Action now
The radicalisation of these youth represents a series of failures.
The relationship between cause and effect has never been as clear as in the past week.
For months our communal leaders have been urging the authorities to act over a flood of heinous speeches, rife with incitement against Jews, that have been delivered by various Islamic clerics in western Sydney. Yet despite the malevolence and calls to violence contained therein, no action to date has been taken against those delivering these sermons.
Last week we saw the result; four teenagers aged 15 to 17 years old, who planned to obtain guns and “target Jews”, were arrested in a series of police terror raids. “I wanna die and I wanna kill,” wrote one in a text message. If not for the police raids sparked by the stabbing of a bishop last month, they may well have carried through their horrific plan.
The radicalisation of these youth represents a series of failures.
It is a failure of the laws and law enforcement that the extremist clerics who hold so much sway over these impressionable young teens continue to spread their poisonous bile without legal consequence. It is a failure of other leaders in their community for failing to show them a better way.
It is a failure of our state and federal politicians and governments, ever since the disgusting scenes outside the Sydney Opera House on October 9, for not taking sufficient action against Jew hatred. It is a failure of some elected representatives, such as the Greens, who have actively contributed to it.
And right now, it is a failure of our universities, who hide behind platitudes about free speech as they enable hate speech, exclusion and indoctrination on their campuses. In a shocking display last Friday, we saw young children, at the behest of a government grant recipient, chanting “From the river to the sea”, a call for the end of Israel, and “Long live the intifada”, a glorification of violence and murder. What hope do those children have?
As long as there are not consequences, this abhorrent circus of antisemitism will continue. It is beyond time for our political leaders to show firm leadership.
Because the next group plotting physical harm to Jews may not be stopped in time.
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