The CEO of the Australian Jewish Association says Australia gets failing grades for not standing with the nation’s Jewish community and responding to the warnings since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023.
Robert Gregory told Vision Radio: “There was a lot of fear since October 7, since we saw some of the ugly riots outside the Opera House, and there was a fear that something like what happened at Bondi would happen.”
“And then when those fears were confirmed I think everyone’s just been very concerned.”
“Some people are reconsidering if they have a future in this country.”
“T’S NOT THE AUSTRALIA MANY JEWS REMEMBER”
“There’s been a heavy security presence at Jewish buildings, at schools and synagogues, which is a bit of a stressful way to live.”
“If you just want to go to synagogue to pray, you’re passing layers of security.”
“It’s not the Australia a lot of people remember, so it’s been a tough time.”
Robert Gregory lays a lot of the blame at the feet of the nation’s leaders in Canberra.
“GOVERNMENT WAS SHOCKED BY BONDI AND THE ANGRY JEWISH RESPONSE”
“I think the government got quite a shock with the Bondi attack, first of all, with the terrible atrocity that was carried out.”
“Maybe they didn’t really believe the warnings that would happen, but also with the response from the Jewish community and the broader community.”
“The prime minister was booed when he came down to Bondi Beach.”
“So I think they realised that there was real anger especially in the Jewish community, and they did shift their words a bit, so their words have certainly been more supportive.”
“WHEN IT COMES TO POLICY, I HAVEN’T SEEN ANY REAL CHANGES”
“I think there’s been fewer attacks on Israel, which we know flames anti-Semitism here.”
“They did accommodate the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, but when it comes to actual policy, I haven’t seen any real changes.”
“We still see a disproportionate number of visas refused for Israeli conservative visitors.”
“We see the government is still taking anti-Israel positions. They’re just doing it a little more quietly.”
HIGH PRAISE FOR RESPONSE OF ORDINARY AUSTRALIANS
“They’re still funding some of the radical Islamic organisations in Australia, some of those arts organisations that are promoting hatred.”
“I don’t think we’ve actually seen any change in policies and it remains to be seen whether the Royal Commission will have an effect.”
By contrast, Mr. Gregory praised the response of ordinary Australians and large parts of the greater community.
“Many of them have been very, very encouraging.”
“My organisation has been flooded with support by emails, phone calls, even people sending letters.”
SPECIAL MENTION FOR CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
“Particularly, I will say, Christian people that has to be acknowledged,”
“Broadly speaking, and obviously there will be exceptions, there’s a lot of support from evangelical communities, Pentecostal, Baptist, different communities like that, non-denominational Christians.”
“Some of the mainstream legacy established churches are sort of in the middle, and there’s some other churches which are not as supportive.”
“But I think even in the less supportive churches, often the congregants are very supportive and the positions taken by some of these organisations may not reflect the people who attend there.”
SHOCK OVER GRACE TAME’S INTIFADA CRY
The head of the Jewish Association told Vision Radio his community was saddened by a high profile Australian like Grace Tame issuing a rallying cry to “Globalise the Intifada” just weeks after the mass murders at Bondi.
“I was shocked by Grace Tame’s remarks. She’s a former Australian of the year.”
“I think that role should be a role of uniting Australians, bringing together people of different views, not leaving minority groups feeling threatened for their safety.”
“Everyone knows the Intifada was a period of terrorism, of attacks against Jewish people in Israel.”
“We saw stabbings, shootings, suicide bombings. It was a very traumatic period.”
“An Australian Jewish girl, Malki Roth, was killed. So it is traumatic for our community.”
“CALLING FOR AN INTIFADA IS A DIRECT THREAT TO AUSTRALIAN JEWS”
“So for anyone calling to bring that Intifada to Australia, that’s a direct threat to the safety of Jewish people in Australia.”
“I guess you could say Bondi was Australia’s mini-Intifada.”
“I wrote to the organisers of an International Women’s Day event next month that Grace Tame is not an appropriate speaker.”
“Perhaps someone more appropriate would be a woman who survived the Bondi attack or a relative of an October 7th survivor to speak about their experiences.”
“Grace Tame has not spoken up about the Israeli women who were abused on October 7 or in Hamas captivity.”
GROWING MUSLIM POPULATION IS IMPACTING ON GOVERNMENT POLICY
Mr. Gregory also believes that the country’s rapidly growing Muslim population to more than a million citizens is impacting government policy.
“I think they’d be quite fearful of stoking anything that would take votes away from the Labor Party.”
“I think we need the government to speak more clearly to name the threat and we all know what it is. It’s radical Islamic terrorism.”
“It’s not all Muslims. Nobody said it’s all Muslims. But it is a percentage and it’s a very worrying concern for Australia.”
“HATRED OF ISRAEL IS ANTISEMITISM”
The Jewish leader explained to Vision Radio that anti-semitism has morphed into a hatred of Israel.
“In past forms, it was hatred of the Jewish religion. Then in the 20th century, it was hatred of Jews as a race of people, which the Nazis had.”
“The communists hated Jewish culture, Jewish identity. And the most popular form of antisemitism now is hatred of the Jewish nation, the Jewish state.”
“I think it needs to be recognised that people who are anti-Israel hide behind these labels of i’m not an anti-Semite, I’m just anti-Zionist .”
“We know, practically speaking, it means the same thing.”
“If you have a hatred of the world’s only Jewish state, if you hold it to a different standard than you do any other state, that’s antisemitism.”
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