The Soul of a Nation at Stake
Australia lost something fundamental two years ago on October 9, barely 48 hours after Hamas carried out the atrocities of October 7, slaughtering 1,200 Israelis and abducting 250. That night, while the sails of the Sydney Opera House were lit in Israeli blue and white, a crowd gathered beneath them not in solidarity, but in hate and fury.
Pro‑Palestinian demonstrators marched from Sydney’s CBD to the Opera House steps, chanting slogans that no civilized society should tolerate. Recorded chants of “Gas the Jews” and “F*** the Jews” were broadcast around the world. No arrests were made; no charges laid except, against a Jewish man carrying an Israeli flag. Australia lost its soul.
That night was a turning point. The antisemitic genie was uncorked, and the Albanese government’s silence signaled to extremists that they would face no consequence. They were emboldened.
Since then, Australia’s streets have echoed with hostility. Synagogues and Jewish schools have been vandalized. A synagogue in Melbourne and a childcare centre in Sydney firebombed. Jewish businesses and philanthropists have been targeted. Swastikas daubed. “Jew die” scrawled on a school fence, months of encampments on university campuses. Weekend rallies now reverberate with chants such as “Death to the IDF”, “globalize the intifada” and “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free [of Jews}”. These are not calls for coexistence but demands for erasure.
And yet we have seen no protest urging Hamas to release hostages or condemning the October 7 massacre? Groups such as the Palestine Action Group and the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network have remained mute on Hamas’s crimes, focusing instead on denunciations of Israel, calls for a ceasefire or Israel’s destruction.
When Donald Trump unveiled a peace plan, endorsed by Israel, several Arab states and the architects of the Abraham Accords, activists dismissed it as a sham. In truth it offers Palestinians a path to statehood, reconstruction and international recognition, at the price of renouncing violence and accepting Israel’s right to exist. Hamas and its supporters reject it. If genocide were truly underway, they would have seized this lifeline. Their refusal reveals the deeper aim: not territorial compromise, but the destruction of Israel. It proves there is no genocide in play.
The hypocrisy is stark. In July, the Palestine Action Group organized a “March for Humanity” across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Its spokesman, Josh Lees, aligned with Socialist Alternative, a revolutionary Marxist organization in Australia, declared they were on “the right side of history.” We have heard that phrase before. Germans in the 1930s said the same. If Lees truly cared about humanity, he would have denounced the mass rapes, murders and mutilations of October 7 and demanded the release of hostages. He did not.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Albanese poses at the United Nations in favor of a Palestinian state but offers no plan to address the breakdown of social cohesion at home. Rhetoric without leadership is cowardice. Jewish Australians are now daily reminded that their safety is negotiable and that their pain can be politicized.
Another protest is scheduled for the steps of the Sydney Opera House on October 12. Organizers promise peace. Given what has occurred since October 9, 2023, that promise is implausible. Hate speech is not free speech. Incitement is not protest. We would never tolerate these slogans if they targeted any other minority, nor should we.
As Yom Kippur ends in Australia, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, intended for reflection and atonement, we learn of a terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester. It is sadly no surprise. Those who chant hatred on the steps of the Opera House feel emboldened, not just here, but around the world.
What is at stake is not merely public order or political advantage. What is at stake is the soul of Australia and of the Western world.
Bob Hawke warned: “If the bell tolls for Israel, it won’t just toll for Israel. It will toll for all mankind.” If our leaders cannot or will not recognize that, then we will have to reckon with the consequences of having let hatred go unchallenged.
This protest will not unite. It will divide. It will be filled with rage and the refrain: “How dare Israel still exist.” That message is now on our streets, outside our landmarks, and tacitly permitted by too many in power. True leadership would restore Australia’s soul and ensure this protest does not proceed.
