Being a light unto the nations
While many decent non-Jewish Australians have stood with us, many who should have been our allies, have not.
The federal government’s decision to finally set up a Commonwealth Royal Commission into antisemitism has been roundly welcomed. Many remain shocked that even after the horror of the Bondi massacre it took an unrelenting campaign from the Jewish community and others for Labor to eventually act.
Whether the Royal Commission will succeed in arresting the post-October 7 explosion in antisemitism remains to be seen. History suggests that without the political will to implement a Royal Commission’s recommendations, even the most comprehensive inquiry will be ineffective.
The government’s apparent failure to act on Jillian Segal’s “Plan to Counter Antisemitism” report prior to the Bondi massacre does not give one confidence.
My deeper concern is our community’s visceral hope that the Royal Commission will succeed. Even if the Hon. Virginia Bell does a sterling job and even if the federal government musters the political will to implement all recommendations, the forces of antisemitism, I fear, have been irretrievably unleashed.
Like we saw with that now infamous Netanyahu cartoon, even the worst terrorist attack in Australian history has not led everyone to reassess their lurking antisemitism. Moreover, I am worried that certain Royal Commission recommendations, if implemented, could perversely exacerbate anti-Jewish stereotypes and scapegoating.
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