and “hatred of all kinds is unacceptable.” But the sobering truth is that there now is a place for it.

Ever since the Sydney Opera House was first lit up in solidarity with Israel’s terror victims on October 9, 2023, but then subsequently invaded by a violent mob, revelling in Jewish suffering while chanting “F the Jews”, it signalled the opening shots in a war on tolerance itself, a war where Jews were the first targets, but will not be the last. That spark of hate should have been snuffed out immediately. Instead, it was allowed to fester and grow.

And grow it did.

Australia’s Jewish community is facing the highest levels of antisemitism on record. We’ve seen graffiti on schools and synagogues, physical assaults, violent hate speech, vandalism of cars in Jewish neighbourhoods—and perhaps most chillingly, the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.

A holy place of worship burned in the streets of one of the world’s great cities.

Where have we seen that before?

It is only by sheer luck that lives have not yet been lost. But that cannot be guaranteed, not in a climate where hate is not only festering but flourishing in our cities.

Apologists will undoubtedly say these attacks are fuelled by the conflict in the Middle East. It’s a convenient excuse, but it’s also a false one.

Are Russian Orthodox  churches in Australia being attacked over the Ukraine war? Are Chinese Australians persecuted over the Chinese communist government’s treatment of the Uyghurs? Of course not. Individuals are not held responsible for the actions of foreign governments.

Except, it seems, when it comes to Jews, who always seem to bear collective responsibility for anything bad happening in the world, including the alleged and often misrepresented actions of the State of Israel.

The Australian Government claims it’s not a significant player in the Middle East. Yet that hasn’t stopped it from being very critical of Israel, including at the United Nations, reversing decades of bipartisan support. It has sanctioned Israeli ministers, barred entry to influential Israelis, and condemned so many Israeli actions in its self-defensive war against Hamas—a death cult Australia itself classifies as terrorist.

With these actions, Australia’s proud Jewish community has felt marginalised, even abandoned, in its hour of need.

This failure to stand with a fellow democracy that shares Australia’s values—freedom, liberty, and human rights—has created moral confusion. And moral confusion leads to moral decay.

We often say the time for action against the scourge of antisemitism is now. But the truth is, that time has long passed.

The Australian Government and authorities, both federal and state, have largely failed their Jewish people. The horrifying images we now see in our streets are the inevitable result of that failure—a failure to preserve  and protect the tolerant, multicultural  society Australia was once so proud of, by cracking down on those who have long threatened it and breached its most basic responsibilities of mutual respect and compliance with the rule of law.

Australia stands at a crossroads, with its  cohesive social fabric strained and tested. If it cannot safeguard the security of all its citizens, it will not just be the Jewish community that has been undermined, but Australian society itself.

Joel Burnie is executive manager is  at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

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