The growth in antisemitism in Australia since October 2023 is manifested in two ways. The first, and most obvious, is the increasing frequency and severity of acts of vandalism and violence directed at the Jewish community and its infrastructure. The prevention of these events is primarily a law and order issue.

What is more problematic is the mindset that instigated these attacks, i.e. why did Jews suddenly become ‘legitimate’ targets in the minds of some? What events prompted the growth in antisemitism?

Clearly the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 was the trigger. That is, the rapid growth of antisemitism in Australia commenced as a direct result of 1,200 Israeli civilians – men, women and children – being brutally murdered for no reason other than being Jews. This is an indisputable fact. The demonstration on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on 9 October 2023 was motivated purely by antisemitism, since it would be another three weeks before Israel responded militarily. That the mob chanted either ‘Gas the Jews’, as many witnesses claimed, or ‘Where’s the Jews?’, as senior police subsequently claimed –  ‘Jews’, not ‘Israelis’ or ‘Zionists’ – put this beyond doubt. The same applies to the street march in Sydney on 22 October 2023, almost a week before Israel went into Gaza. I watched that march from Elizabeth Street and the chants of ‘Intifada!’, even then, were prominent.

The salient point is that 7 October was the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and they were all civilians. That must put in doubt the bona fides of all the pro-Palestinian protesters who, subsequently, deplored the loss of civilian lives in Gaza and have justified their activities, to a large extent, on this issue. This is not an argument about the proportionality (or otherwise) of Israel’s response to the Gaza atrocity, but it does go to the extent that decisions and announcements of the Commonwealth government may have contributed to the rise in the antisemitism that we must exert all efforts to stamp out. I will elaborate on this later.

Every protest march since then had its genesis in these events and, therefore, they cannot be construed as anything other than fundamentally antisemitic, despite that their organisers hide behind the specious claim that they are not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist.

It is my contention that these unremitting protests – effectively every weekend for two years in both Sydney and Melbourne – contributed significantly to the rise in antisemitism in Australia and, ultimately, to the tragedy at Bondi.

The claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is demonstrably false. Let me elaborate. And in my argument, I do not address the question of whether or not Israel’s response to 7 October was ‘proportionate’, nor whether or not localised war crimes occurred in the execution of that military response. That is a separate matter to genocide.

The word ‘genocide’ has been debased from its original context in relation to the Holocaust – which was a deliberate and concerted effort to eliminate the Jewish people, from the face of the earth, because, and only because, they were Jewish.

Now, the 1948 UN Genocide Convention (Article II) defines genocide as ‘acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group’. So now the ‘complete’ elimination of a group is no longer an essential element of the crime. Partial destruction will now suffice.

So, activists have used this distinction to claim that a) Gazans represent a distinct ethnic, racial or national group and b) some of them (possibly a large number) have been killed as a result of Israel’s military action, therefore Israel is committing genocide.  What is clearly missing in the above logic is ‘intent’.

Israel handed Gaza over to the Palestinians lock, stock and barrel in 2005. Since that time, despite enduring almost constant bombardment, Israel has supplied medical services, power, water and jobs to Gazans.  In its response to these attacks, Israel goes out of its way to warn civilians of impending military action. Israel’s policy is to rigorously adhere to the rules of war. That is not to say that mistakes don’t happen in the fog of war. There is no intent to destroy all or part of the Gazan population. Therefore, an essential element of the crime of genocide is missing. It is hard to imagine a responsible public prosecutor in Australia putting this matter before an Australian court.

The UN charge of genocide against Israel has an ideological basis, not a legal one. As such, it is quite within the province of a sovereign nation, such as Australia, to reject that charge. Particularly if it is levelled against an ally. It is certainly within the province of the Albanese government to criticise specific actions of the Israeli government. But they do not have to acquiesce to spurious and inflammatory claims.

Inasmuch as the government felt it had a constitutional duty to tolerate these protests, it was not constitutionally constrained from providing a strong counter-argument, in the form of an extensive public education campaign pointing out, inter alia, that:

Israel has a right to exist granted it by the UN in 1948.

It is not an apartheid state. It is a vibrant multi-racial democracy.

Israel is not committing genocide. The government should have categorically ruled out arresting Benjamin Netanyahu if he came here. Failure to do so just reinforced the genocide narrative.

All of Israel’s military actions, since 1948, have been at the provocation of its enemies and in self-defence.

Israel is an important and long-standing ally of Australia.

Zionism is not a crime. It is the basis for the existence of the state of Israel.

Most, if not all, Israelis are Zionists, as are most Australian Jews.

Vilification of Zionists therefore is vilification of Australian Jews.

Instead, the best the government could do was to repeatedly, and self-evidently incorrectly, state that ‘there is no place in Australia for antisemitism’. This is a massive abrogation of its responsibility to keep all Australians safe.

Coupled with this laissez faire complacency,  the government’s repeated anti-Israeli rhetoric, including voting against it in the UN and prematurely recognising the non-existent state of Palestine, sent a clear message to extremists that, as far as the Australian government was concerned, they were ‘on the right side of history’.

The result was a massacre of Jews at Bondi.