As an Australian and an Israeli

Over the last two weeks, I am shocked and disappointed to see the level of support given to pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Australia. After the most heinous massacre on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, these demonstrators did not wait one day to jump at the opportunity to make Jewish deaths about land.

I am Jewish. I am Australian. I am Israeli. I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a great many things. But right now, the thing I am the most, is unsafe.

Hamas do not shy away from its ultimate goal – to eliminate the State of Israel. Please see the Hamas Constitution of 1988, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.” Hamas does not care about land, Hamas care about killing Jews.

When I see Australians chanting “End the occupation of Palestine” or “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” one thing is very clear – these people are supporting the killing of Jews. They might condemn Hamas in public and they might be peaceful (sometimes) but these demonstrators have shifted the attention away from the murder of our children, parents, grandparents, to an argument about land. From the “River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is not a rally cry for peace, it is a rally cry to wipe Israel off the map.

This brings me to a recent situation my wife found herself in when taking our daughter to a children’s play area. My wife is Israeli, we speak Hebrew in our home and to our daughter. As they were out, a woman in a Hijab overheard my wife and daughter and asked where they were from. My wife, honest and thinking the best of people, answered she is from Israel. The woman answered, “You can’t be from Israel, you are too light skinned.” My wife, a little taken a back stated her grandparents were Palestinian Jews. The response, “There is no such thing. Jews are from Europe and America. They came to Palestine and took it.” Not wanting to proceed with the conversation my wife tried to direct the questions back at the woman and asked where she was from, the answer “Oman.”

The woman didn’t accost my wife or berate her, it was a simple conversation in which things were stated as fact. That’s what really alerted me to the level of misinformation and lies being told, being spread, and being televised amongst Islamic countries and amongst pro-Palestinian groups. These people truly believe that Jews have no ancestral or indigenous connection to the land of Israel despite archaeological evidence of Jewish and Israelite existence there dating back millennia.

However, this is not what makes me feel unsafe. Safety, for me, comes in the form of government support and defense, which thankfully we have seen in the majority of the Australian Government. But my electorate is a Green’s electorate and my local Member of Parliament supports pro-Palestinian demonstrations. In a response to a letter I wrote to my Member of Parliament she stated, “The Greens and I condemn all forms of violence against civilians, including the attacks perpetrated by Hamas. We believe it is necessary to talk about the causes and context of these events, and the need for the occupation of Palestinian territories to end.” Further she stated, “The Greens will always support the right to peacefully protest, it is fundamental to our democracy.”

The irony is that whilst supporting democracy, the Greens are not supporting the only democracy in the Middle East. By showing outright support for these demonstrations, they are perpetuating the myth of occupation and that Israelis, Jews, are to blame for their own murder.

This article was first published in the The Spectator Australia.