Straya!

[NineBerry]

Words have meaning independent of their literal meaning. Antisemitism is a specific term for hatred against Jews. It was coined by German Jew-haters in the 19th century who were looking for a name for their movement that sounded science-y. It specifically means hatred of Jews so it has nothing to do with other groups who speak Semitic languages.

Current discussions about he Israel-Palestine-Conflict might have influenced the terrorists' choice of target, but them belonging to the so-called Islamic State means they have very little in common with the Palestinian cause. The IS in general does not support the Palestinian cause because they consider it as too nationalistic, too far away from their interpretation of Islam and they abhor the Hamas cooperation with Iran whom they consider to be unbelievers.

With regard to pro-Palestine protests. What do people expect from the Australian government? There is a general right to hold political protests. As long as there is no systematic criminal activity from these protests, they have the same right to protest as neo-nazis, cookers and other political groups no matter how fringe their ideas are.

[JimC]

With regard to pro-Palestine protests. What do people expect from the Australian government? There is a general right to hold political protests. As long as there is no systematic criminal activity from these protests, they have the same right to protest as neo-nazis, cookers and other political groups no matter how fringe their ideas are.

Some sections of the Australian Jewish community, plus the conservative parties want pro-Palestinian protests completely banned, which of course is a direct attack on the right to protest. However, it is also true that many of the protests have displayed clearly anti-semitic hate speech, ISIS flags etc. There is a reasonable argument that these are dangerous and inflammatory, and should somehow be curbed.

[Brian Peacock]

There should be some element of proportionality applied here I think. One or two IS flags/sympathisers shouldn't be used to delegitimise otherwise legitimate protest. We saw that in the UK after Oct 7 with the former home secretary calling demonstrations in favour of a ceasefire hate marches, and branding protestors as terrorists.

[JimC]

There have also been many examples of Jewish people, including students and children, being aggressively yelled at in the street, lots of spray paint slogans on Jewish properties (some probably from neo-Nazis, if swastikas are involved), and a general feeling of fear in the community. Pro-Palestinians should not be targeting ordinary Jewish people in Australia.

[Brian Peacock]

Again, I think an element of proportionality needs to be applied. Official responses to protests and demonstrations opposing Israel's genocidal campaign against Gazans should not be determined by a relatively small number of unsavoury elements or unhinged extremists. When our former home secretary responded to a huge demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza by focusing on two incidents of protesters displaying flags bearing images of handgliders (which Hamas had used in previous attacks and was clearly provocative) they deliberately reframed the actions and intent of the vast majority of the protesters - which included families with children, trade unionists, church groups, and Holocaust survivors.

But of course, ordinary Jewish citizens should not be targeted by pro-Palestinians or neo-Nazis or anyone. Jewish citizens should not be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli state - even while that state deliberately conflates the security and well-being of Jewish people everywhere with the supposed necessity of its military action against Gazans.

[pErvinalia]

I know what I'm doing for the next 12 years.

[Svartalf]

good luck

[JimC]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-24/ ... /106177710

The court was told, Mr Glynn, who represented himself, took to his Instagram in the hours after the December 14 attack in which 15 people were killed at a Hannukah event at Bondi Beach.

"I just want to say that I, Martin Glynn, 100 per cent support the New South Wales shooters," one of the posts stated.

The prosecutor said the subsequent raid on his Yangebup home found handwritten notebooks titled "ideology, views, ideas and insights".

They allegedly included strongly antisemitic comments, as well as references to Hitler and the Holocaust, the prosecutor said.

Police also found flags of terrorist organisations Hamas and Hezbollah in the home.

The 39-year-old is facing three charges, including conduct intended to racially harass, carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon, and failing to store a firearm correctly.

WA government meets with Jewish leaders after Bondi attack

A strange blend of neo-Nazi and pro-Palestinian views...

[pErvinalia]

[JimC]

An excellent article from the Melbourne Age:

https://www.theage.com.au/national/ther ... 5nq1t.html

Each day that passes since the unimaginable terror of the events in Bondi seems to bring with it fresh announcements from various levels of government. The understandable rage felt within the Jewish community that they have been let down by police, the intelligence agencies and even the prime minister himself, combined with the inevitable reality that opposition parties would smell political advantage.

Albanese, who had floundered at first, clearly sensed that the political winds had begun to shift against him. Thoughts, prayers and wishy-washy statements about Australian values would no longer cut it (if they ever had). So, after a pause, we now have a raft of new federal measures designed to crack down on antisemitism, incorporating everything from gun reform to new vilification and hate speech offences.

These can be added to those already tabled in the NSW parliament by the swifter-acting Premier Chris Minns, not to be outdone by a five-point plan announced on Monday by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. In the mix too is the 20-page report by Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal, which contains 13 recommendations and 49 key actions.

There is a fear that governments are scrambling to propose solutions without properly evaluating the problem. If this is the case, there is a real risk of knee-jerk overreach, particularly when it comes to curtailing important civil liberties, including freedom of speech and assembly.

