Australian “project to combat antisemitism” dead on arrival

“Think tank takes on antisemitism,” declares the headline.

A major three-year research initiative to combat antisemitism and other forms of religious discrimination in Australia has been launched by the Sydney-based think tank Centre for Independent Studies. (My emphasis)

What "other forms of religious discrimination" exist in Australia, the reader might legitimately wonder, recall the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in his Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Western Sydney, and perhaps conclude that "other forms of religious discrimination" means attacks on Christians. Reading on, the report speaks of "a rise in religious and cultural intolerance globally and domestically." Indeed, attacks on Jews have been rampant across the Western world, especially since the October 7 massacre in Israel. A genocide of Christians has been underway in West Africa. "Over the past 14 years, at least 52,250 Nigerian Christians have been brutally murdered," reports Vatican News. That was in Nigeria alone, and up till 2023. The same wholesale slaughter of Christians has been underway in Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Mozambique and elsewhere in Africa, and from there recall the Easter Massacres of Christians in Sri Lanka, or those in Indonesia, or those in Egypt, or the attacks on churches in Europe. Hindus are routinely murdered in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Truly, there is "a rise in religious and cultural intolerance globally and domestically."

Taking on a project like this is a bold undertaking, and one that, no doubt, the commendable initiators have thought through very well. We read on:

The project defines antisemitism broadly, encompassing both overt and covert hostility towards Jewish individuals and institutions, aligning with international standards like the IHRA working definition. Islamophobia will also be a key focus, examining its sociopolitical dimensions and links to security and visibility. (My emphasis)

"Islamophobia will also be a key focus"? The surprised reader might wonder why, and also notice that there is a definition for antisemitism, but not one for "Islamophobia".

He or she might try to recall, or even search online for a news report of, an imam stabbed in a mosque, or consider that if a mob had defiled the Sydney Opera House screaming, "Gas the Muslims!" then surely, he or she will have heard of it, or perhaps if a mosque had been burnt down somewhere, but they draw blanks every time. What "Islamophobia"? While struggling to make sense of this, it might occur to the reader that whenever any harm comes to Muslims anywhere, the whole world usually goes berserk, think Anders Breivik or Christchurch. Nothing remotely comparable has ever occurred in Australia.

But what has been occurring across Australia since October 2023 are attacks, threats of attacks and bomb hoaxes on synagogues, the most egregious being the arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024. There were "at least three unknown perpetrators". Let's not jump to conclusions, hey. Yet, the reader might join the dots and realise that the people attacking the synagogues and the mob that chanted "Gas the Jews!" on the steps of Sydney Opera House, have something in common. The reader might already have noticed that those massacring Christians and Hindus in other countries have the same modus operandi, scream the same slogans and seem to be similarly motivated. Different victims, same perpetrators.

So the reader of this report might legitimately wonder, firstly, what "Islamophobia" in Australia, and secondly, how does "Islamophobia" remotely qualify for bracketing along with antisemitism? The reader, now alert, might continue reading with a more critical eye.

"The recent explosion of antisemitism in Australia..." [perpetrated by whom?] "speaks to a fundamental breakdown in our multicultural society." [Does it? Or does it speak to the introduction into our society of an element responsible for “explosions in antisemitism” also in Europe, North America and elsewhere?] "It is a major issue for all our communities..." [all our communities? Even the one perpetrating the antisemitism?] "because left unchecked, it will erode our shared Australian values..." [our shared Australian values? Sydney Opera House has always been the proud pinnacle of our culture, civilisation and shared Australian values. It has never been a venue for agitating for genocide!] "and totally undermine social cohesion across the country.” [Bishops stabbed, synagogues burnt, rallies exhorting mass murder protected by police obfuscation—what social cohesion?]

Tom Switzer, CIS Executive Director, described these alarming developments as "rising intolerance" and the project as a “vital step in promoting tolerance...” [Not only will the project not name the perpetrators, but their attacks and threats of mass murder are watered down to "intolerance," like not wanting to sit beside someone with a lisp. That against this backdrop “Islamophobia will also be a key focus,” the project "takes on antisemitism" by genuflecting to Muslims, the very importers of antisemitism to Australia. The only tolerance the project will promote, is tolerance of the intolerant.]

The initiative’s key deliverables come with failure built-in:

• "Annual national surveys on perceptions of antisemitism, Islamophobia..." [real antisemitism is reduced to perceptions; perceived “Islamophobia” is elevated to reality] "and religious intolerance and discrimination". [The practical outcome is that only Muslims benefit from combatting “religious intolerance and discrimination,” because, like this project, no one will name the source of religious intolerance and discrimination, since doing so is to be religiously intolerant and discriminatory towards Muslims and their religiously intolerant and discriminatory religion. So everybody else, none of whom are religiously intolerant and discriminatory, must now stop being religiously intolerant and discriminatory. This leads to bending over backwards to tolerate Muslim religious intolerance and discrimination, and hence to tolerating antisemitism.] By this point, a reader's patience might be running thin.
• "Publications covering antisemitism, online hate..." [They know that the Qur'an is available online, right?] "legal protections..." [For whom, exactly? Who else but Muslims commit antisemitic crimes?], "and civic education..." [For whom, exactly? Who, but Muslims, need schooling in Australian values? But it is everyone else who will be schooled in the beauty of Muslim weddings, the thrill of henna and hijab, the spirituality of breaking the fast, and mesmerising Rumi poetry. Why, our children will learn to prostrate on a mat. Shari'a education, more like!].
• A final edited volume consolidating three years of research and policy recommendations. [Policy recommendations on how to make Muslims feel more at home in Australia, you know, like Europe has become, and on how to get Australians ready for becoming Muslim]

A spokesperson said: “This initiative underscores CIS’s ongoing dedication to public policy research rooted in evidence, integrity, and democratic values”. [Democratic values, right.]

Ze'ev Jabotinsky was a man who did not allow himself to indulge in wishful fantasy. One of the many wisdoms, expounded in his 1923 essay, The Ethics of the Iron Wall, reads:

One of the most elementary rules of life, [is] that you must not "meet halfway" those who do not want to meet you.

Picture credits:

Australian Jewish Association/Twitter

William Leslie-Bowles[2] (1885-1954)[3] - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=605671