I stand with my Jewish brothers, sisters and siblings in this time of accelerating and reverberating racial violence — violence that has been warned about. I mourn the erased Aboriginal lives murdered in increasing deaths in custody, the forgotten Muslim martyrs of the Christchurch massacre of 15 March, 2019 and the victims of the most recent antisemitic Bondi Beach massacre on the first day of Hanukkah.

Antisemitism is on the rise and it must be addressed actively and widely. The international Palestine solidarity movement has played a proactive role in this effort, despite smears which attribute the rise of antisemitism to solidarity. To effectively make progress against racism, these smears should not be given weight, yet they are gaining a hold on Australian public discourse. In the aftermath of the Bondi Beach massacre, NSW Premier Chris Minns, echoing accusations made by Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeated unsubstantiated claims that protests are to blame for the rise in racism:

… one of the things about antisemitism is that it begins with hate speech, then it might be a chant at a rally, then it moves online, then it becomes graffiti on a Jewish building, then it’s malicious damage, then arson, and then it escalates to the kind of horrific violence that we saw yesterday.

This argument was repeated by Australia’s appointed Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal, who told Sky News:

There is a progression, we had the rally on the forecourt of the Opera House, and then we’ve had lots of demonstrations and lots of hate, chants of hate against the Jews. And words matter. We’ve learnt that from history, that hateful words lead to hateful actions. And then if you take the march across the Harbor Bridge, behind terrorist symbols, and then you go to Bondi, you can see the progression.

Multiple right-wing politicians and figures have echoed this antisemitism theory, including Zionist Jewish representatives such as Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Executive Manager Joel Burnie:

… through all the warnings, through all the meetings and through all the pleading with federal and state government and authorities to do more to protect us, to stop the pro-Palestinian marches in the streets of Melbourne and Sydney and allowing them to spew their hatred. False claims of genocide, false claims of war crimes … this campaign to dehumanise Jewish people led these two terrorists to go out, on a Sunday afternoon, in our country.

This discourse follows two years of demonisation of the Palestine solidarity movement in so-called Australia — a movement that has been met with heavy repression, condemnation, negative reporting and efforts to deny protest permits. In Victoria, the Labor Government is already in the process of introducing anti-protest laws on the back of racist moral panic about weekly “hateful” Palestine solidarity demonstrations in central Melbourne.

Despite this dominant narrative, within the movement there is a clear assuredness that tackling antisemitism is a shared responsibility that is interconnected with the political project of anticolonial liberation, a task that is integrated within the culture of resistance, not separate or outside of the work to free Palestine. Addressing antisemitism is a core business of the solidarity movement. 

The Palestine solidarity movement has guided the public to discern and separate between the actions of Israel and Jewish people. It has forwarded mechanisms for justice and accountability that engage international law, build anti-militarist campaigns and pressure all levels of government to defend the Palestinian people. It has pointed the public towards targets that are implicated in crimes against humanity — from the arms industry and oil companies to media and political institutions — grounding praxis in evidence, legitimacy and long lineages of political struggle.

As a Palestinian and Muslim organiser, I have also been engaged in these “globalising” solidarity efforts and have been clear about where responsibility lies for the Gaza Genocide. It lies with the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and those in positions of power who arm and fund them. I have supported the sanctioning of Israeli soldiers and settlers, a legitimate measure that affords accountability. I have called for university divestment from weapons partnerships to uphold legal and moral obligations. I have also upheld the Palestinian right to resist occupying forces.

The Palestine solidarity movement has not promoted, encouraged or condoned attacks on Jews or Jewish sites. In instances where opposition to local Zionism is deemed necessary, there has been direct instruction about the moral approach to this. When counter pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protests took place, movement leaders actively sought to prevent physical confrontations, both at Caulfield and Bondi. When the Palestinian-owned Burgertory branch in Caulfield was firebombed and an antiracist protest took place that resulted in the evacuation of a synagogue, an apology was made to local Jews for the unintended impact they faced. When the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne was firebombed, representatives of the Palestine solidarity movement spoke against these acts at the Free Palestine protests and invited Jewish voices to share their experiences and views with the wider movement.

Rather than shying away from discussing racial issues, difference has been overtly confronted, represented and defended amidst difficult tensions that liberal multicultural policy has provided little avenue to navigate. I would argue that antiracism demands more space for opposition and engagement, not less.

The Free Palestine protests have been a vital site amidst a deteriorating political climate where solidarity and compassion are forged. It is in these protests that antisemitism has been openly countered, across months of deep pain and anguish for Middle Eastern, Muslim and Jewish people. In these protests, the protesters see themselves as siblings, standing side by side and marching towards a world free of colonial and racist violence. They see themselves as change-makers who are representatives of goodness, dignity and conscience, which is critical for protecting dissent in strong plural societies. They are proud to identify as health-workers, teachers, grandparents and anti-war activists who care about one another and who belong to an international struggle.

The antisemitic Bondi Beach massacre is not incited by Palestine solidarity, and directly contrasts the movement’s vision. Attributing the massacre to the Palestine solidarity movement or its participants — from ostracised antizionist Jews to vocal imams, from activist academics to passionate students — is a grave mistake. Misplacing blame risks deteriorating the solidarities we have been nurturing and the radical visions that can provide pathways beyond settler-colonial management of minorities. We ought to reject reactionary and dangerous attempts to misattribute guilt to already oppressed masses. The Palestine solidarity movement has enriched political life on this continent, fostering support for Indigenous sovereignty and expressing comradeship with oppressed peoples who face annihilation.

The demonisation of our activities and villainising of our ambitions only keeps racism and antisemitism unchecked. Dangerously, it gives cover to the War on Terror apparatus despite its grave injustices and clear role in subjecting the Global South to a reality of occupation, authoritarianism and exploitation, with little avenue for dignified existence outside of the interests of Empire. With these considerations, affirming Palestinian and broader regional political aspirations is both relevant and necessary.  

Antisemitism can be addressed by listening to communities who are already working against it. Importing untested solutions at the command of Israeli politicians or right-wing figures such as Jillian Segal limits our ability to create a response that local communities own and embody. If we are looking for a different direction, we should engage those already at the front lines of building solidarity between Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish people.

Image by the author