Shameful hate laid bare on our streets

It was never about a ceasefire.

Nor was it ever about Palestinian civilians or about human rights.

We knew this of course, but many well-meaning Australians may have been duped. Now the mask has slipped and the ugliness of the anti-Israel, anti-West, pro-Hamas movement has been exposed for all to see.

These mobs, such as those who attacked police with stones and shards of glass in Melbourne last weekend, are not pro-Palestinian. They have said nothing over the last week as Hamas reasserts its authority in Gaza and publicly executes scores of Palestinian civilians in the streets.

Far from welcoming the ceasefire that their placards over the last two years of anarchy purported to call for, they have rejected it outright. The hypocrisy – given their labelling of Israel’s war as a “genocide” – in rejecting the end of said military campaign, is staggering.

But these people are too blinded by their own hate to even see that. Hate for the West and for Israel as a bastion of Western values in the Middle East.

For this visceral hate is the only thing that can make bedfellows of Islamist extremists, who reject things like LGBTI rights, women’s rights and equality, and the far left who trumpet these values.

It is an unholy, antisemitic, un-Australian alliance and we have had a gutful.

At the time of print, the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is again holding after the terror group breached it over the weekend and Israel retaliated. Peace, as well as a brighter future for both Israelis and the people of Gaza, is something decent Australians and our community want to see.

And whether we agree with the anti-immigration demonstrators or not, we want to see harmony and cohesion here at home. We want to see welcoming city centres where everyone can go about their business or leisure activities safely and without fear. We want to see our police forces directing their resources towards crime prevention and keeping all Australians safe.

It is time for our political leadership – both state and federal – and the mainstream media to show that they want this too. By unconditionally condemning this unrepresentative mob, by being honest with Australia about what they are, and what they are not – and that is pro-Palestinian.