Stop hate

The just-released yearly ECAJ antisemitism report, which documents a whopping 2062 incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, tells us what we already know.

But of course we know. We have lived it.

Told to stay away, we watched in horror as a hate-fuelled crowd yelled “F**k the Jews”, “Where’s the Jews”, and perhaps “Gas the Jews” on October 9 last year.

We were sick to our stomachs as an equally unruly mob descended on Caulfield in the heart of Jewish Melbourne last November.

We read with disgust about hate preachers in Western Sydney calling for our demise.

We despaired for our friends and colleagues who were doxxed in February.

We shed tears as Jewish businesses were vandalised and their proprietors harassed.

We sent our younger kids to school without their uniforms so they would not face hatred on the way. Our older kids meanwhile, hid their identity at university or just stayed away from campus altogether.

So yes, we know.

But then, the ECAJ’s report is not really for us. It’s for the rest of Australia, and particularly its leadership. It is they who need to understand how we – a part of the wider Australian community – have been marginalised, othered, threatened, harassed and assaulted.

One line in the report says it all: “The physical, verbal and other forms of attacks on Jewish individuals, families and community venues will continue to worsen unless governments, police and others show some spine by taking resolute action to halt the rising tide of acts of hatred against the Jewish community and bringing those responsible to account.”

The appointment of Jillian Segal as special envoy to combat antisemitism was a positive step. But we said at the time the true test would be if the government listened to what she had to say – and on the need for a judicial inquiry into antisemitism at universities, they clearly didn’t.

The government did, as promised, pass its legislation to criminalise doxxing last week, which is a positive development.

But much more is needed, not just from the government but from authorities at federal and state level and all leaders of civil society.

Because hatred against Jews doesn’t just threaten our community. It corrodes Australia’s social fabric.