If the previous blog did not convince you of Australia’s anti-Semitism problem, maybe Alex Rychin’s article from January – almost a year ago – will.
Rychin, whose family escaped Russia looking for peace and freedom, is a successful writer of both adult and children’s books, and co-CEDO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
The article is titled “In Australia, Jew Hate Is Out of Control”. Here are a few key excerpts:
When I was shaken awake by my panicked wife, around 5 a. m. on Friday morning, to the news that our former home had been the target of an antisemitic attack, I was upset—but not shocked. That’s because there is nothing unusual about what happened.
My wife and I visited the scene the next day, and it was devastating to see walls that had kept us safe for five years—walls I whitewashed myself—covered in bright red paint meant to look like blood.
But as I said, nothing about any of this surprised me. For 15 months, Australia’s Jewish community has been continuously reeling from attacks like this. On October 9, 2023, two days after Hamas murdered hundreds of Israelis, around 1,000 pro-Palestine activists gathered on the steps of Australia’s most iconic landmark, the Sydney Opera House—which had been lit up with the colors of the Israeli flag to show solidarity—and yelled “fuck the Jews” and “fuck Israel.” Even the organizer of the protest acknowledged that there were “vile antisemitic attendees.” There were also reportedly shouts of “gas the Jews.”
Since then, Australia has seen a huge uptick in antisemitic attacks. For instance, in February 2024, activists and journalists shared the contact details of hundreds of Jewish academics and creatives on social media—details taken from a WhatsApp group set up by and for Jewish professionals in the wake of October 7—in the interest of exposing “Zionists.” (Some of the Jews who were doxxed did not identify as Zionists.) Trolls subsequently used those contact details to harass and abuse Jews. After his name appeared on the list, 33-year-old musician Joshua Moshe received what his wife, Maggie May, described as “a level of hatred that I could never have expected from my community.”
From politicians, we tend to get platitudes. The common refrain is that these attacks are “un-Australian,” as if they run contrary to who we are as a country.
But the Jews I speak to today don’t recognize our country anymore. The children of Holocaust survivors have told me they’re glad their parents aren’t alive to see what Australia has become. Members of my community have beefed up the security around their homes, putting bars on windows, fearing an attack. Some are nervous about wearing a Star of David necklace in public. Others wonder if they should take down the mezuzahs from their front doors.
That, readers, is the way things are for Jews in today’s Australia.
And now we have the spectacle of the country’s Prime Minister, Anthony Norman Albanese, going on TV, crying crocodile tears about how terrible this is. Where the eff has he been for the past two years?
Yes, Australia has an anti-Semitism problem. A major one. And one that, at least up to now, it has done little or nothing about.
Will yesterday’s massacre at a Chanukah celebration be a wake-up call? An impetus to DO something about this?
Maybe. But I would lie to tell you I’m confident.
