Make no mistake, the massacre of 16 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach last Sunday was the worst mass killing in Australian history. It was even worse than the slaughter at Port Arthur in 1996 by mass murderer Martin Bryant, who was a madman but was not driven by racist hatred.
Some blame has rightfully been laid at the feet of the federal government, whose craven appeasement of pro-Palestinian demonstrators has contributed to the rise of a particularly vicious strain of antisemitism in this country, which is now well out of hand.
This could have been nipped in the bud had immediate and decisive action been taken in response to the appalling antisemitic demonstrations at the Sydney Opera House on 8 October 2023. The prompt deployment of the NSW riot squad to shut down the protest, along with the immediate arrest and charging of the hate preacher in Lakemba, would have sent a clear message that antisemitism has no place in Australia.
Alas, that did not happen. The weekly antisemitic marches were allowed to continue, and the antisemites grew bolder.
In any tragedy, there are often moments of extraordinary heroism and kindness that restore faith in humanity. One such act was the brave tackling of the 50-year-old terrorist gunman by Ahmed el Ahmed, a 43-year-old father of two, who appears to be Muslim himself. He disarmed the older man and, in doing so, saved countless lives.
I hope the money raised to recognise his bravery well exceeds the million-dollar mark, and that he is awarded the highest civilian honour for bravery. His heroism was even acknowledged by Benjamin Netanyahu — who appeared genuinely moved that he was a Muslim Australian — as well as by Donald Trump.
Where to from here? I suggest that, as a nation, we can do two things.
Firstly, the eminently sensible report and recommendations made by Albanese’s hand-picked Commissioner for Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, must be acted on immediately. At present, it appears the Prime Minister has placed the report in the “too hard” basket.
Secondly, I call on the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet, all federal Greens members, all members of the NSW Parliament, and any other politicians of goodwill to organise a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to show solidarity with our grieving Jewish Australian brothers and sisters.
The theme of the march should be simple. It should state plainly: “We support our fellow Jewish Australian citizens.” Nothing more, nothing less. Keep it simple.
Any attempt to water this down into a vague “march against hate” or a protest against undefined terrorism would be a meaningless cop-out. Call it for what it is. The message must be clear: our parliaments and our people stand with Jewish Australians in their hour of grief.
I would hope the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the Greens leader would organise this. I don’t hold out much hope that the Greens would, but one can always live in hope.
Such a gesture, I feel, would go a long way towards making our fellow Australians of the Jewish faith feel valued and loved, as they deserve to be.
