In the Media

Daily Telegraph – 16 December 2025

I told her that parts of the progressive left and Muslim community hate Israel beyond all reason. That they ascribe to it all manner of sins, despite knowing almost nothing about the conflict beyond what social media algorithms feed them.

I told her the anti-Israel activists within the progressive movements were feeding this ignorant hatred.

I told her that as this maelstrom of hate grows, it will produce people who aren’t willing to merely hate Israel, but who will also hate Jews. That anti-Semitism would increasingly become normalised. I told her that, within this growing group of anti-Semites, there will be people who will want to take the next step, to somehow punish Jews because Israel, the object of their hatred, is the Jewish national and cultural homeland.

She acknowledged this was true.

So I told her that because anyone who thinks the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is black and white is either ignorant or lying, it was up to the leaders of the progressive movement – starting with the Prime Minister – to speak to haters within their movement to tell them, “you are part of the problem”.

Because if we had that kind of political leadership, it would allow the many informed people lower down the ladder to engage in nuanced discussions, instead of being drowned out by the very vocal minority. But that kind of message didn’t emerge.

Then came October 7. And then came October 9, when the Israeli flag was burned on the steps of the Opera House and “f–k the Jews” was chanted at the very spot where Australia was marking the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

But the real marker of what was to come happened earlier. When this mob was proceeding to the Opera House, they passed a man holding an Israeli flag. NSW Police arrested him, but not those who would harm him.

This pattern has been repeated ad nauseam ever since.

Every Sunday for two years, people in Melbourne marched down the street displaying Hezbollah symbols without being arrested. They chanted genocidal chants. They shouted slogans calling Jews terrorists.

Police stood by and watched. The only people they moved on were Jews. Harm minimisation was the policy, not stopping the problem. So the problem grew.

Jews learned to vacate the city centre on Sundays. So the haters started graffitiing Jewish schools and synagogues and houses. Arson followed graffiti. Intimidation at a Jewish restaurant followed arson. A clear line plotting the trajectory of these events could be drawn, and the line clearly pointed to deadly violence.

Politicians offered platitudes instead of action.

“There is no place for anti-Semitism in Australia”, they told us 1000 times. But clearly there is, and much of it comes from the obsessive hatred of Israel that bubbles out of progressive and Muslim spaces. Obviously, the problem is only a minority in each of these communities, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem. But since our political leaders don’t want to poke that wasp’s nest, they remained silent.

Beyond platitudes, the concrete action that the government did take was to increasingly distance itself from Israel, ultimately recognising Palestine, in what was seen by both Jews and Arabs as a reward for the October 7 attacks.

The local anti-Israel haters felt rewarded, too. And were emboldened. And here we are. After much pressure and foot-dragging, the government appointed a special envoy for anti-Semitism. Her first report was released six months ago, but the government hasn’t implemented a single one of her recommendations.

Platitudes are lost in the swirl of political commentary, but the government’s inaction on the special envoy’s report speaks volumes.

Even before – but especially since – October 7, Jewish community spokespeople have been saying the same thing over and over: If we don’t see real action to stop the flood of anti-Semitism, it will only be a matter of time until there is blood on the streets.

But there was no real action. And now there is blood on the streets.

Dr Bren Carlill is director of special projects at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. He was previously the chief of staff for a federal Labor member