SYDNEY — Hundreds turned out at rallies organized by “Never Again Is Now” in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth Oct. 26 to protest Jew-hatred, and simultaneous actions were held in another 12 cities and towns. Two weeks earlier, 8,000 members of the Jewish community here gathered to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom by Hamas in Israel and to condemn attacks on Jews.
There has been a sharp increase in antisemitic violence in Australia over the past two years, since Israel launched its defensive war against Hamas in Gaza. Pro-Hamas protests organized by middle-class leftist and Islamist groups have drawn support from Labor and Green Party politicians, many nongovernmental organizations, much of the union officialdom and the liberal media.
Calls to boycott businesses and to ban events, artistic performances, and individuals said to be linked to Israel have been accompanied by vandalism, violence and arson targeting the Jewish community.
In June, 100 Jews celebrating a religious festival at a Brisbane hotel faced a 150-strong pro-Hamas mob bursting in, chanting “baby killers” and screaming, “All Zionists are terrorists.”
In September, a 66-year-old Jewish man on a train in Sydney was assaulted by two men with a knife yelling anti-Jewish abuse.
In November, a young Jewish woman who applied for a job at a plant nursery in Melbourne was sent a rejection notice accusing her of complicity in genocide and urging her to leave the city.
The Israeli music duo “Infected Mushroom” pulled out of a music festival in Queensland in July and had a sold-out concert in Adelaide cancelled in September after being targeted by anti-Israel groups.
They performed in Melbourne Nov. 3. A pro-Hamas protest to shut them down was met by a counterprotest organized by Lions of Zion. The Jewish group also held a 40-strong protest outside the Melbourne plant nursery that same day. Speaking to the Australian Jewish News, Lions of Zion co-founder Isaac Balbin said, “Racial vilification isn’t OK when it happens to anybody,” adding, “going forward, it’s not going to be free to mess with the Jews anymore.”
The Hamas leadership in Qatar filed legal papers in a federal court in Australia Oct. 15 challenging the government’s designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization. This move reflects the degree of support Hamas feels it has gained among middle-class and capitalist layers. If successful, the Nazi-like group would be able to function openly in the country.
An Islamist group aligned with Hamas, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), which openly promotes Jew-hatred, has been prominent in anti-Israel protests.
Antisemitic agitation is also increasing on the far right. Sixty members of a Nazi group, National Socialist Network, rallied outside the New South Wales state parliament in Sydney Nov. 8, with a large banner demanding, “Abolish the Jewish lobby.”