As the situation stands, there appears to be no singular, monolithic antisemitism festering in Australia but rather multiple different mutations of this ancient virus.

The two most outwardly and unashamedly antisemitic groups are the Islamist extremists and the far-right neo-Nazis. They are similar in that they exist on the fringes of society and are actively engaged in recruiting for their cause. Both largely target disaffected young men and both use online spaces to spread their hateful ideologies as well as connect with, and import ideas from, like-minded groups overseas. We should, however, avoid lumping them together when crafting our response.

Of the two, the Islamist extremists have demonstrated a greater capacity for deadly violence this century, particularly against Jews. The Bondi terror attack was but the latest antisemitic atrocity carried out by fanatical Islamists, remarkable only in that it so shockingly tore apart our illusion of a peaceful and safe Australia. Of course, it was the Islamist terror group Hamas’ massacre of 1200 mostly civilians in Israel that triggered the current spike in antisemitic rhetoric and violence, popularising it in quarters far removed from radical Islamist ideology.

However uncomfortable it may be to admit, Islamist antisemitism draws on Islamic scripture, though those texts need not be interpreted that way. Islamist extremist movements reach for Koranic passages and episodes from early Islamic history, particularly the complex, sometimes conflictual relationships between the early Muslim community and Jewish tribes in 7th‑century Medina, and present them as timeless proof of an eternal struggle. Verses that address particular disputes in a particular time and place are recast as instructions for all Muslims everywhere against all Jews everywhere. This is how global jihadist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda have sought to provide a theological alibi for violence against Jews.

Yet there is also a large body of Islamic teaching that points in a different direction. The Koran refers to Jews and Christians as ahl al-kitab – “people of the book” – who are close to Muslims and may not need to convert to Islam to ascend to heaven. Mohammad himself married a Jewish woman, and the Koran speaks at length of Bani Isra’el, the children of Israel (known similarly as Bnei Yisra’el in Hebrew), retelling many stories from the Torah including those of the prophets Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon.

Deradicalisation programs overseas have shown that Islam itself can be an effective tool to steer radicals away from extremism when a credible religious counter-argument is presented. Alongside policing and intelligence work, there is value in supporting approaches that strengthen contextual religious literacy, including teaching about the Jewish roots and references within Islamic scripture and history, and in expanding meaningful contact between Muslim and Jewish Australians.

Politically speaking, cracking down on neo-Nazis would be a much simpler affair, particularly for Labor-led federal and state governments, which rely on large Muslim constituencies in a number of crucial seats.

Neo-Nazi antisemitism has its roots in the blood libels of medieval Europe, witness to centuries of state and church-sanctioned pogroms against Jews justified by Christian scripture, papal edicts, hateful conspiracies and old-fashioned economic opportunism. It is from this Eurocentric ideology that many familiar antisemitic tropes have sprung, including white supremacist ideas about Jews sullying European racial and cultural purity.

The Islamist threat may be predominant, but the dangers posed by neo-Nazi ideology should not be underestimated. We can’t forget what happened when the antecedents of the current neo-Nazi movement held power in Europe. Neo-Nazi groups have brazenly asserted their presence in recent years in a series of violent protests including on the steps of both the Victorian and NSW parliaments. There is talk of a neo-Nazi political party running at the next election. Allowing neo-Nazi ideology to spread poses not only a danger to Australia’s Jewish community but also to our migrant communities and other groups including Indigenous and queer Australians.

A third grouping also exists that is far more ideologically nebulous and tricky to delineate. These are individuals whose extreme anti-Israel views have crossed the line into anti-Jewish sentiment, and for whom any distinction between diaspora Jews living in countries such as Australia and the actions of the Israeli government has long since disappeared.

The vast majority of pro-Palestine protesters do not fall into this camp. Most are rightly horrified at the deplorable situation in Gaza, including the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent women and children. There is nothing antisemitic about opposing Israel’s conduct of the war or Israeli government policy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s clumsy attempts to blame Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state for the Bondi terror attack undermined the position of Australia’s Jews, who have long decried efforts by an antisemitic fringe within the protest movement to label all Jews as “Zios” who are somehow complicit in Israel’s war, or even its very existence.

This slippery iteration of antisemitism, located on the outer edge of the progressive left, borrows from both Islamist and neo-Nazi tropes and adds them to a smorgasbord of far-left grievance: A preoccupation with settler-colonialism, wonky parallels with Indigenous suffering, shallow moral frameworks of oppressor and oppressed. The result is a fluid and combustible ideology that has proven devilishly hard to police.

Australians would be forgiven for being totally bamboozled by the sheer volume of policy and legislation being thrown at antisemitism all at once from various levels of government.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. What we need is keyhole surgery, not the kitchen sink. Governments must go after the specific groups that threaten the safety of Jews or have worked to bring antisemitism into the mainstream. We should not be afraid to identify them openly.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an academic, author and a regular columnist.

[aufbahrung]

More inclusive religions like that become of other religions the more intolerant they become of atheists. They still need a enemy other to hate on. It is in their scripture as much as their DNA...