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The fact that private property has been damaged and graffiti daubed on walls in a couple of Australian cities means these are law and order issues. Australia does not have an antisemitism problem on this basis. Talk about political manipulation and overreach. We have police forces capable of adequately dealing with these relative few instances of criminal damage. Most Australians know that there is a protest movement engaged in drawing attention to the genocide being committed by Israeli forces in Gaza, where more than 50, 000 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF. Passions are high among the Australian Arab population and younger Aussies more generally – this is understandable in light of what is going on.
Aussies Protesting The Genocide In Gaza Is Not Antisemitic
These protests are not really based on religious grounds but on anti-Zionist or against the inhumane actions of a controlling state upon a people they are responsible for. My own daughter, who is a sixth generation Australian, has marched in rallies to support the Palestinian people in Gaza. This has nothing to do with the Jewish religion for many protesters in Australia. Israel is a secular state for those who may not be aware of this fact. This whole antisemitism accusation is an intentional misrepresentation of what is actually going on. Why? This right wing distortion falsely labels those against the genocide as antisemites. It is a political game about holding the higher moral ground. The legacy media in Australia has swallowed this hook line and sinker. The timid Albanese government, likewise, has been sucked in by the Israeli lobby here, many of whom are lawyers.
Protests Downunder Are Anti-Zionist Not Antisemitic
What these people are doing is betraying their own history by making these largely false accusations. The holocaust committed against the Jewish people in Europe by the Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s was profoundly disturbing for all of humanity. It was one of the major genocidal events of the 20C and is deservedly remembered globally. The irony that Israel now finds itself with the jackboot on its foot on the throat of Palestinians is acute. On 7th October 2023 Hamas attacked Israel and 1, 200 Israeli’s were killed and 240 were taken hostage. Since then Israel has extracted a ferocious, bloody and one sided vengeance upon Hamas and Gaza. The huge number of collateral deaths, more than 50, 000 including many women and children has shocked the world.
Israel Actually Funded Hamas At Its Beginnings
Hamas, now a declared terrorist group around the world since the October 7 attacks, is to be bombed out of existence by the IDF as their stated goal. Hamas was actually funded by Israel back in the 1980s and 1990s in an effort to destabilise the popularity and power of the PLO. How things can come back and bite us on the bum in life! https://www.jstor.org/stable/2538077
“For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group.”
The Distorted Gaza Picture Via News Corp In Oz
In Australia, Aussies never receive the deeper picture via News Corp and its grip on the legacy media downunder. The right wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch ensures that sensationalistic headlines obscure the truth. Cutting the heads off babies and other fictions distort the news around the war in Gaza. Weak Labor governments run around trying to please the powerful via their politically correct agendas. In reality, Australia does not have an antisemitism problem but one would think otherwise due to the OTT response. Newspapers and Peter Dutton were shouting ‘antisemitism’ from the rooftops. Fortunately, this probably contributed to the demise of our very own Temu Trump on election day. Junket tours to Israel were organised by Netanyahu for right wing Aussie politicians. We are still, seemingly, in the grip of this disinformation and misrepresentation campaign being waged by pro-Israel forces downunder and their right wing allies.
“It is time to rid our shores of the Murdoch controlled News Corp and their unbalanced political fiction factory. Do we want lies and disinformation in our media downunder? For too long Rupert Murdoch has held sway over our newspapers, radio networks and TV news. News Corp sets the agenda in Australian current affairs and yet is the most right wing biased news source in the country. Most recently, Australians rejected the Temu Trump led Coalition of Libs and Nats at the federal election. Australian cities voted in droves to reject the Donald Trump inspired politics of hate and divisiveness.”
Pro-Israel Forces Downunder
I think of the many more Chinese and Indian Australians who have been attacked on our streets via anti-Asian violent behaviour without the kind of response we are seeing from governments. Funny that, it has one scratching one’s head. The legacy media and right wing political parties do not come out to bat for these groups when under attack. Must be something to do with power and influence. Perhaps, also, a convenience of strategic alliances on the political point scoring measure. The Trump regime, the MAGA GOP and the power of AIPAC over in America. Netanyahu and Trump seem on the cosy side together.
“One must acknowledge the remarkably effective Jewish community organisations in Australia behind the latest antisemitism report. Collectively, with their News Ltd megaphone, they have successfully badgered the government of the day, cowed the ABC, intimidated vice-chancellors and threatened to defund arts organisations.
With the ability to garner prime ministerial dinners, a battalion of lobbyists has gained access to editors, duchessed willingly seduced journalists keen to enjoy junkets and corralled more than 500 captains of industry to subscribe to full-page ads against antisemitism and thereby blurring political argument with prejudice and bias. It is no surprise that this relentless propaganda effort has paid off.”
Protest Is A Democratic Right
Anthony Albanese would do well to remember his own student activism and young Laborite protest efforts back in the day. The trend toward criminalising protesting in this country is pretty crook, in my opinion. Young and idealistic hearts need to be able to make their feelings felt on the streets. This is not to condone those who damage private property, as this is quite rightly a matter for the police. However, overly aggressive riot police are often the cause of violence and not the solution. Democracy requires governments to perform a balancing act regarding protest movements. Australia does not have an antisemitism problem but many in the community are outraged at the genocidal actions of Israel in Gaza. It will be a sad day for Australia when ordinary folk do not do something about murderous injustice when they see it.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©MidasWord
