Albanese dithered as Jewish Australians endured attacks
Two weeks ago I wrote on these pages that there are two ways to discuss immigration. In a timely, civil and constructive manner. Or too late, with anger and hatred.
As Australia faltered for a millisecond, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hesitated and left it too late.
He missed the moment on October 9, 2023, the day Hamas massacred 1,200 civilians in Israel. That night, the NSW government lit the sails of the Sydney Opera House with a blue-and-white Israeli flag. But instead of Jewish mourners mourning the victims of the bloody attack, the forecourt was occupied by several hundred pro-Palestinian marchers. Their presence made it too dangerous for the Jewish community to participate.
That evening I went to observe and filmed the crowd chanting Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest) and “damn the Jews.” While I was filming, some attendees threw flares into the sails of the Opera House. Police intercepted the flares and extinguished them without further consequences. What was a lukewarm response from the government against the backdrop of a national symbol now reads like a metaphor for how the prime minister has handled the escalating violence since then.
When anti-Semitism on college campuses grew worse, Albanians evasive searched for a politically acceptable response. This imprint appeared He said protest groups at the university were infiltrated by Hizb ut Tahrir, an Islamic fundamentalist political organization. Rather than calling out dangerous radicalization, the Prime Minister hid behind the bureaucratic process and investigated rather than acted on “the prevalence, nature and experiences of anti-Semitic activity in universities.”
Over the past two years, there have been anti-Semitic graffiti, vandalism and arson attacks against Australia’s small Jewish population. A child care center and synagogues were set on fire, Jewish-owned businesses were attacked, and two nurses told an Israeli on social media that they would kill Jewish patients in their care. Instead of taking responsibility for acting on existing reports, Albanese began the review again by appointing an envoy to report on antisemitism.
When Islamist elements infiltrated the anti-war march in Gaza via the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The marchers, who were at the forefront of the crowd, carried a banner with the name of Iran’s oppressive Islamic leader behind them Waving Taliban and Al Qaeda-affiliated flags, Albanese acknowledged many Australians were affected by the situation in Gaza. As the Prime Minister expressed his feelings, ABC reporters spotted one of the flag-wavers in the crowd. happened I hate preacher Wissam HaddadHe is who the ABC described as using the pro-Palestinian movement to support the Islamic State terror group ISIS. There is no evidence that Haddad was involved in last Sunday’s attacks.
It soon turned out that Iran’s radical Islamist regime was funding and fueling anti-Semitic graffiti, vandalism and firebombing attacks. However, the Albanian government continued to recognize Palestine, still governed by Iran-backed Hamas, as an independent state.
Last week, after Islamist terrorists attacked Jewish Australians celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people, including a child, the prime minister’s first instinct was to move away from ideological motivation by announcing changes to gun laws. He made little mention of the very clear commitment behind the massacre. It took until Thursday to announce legal changes that would “crack down on those who spread hatred, division and radicalisation”.
It’s too late now. The terrorists in the Bondi massacre acted on behalf of the Islamic State. ISIS celebrated its actions and took credit for inspiring them. Naveed Akram, the youngest of the two Bondi attackers, Haddad has a well-documented history of involvement with the Cause movement.
Haddad is a known quantity. Yet it was up to the Executive Council of Australian Jews to take him to court and try to stop his hateful preaching. As civilians, the ECAJ could not prevent sermons or force the preacher to stop inciting his congregation with racist and anti-Semitic speech. In the end only he was needed remove five lessons From social media, where he calls Jews “cunning”, “traitors” and “despicable people” and “descendants of monkeys and pigs” (a quote from the Quran).
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke claims Australian laws are inadequate to act against this hatred. Former home affairs boss Mike Pezzullo told Sky News that the changes Burke announced in response to terrorism had long been in the hands of the government. They have been discussed in detail by the security community. Only the will to act was missing.
albanian aunt Avoiding references to radical Islamism Wherever possible. And the National Council of Imams washed his hands of thisHe declared that “ISIS is an evil and dangerous terrorist organization that has no connection with Islam.” The motivating ideology that the terrorists believe in, despite the fact that moderate Muslims do not feel any affinity with them, was barely mentioned at the prime minister’s “action plan” press conference on Thursday. Where there is no responsibility, there can be no effective action. It is important to recognize the perpetrators as well as the victims of this attack.
Last Sunday, an angel was sent to Albanese to guide him through this decisive moment. Ahmed al Ahmed, one of the Bondi heroes who took the gun from the attacker by risking his own life, is a Muslim. It was a vivid reminder that religion alone is not the problem. We fail Muslims like Ahmed when we fail to focus on the values and actions that people choose to take as a result of their faith.
For two long and eventful years, Albanese was political, cowardly and slow to respond to the greatest challenge of his premiership. It is undeserved good fortune that a hero should have given himself the means to make a constructive distinction between religion and its perversion. He needs to get it before it disappears. Australians know wholeheartedly that an attack on a peaceful minority is an attack on all of us.
Parnell Palme McGuinness is an independent insight and advocacy strategist. He worked for the Liberal Party and the German Greens.
