Enough!
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met in the morning with rabbis from NSW, Victoria and Western Australia and promised to heed their calls for action on Jew hatred.
Amid the worst storm of antisemitism ever seen in Australia and particularly on our university campuses, two federal politicians visited Sydney’s Central Synagogue last Friday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met in the morning with rabbis from NSW, Victoria and Western Australia and promised to heed their calls for action on Jew hatred.
That evening, Jewish MP Julian Leeser addressed the congregation and outlined his plans to move a private members bill for a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus.
With students and staff hiding their identity and some even scared to step foot on campus, it’s long overdue that substantive action is taken on this issue. We have pro-Palestinian encampments who have made it clear they are advocating not for peace but for Israel’s annihilation. We have lectures being interrupted and Jewish students being made to qualify where they stand on the issue. We have student leaders at the prestigious Australian National University declaring their unconditional support for Hamas and refusing to condemn the atrocities of October 7.
The AJN has been warning for months that without clear action and leadership, the problem would only get worse.
We one hundred per cent back Leeser’s call for a judicial inquiry. And we hope Albanese will go back to his party room and show the leadership needed to properly tackle the issue, and that his meeting on Friday was not merely a photo op and his subsequent statement not mere lip service.
And he will need to show leadership in what is clearly a split party room. His education minister Jason Clare seems to have trouble understanding the meaning of intifada and the chant “from the river to the sea”. His workplace relations minister Tony Burke claims to reject the phrases but supports the hate-ridden encampments infecting our universities.
And the university sector itself, as Leeser pointed out, seems to have little appetite for addressing the problem.
Which is exactly why the federal government must step in. It should follow the example of the Biden administration and US authorities and make it clear antisemitism will not be tolerated on campus.
Because having commemorated Yom Hashoah this week, we know where hate against Jews can lead.
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