Albanese hopeful Gaza ceasefire deal will reduce anti-Semitism, but Jewish leaders warn trouble isn’t over

Anthony Albanese may be hopeful the ceasefire deal will cool domestic tensions and reduce the skyrocketing rates of anti-Semitism, but Jewish leaders have issued him a grim reality check.

For 15 months, despite the PM’s pleas not to import the conflict domestically, the Israel-Hamas war has wormed its way into Australia. The result has been a 700 per cent spike in anti-Semitic incidents, and a breakdown in social cohesion that has fractured communities and struck fear into hearts.

It’s why news that Israel and Hamas had finally brokered a ceasefire deal that would mean dozens of Israeli hostages would finally be released was met by Jewish Australians with joy, accompanied by trepidation.

Mr Albanese was first to put is cautious optimism on the table, saying he was hopeful it would alleviate tensions and dial down the rhetoric.

“Australians, I believe, wanted to see the hostages released. They want to see an end to conflict. They also don’t want the conflict brough here,” he said.

But with the Adass community still in shock after their synagogue was firebombed in a terrorist incident last month; the Newtown congregation still reeling after their place of worship was vandalised with swastikas and anti-Semitic vitriol over the past weekend; and Jewish people across the country still feeling unsafe in their homes, or when publicly wearing their Stars of David or kippahs, there’s a fear the beast has taken on a life of its own and can never be fully tamed.

Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said while he thought there might be some abatement in the number of incidents, he feared the extraordinarily high levels of anti-Semitism “will not return to pre-war levels for a very long time, if at all”.

“The amount of hate that has been unleashed and has deliberately been stoked against the Jewish community in Australia by the anti-Israel movement, or elements of it, has unfortunately been compounded and facilitated by some parts of the conventional media, and social media,” he told The Nightly.

“I think they have a lot to answer for — they have poisoned the public discourse... And people have been driven to extremes of opinion.”

What is likely to prolong the scourge, he said, is the “overlap” between anti-Israel rhetoric — including at weekly protests across the country — and anti-Semitism.

“It’s churlish for anyone to say there is a complete lack of any linkage between the two... The overlap between the two is a very obvious one,” he said.

Although Mr Albanese has denounced anti-Israel rhetoric - manifesting through chants and incidents - as inherently anti-Semitic, the Coalition have for months chastised the Government for not taking a stronger position on the protests, and for weakening its position on Israel.

Backed by public comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linking the two, the Opposition have laid the blame at Labor’s feet for allowing anti-Semitism to spike because Australia had turned its back on the Jewish State.

Peter Dutton — hopeful the deal would improve social cohesion — said Mr Albanese had betrayed the Australian Jewish community time and time again in the last 15 months.

“I think the Jewish community is completely and utterly bewildered at the lack of leadership that’s been provided by the Prime Minister and that has given rise to the anti-Semitism that we’ve seen in our country,” he said.

“I want to see it come to an end, and quickly, because the firebombing of synagogues, the targeting of Jewish women, of people who are involved in society... it’s completely and utterly unacceptable and it’s not part, should not be part of an Australian culture.”

Menachem Vorchheimer, a leading Victorian Jewish community advocate, said the most obvious demonstration of what the ceasefire will mean for domestic social cohesion will be what happens with the weekly protests.

“I wonder whether they will come to an end and whether Australians will be able to go back into the city freely,” he told The Nightly.

Acknowledging the protesters aren’t a homogenous group, he guessed those who viewed a ceasefire as their end goal would see the announcement as a positive step and perhaps stand down.

But, he said the group of protesters who are unlikely to let up until the “abolition of Israel” will continue, which he warned will mean anti-Semitism will continue.

“I’d like to think that the temperature will come down, but I don’t think it’s going to come down overnight, because I think some of that anti-Semitic rhetoric and hatred has been the seeds that’s been sown. I think it’s going to take quite a while for that to be removed,” he said.

For as long as protesters and groups call for the abolition of Israel, chant Intifada, or accuse Israel of being complicit in genocide, Mr Wertheim say the community will live in fear.

“We’ve seen a lot of attempts to paint Jewish people - people who were victims of genocide — now becoming perpetrators. That is not a good faith analysis, it’s statement designed to wound, silence and to hurt,” he said.

The Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network doubled down on their positions on Thursday. President Nasser Mashni, who welcomed the ceasefire with a “sense of relief”, renewed his call for the international community to “hold Israel to account”.

“The ceasefire must not be a smokescreen for complacency. Australia must rise to this moment by cutting all military ties with Israel, imposing sanctions and holding Israeli officials and entities accountable in international courts,” he said.

“To remain silent in the face of this brutality is to stand on the wrong side of history. It’s time for Australia to stand for justice, accountability, and a free Palestine.”

Everyone is entitled to their views, Foreign Minister Penny Wong acknowledged, but cautioned how those are expressed matters.

“I think this is a really important opportunity for us to take the temperature down. I’d encourage this development to be constructive. This is an opportunity for us all to work towards peace,” she said.

“The anti-Semitism that we’ve seen is an attack not only on the Jewish people, but it’s also (one) on Australia.”

She pleaded for Australians to use the ceasefire deal as a chance to “hold on to what matters to us and who we are”.

But after 15 months of rampant anti-Semitism, Jewish leaders’ say only strong political leadership and a concerted campaign to reign in rampant Jewish hate could possibly tame the beast.