Segal releases updated priorities to combat hate

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal has identified modern, “progressive” antisemitism as the most pervasive form facing the country, in an updated roadmap released on Friday.

ASECA Priorities builds on the Plan to Combat Antisemitism, which the government adopted in full after the Bondi Beach terror attack, and sets out priorities for the work of the special envoy, government and institutions through 2027.

The document identifies a fourth form alongside Islamic extremism, far-left and far-right antisemitism. It describes progressive antisemitism as taking the hostility of the first two, together with traditional antisemitic tropes, and giving it a respectable face through the language of social justice and human rights.

“Islamic extremist, far-left and far-right antisemitism are still very much with us, and they require vigilance and laws that are properly enforced,” Segal said.

“But the form that is leaving Jewish Australians increasingly anxious and excluded is the one that has taken root in influential institutions, where Jewish Australians are being discriminated against, blamed and vilified for the actions of the Government of the State of Israel. It is best countered by understanding, and by leaders who accept responsibility for the environments they oversee.”