‘Globalise the Intifada’ they chant and sing. Well now we can safely say that the Intifada has been globalised. Australia, once one of the safest countries in the world for Jews, has become one of the most dangerous. On December 14, two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach, Sydney. Fifteen people have been killed, including two rabbis, a 10-year-old child called Matilda, and a survivor of the Holocaust.
The tragedy and shock are immense. I spoke this morning with a young Jewish friend who has been traumatised by the whole event. Little wonder. The stories of the victims are heartbreaking.
Holocaust survivor and Ukrainian, Alex Kleytman died while trying to shield his wife Larisa after hearing shots ring out. “We were standing and suddenly came the ‘boom boom’, and everybody fell down. At this moment he was behind me and at one moment he decided to go close to me. He pushed his body up because he wanted to stay near me,” Larisa told The Australian newspaper.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger was one of the organisers of the Chanukah event. He was a local rabbi having been a chaplain in the Bondi community for 18 years. He wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in September of this year pleading with him not to “betray the Jewish people and not to betray G-d himself.” He was referring to the Australian government's change of foreign policy to recognise Palestine as an independent state – a change which many believe came about because of Hamas and because of growing pressure from the increasing number of Muslims in Australia. Schlanger leaves behind a wife and young children.
All of this is so desperately sad. But it is not surprising. Although Australia was one of the most welcoming nations to the Jewish people, times have changed.
The Jews arrived here with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 – where there were at least eight Jewish convicts. Over the next 60 years around 800 more arrived – mostly from the working-class areas of London. Free Jewish settlers started coming in the 1820s. By 1901 there were 15,000 Jews mostly in Sydney and Melbourne.
Today, Australia’s Jewish population is approximately 120,000, with 99,956 identifying as Jewish by religion in the 2021 census, though estimates suggest a higher number due to underreporting. The community is centred in Melbourne (46%) and Sydney (39%).
After the Second World war thousands of Holocaust survivors came, with the result that apart from Israel, Australia had the highest per capita Holocaust survivor population. I think of that when I visit the Jewish Museum in Sydney and am proud of my adopted land. Which is why it was shocking to witness a couple of years ago an anti-Israel demonstration in Sydney which provoked outcry at the time because it had reportedly included chants of ‘gas the Jews’ - NSW police later said it was ‘where’s the Jews’, but this is hardly less intimidating. Jewish people were advised to stay away. Since then, antisemitism – in universities, in the media and on the streets - has risen enormously, culminating in this evil and shameful day for Australia.
Brendan O’Neill in an excellent article in the Spectator summed it up well. He wrote: “I was honoured to give talks about anti-Semitism at synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne last year. And every Jew I spoke to – every one of them – said the same thing: ‘Why aren’t people taking anti-Jewish sentiment more seriously?’
“These good Aussies were crying out for the attention of polite society. They were begging politicians to take a firmer stand on Jew hatred. They were in pieces over the liberal media’s frothing obsession with Israel and Zionism. ‘When they spread hate about Zionists, they’re spreading hate about me,’ a lady in Sydney told me.
“And they were ignored. Worse, they were written off as ‘Zios’ who were ‘weaponising anti-Semitism’ to ‘silence public debate’. They could see what was coming. They know from their people’s painful history that it never ends with bigoted words. They know violence always bubbles up from the cesspit of Jewphobia. And yet, shamefully, their cries were disregarded, their warnings unheeded.”
Somewhat presciently the former deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, released an interview he did with another politician, Julian Lesser, two days before the massacre. It is well worth watching. Lesser, as an Australian Jew, explains that there are three types of antisemitism growing in Australia - that of the Far Right, the Progressive Left (think the Greens), and their strange alliance with the growing Islamist movement. The latter hide behind the shield of this just being ‘anti-Israel’. Sadly, I have seen evidence of all three on social media in the past 24 hours. People seeking to excuse the actions by Gaza, or warning that their great fear is Islamophobia, or claiming that this was a Mossad plot bravely spoiled by a Muslim tackling the Pakistani Mossad agents!
Speaking of the hero. Ahmed al Ahmed is a 43-year-old fruit shop owner who was captured on film getting out of his car and tackling one of the gunmen – being shot himself, before taking the gun off him. It was an incredible act of bravery and as my Uber driver said to me this afternoon, I hope he never has to buy another beer for the rest of his life! The Israeli government and the local synagogue have also praised this Muslim for saving Jewish lives.
But even that is being politicised. We were immediately being told by the usual suspects that even if the gunmen were Muslim, the attack had nothing to do with Islam. Equally we were told that because the hero is Muslim, this proves it had nothing to do with Islam. The logic is flawed. The hero was acting as a brave human being seeking to protect others. By contrast, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation says two Islamic State flags was found in a car linked to the two gunmen, and that Australian intelligence previously interviewed one of them over alleged ties to the terrorist group.
The reality is that while most Muslims would abhor and condemn the actions taken by the terrorists, there are far too many in this world who will either celebrate it or quietly think that the Jews had it coming. Even sadder, there are other non-Muslims in the West who will share the same thought. The rise of antisemitism in the West, and especially in Australia, is chilling.
The Australian government has just announced that it will strengthen gun laws, in my view a welcome move, but one that is just a sticking plaster approach which does nothing to deal with the gaping wound of antisemitism. When Jewish children have to go to schools with armed guards and people can freely chant on the streets ‘death to the Jews’, the problem is not really slack gun laws. And the solution is not really politicians and others offering their thoughts and prayers.
Hanukkah is a holiday which we are told ‘emphasizes joy, family, and defiance against assimilation or persecution'. The Jews have been familiar with persecution for thousands of years. As Christians we owe a great deal to the Jews – and it is our responsibility to stand with the Jewish people.
For now, let me leave you with the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: “Chanukah is about the freedom to be true to what we believe without denying the freedom of those who believe otherwise. It's about lighting our candle, while not being threatened by or threatening anyone else's candle.”
And the words of King David: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadel” (Psalm 122:6).
