Events highlight contrast of fear and hope

Two events last weekend have given the Jewish community both cause to be concerned and a reason to celebrate and to hope.

On Sunday afternoon in Melbourne, a mob of 5000 or more marched from the city to St Kilda accusing Israel of genocide and calling for its annihilation. Jewish counter-protesters were verbally abused and then ignored when they tried to state their case.

What was especially concerning was that many of the anti-Israel protesters were everyday mums, dads and grandparents, many likely unaware of the complexities of a conflict thousands of kilometres away. That they could have been so easily hoodwinked into supporting such a hateful cause is most disturbing and suggests that clearly, more needs to be done to make our argument heard in the “reasonable centre” of Australia.

But then earlier on Sunday, we had reason to be inspired.

Yuval Raphael, who survived the Hamas massacre at the Nova festival by hiding under dead bodies, strode the Eurovision stage with grace, beauty and confidence – winning the hearts of the world in the process.

Her performance won the highest number of popular votes of any country, catapulting Israel into second place; many of those votes came from nations whose governments are unfriendly to or over-critical of Israel.

It is not lost on us that this year’s competition took place in Basel, Switzerland, the city where Zionist founder Theodor Herzl famously declared, “If you will it, it is no dream”, with Raphael also recreating the balcony photograph made famous by the former pioneer.

And while apparently unplanned, the design of her dress – which resembled a Batman logo when she had her arms outstretched – provided a beautiful tribute to the murdered Bibas family.

Raphael triumphed by honouring and perpetuating their memory; she triumphed by showing the best of Zionism in the city where it was conceived; she triumphed by not just surviving Nova but thriving.

Singing her heart out on that stage with millions watching must have felt a world away from the horrors of October 7, when merely surviving her ordeal must have itself felt like a dream.

And the result clearly proved that both the country Israel and Am Yisrael have more people on our side than we thought.