Coordinated action against antisemitism

My grandmother survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. In her Shoah testimony, she was asked to leave a message for her children and grandchildren. She said: “Teach them not to hate.”

Earlier this year, I travelled with my parents and siblings to both camps, attending the March of the Living, followed by the 80th anniversary of Bergen-Belsen’s liberation. Every survivor who spoke at the commemoration had the same message: Don’t hate.

My Nana passed away one year ago, the last remaining Holocaust survivor in our immediate family. Six weeks later, I stepped in as inaugural CEO of The Dor Foundation, a not-for-profit building a future free from antisemitism and hate where Australian values and freedoms are upheld.

Under the leadership of the Hon. Josh Frydenberg and an inspiring board of guardians, we focus on long-term prevention, not short-term response. Nana’s mantra sits at the core of everything we do – not just for sentimental reasons, but because the evidence says it works.

National studies tell us that Australians value fairness, respect and multiculturalism, but that social cohesion is under significant pressure. Most Australians don’t hate. Yet with extremists converging on both sides of the political horseshoe – a growing National Socialist Movement and a “Red–Green Alliance” – we face the risk of a shrinking middle unless we reach people effectively and quickly with messages that resonate.