This is about hatred of Jews

Sunday night’s vigil to commemorate the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack was both moving and uplifting. Australian Jews, particularly those attending on Sunday night, have every reason to be enraged. But this commemoration was not laced with complaint, bitterness or misery. There was righteous anger, grief and deep sadness. And an incredible message of hope, love and resilience.

We have seen this time and time again in thousands of years of the history of the Jewish people.

In my memoirs in 2017, I wrote about a conversation a young Aboriginal woman had with her sister: “Why do you think Warren is so involved with the Jewish community?” she asked her sister. Without missing a beat her sister replied, “Because they’ve been repeatedly smashed to the ground and each time they get up and keep going. You can’t keep them down.”

It’s hard to think of a people over history who’ve suffered more than the Jews. Yet today they stand among the most thriving and successful of peoples. Israel and the global Jewish diaspora have shown me that a nation of people can suffer persecution, segregation, discrimination, loss of language and sacred sites, even genocide, and not only survive, but thrive. It’s been something that I’ve have always drawn great inspiration from as an Aboriginal man.

In her speech at Sunday’s vigil, the Governor General opened her address with an acknowledgment of country, a recognition that Australia is a nation founded on the traditional lands of its indigenous peoples including my ancestors.

I find it ironic that so many people who embrace global indigenous causes, throw their support behind indigenous land rights and even call for decolonisation and sovereignty, fail to understand that Zionism is a movement founded on indigenous self-determination and the restoration of a homeland for Jews in their traditional lands.

The founder of the modern Zionist movement, Theodor Herzl, was moved to action by the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus in 1894, a French army officer framed for treason because he was a Jew. After his conviction Dreyfus was paraded before a crowd shouting “Death to the Jews”. Witnessing this, Herzl concluded Jews couldn’t live as Jews in Europe, that the only way they could live safely as Jews was in a Jewish state.

A little over 2 years ago, Australia’s iconic Sydney Opera House was defiled by a crowd of Jew haters. I clearly heard the crowds chanting “Gas the Jews” as did many people who witnessed it, including ones I’ve spoken to. Computer analysis apparently concluded the chant was “Where’s the Jews?”. As if that’s any better, being the question the Gestapo asked when rounding up Jews to send to extermination camps.

That disgrace occurred barely a day after the horrific Hamas attacks in Israel on 7th October. Hospitals were still trying to save the wounded, the remains of victims were still being retrieved and 251 hostages, including babies and the elderly, were imprisoned in dark tunnels. No Israeli military action in Gaza had commenced. That was no protest. It was a rally calling for the death of Jews.

Make no mistake, it was at that rally that the seeds of the Bondi terrorist attack were sown.

It should never have been allowed to happen.

People who attended that rally despise and hate Jews, as do many attendees of the other so-called peaceful protests that have occurred in major cities almost weekly since. Many of them sit at the feet of Islamist preachers who insult and abuse Jews with racist, anti-Semitic sermons and call on their congregants to murder Jews. In November 2023, in the wake of the October 7th massacre, an Australian Islamic cleric, Kamal Abu Mariam, told his audience at the Roselands Mosque, and streamed on YouTube: “Count them, kill them one by one, and do not leave a single one of them alive”.

How is this allowed? This isn’t about free speech. It’s about incitement of murder. It’s about religious and ideological leaders in our communities, some who are not even citizens of this country, who promote terrorist ideologies and urge their followers to kill Jews. This is a threat to Jews and a threat to our nation. It should not be tolerated.

People can talk about new laws. But we have plenty of laws against incitement of crime and putting people in imminent fear of their life. Enforce them.

For too long, governments in this country have been passive and mealy-mouthed, made excuses, refused to acknowledge the problem and hidden behind court decisions. They won’t acknowledge two critical facts. This is about hatred of Jews. And many of those Jew haters are followers of Islamist ideology. We need an honest conversation about this and we need governments willing to confront it. Many politicians, particularly members of the Albanese government, can barely say it out loud.

At least Premier Chris Minns has had the humility and common sense to apologise for the NSW Government’s failings. Prime Minister Albanese arrived at Sunday’s vigil to a booing crowd. Some people say he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. No. He’s damned because of what he already did and failed to do. He left the vigil drenched in rain and drenched in shame. And deservedly so.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine is the author of Warren Mundine: In Black and White and managing director of Nyungga Black Group.