Opinion
“They came to kill us; we just weren’t there.” – Dina.
These words of testimony at the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion alarmingly and accurately describe how Jews feel about the Bondi massacre.
We, Jewish Australians, know that any of us could have been a target that day when 15 Australians were murdered.
Yet even I, a Jewish advocate fighting antisemitism, was unaware of the pervasive extent of this virus in everyday life in Australia.
I expect that means you are too.
Not because you necessarily don’t care, but because much of it, despite being profoundly distressing, is not headline news the way a terrorist attack is.
Listening to those who gave evidence in the first few days of the royal commission has been an eye-opener, in the most disturbing way.
A woman working in a global company who was asked to change her name on communications as it was “too Jewish”, a father who calls his wife to say “I love you” before every community security shift, a mother who reminds her children to wear comfortable shoes to synagogue lest they need to flee. A child who refuses to go with his family to Jewish events due to fear, 10 and 11-year-old children on a school excursion having “Free Palestine” chanted in their faces by year 10 students from another school.
The Jewish schools that have faced an avalanche of threats in the past 2½ years and the Australian Union of Jewish Students receiving bomb threats before Jewish festival celebrations.
The CEO of Jewish Care reporting that a multicultural group reneged on a partnership due to a “misalignment of values”. The children who have been bullied and harassed continually in public schools for being Jewish, and the Israeli musician who has lost work due to the war in the Middle East – despite not ever discussing politics.
And then there’s the brave non-Jewish school teacher who testified to fielding phone calls from school parents complaining about having a Holocaust survivor speak to their children. You read that correctly.
The examples I have given are but a few in a muddy swamp of harrowing testimony. But many of them carry a common thread. And I believe this to be the crux of the problem.
There are Australians who believe that it is legitimate to hold Australian Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. At the extreme end, it drove two gunmen to shoot down 15 innocent people in Bondi.
For all decent people, it is not difficult to recognise that shooting Australian Jews is abhorrent. And we saw an outpouring of sympathy after Bondi. It’s not as clear how the broader population feels about the less violent but still devastatingly potent targeting of Australian Jews simply going about their lives.
Like the musicians, journalists, artists, mums and dads, midwives, university students and authors who have all faced varying manifestations of this bigotry – often not because they hold a particular view about the war in the Middle East but because they’re not willing to excise Israel from their identity. Sometimes they haven’t even expressed this aspect of their identity.
Then there’s the immense pressure on many Australians to follow suit and separate themselves from anyone who is a Jew – and thereby most likely a Zionist – lest they too be branded a Zionist supporter.
All of this goes to say that we are not in a great place at this moment in this magnificent country known for its rich multiculturalism.
Government and institutions have their part to play in turning this tide, and I am confident that many recommendations will be made by the royal commissioner.
But here I am appealing to the everyday citizens of Australia to do their part. Have your views about the Middle East. You’re entitled to them. Criticise Israel if you like – you can find plenty of Zionists who will do so too. Advocate for Palestinians and search for solutions.
But understand that your criticisms should be criticisms of the Israeli government, not the Jewish people of Australia.
Push back in your own circles and make it socially unacceptable to spout antisemitic and anti-Zionist hate. Make it socially unacceptable to target Jews in any way for the actions of a foreign government.
Conversely, make it acceptable to speak up for Jews when you see this line being crossed.
It won’t solve everything. But it’s a start. And we have a lot of catching up to do.
Keren Zelwer is on the advocacy committee of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (Victoria).
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Keren Zelwer is the mother of a child with special needs. She is also a speech pathologist.
