Antisemitism and Israel give Australian election new focus

For the first time in the history of Australian Jewry, antisemitism and Israel are significant issues in an Australian election.

Australia will go to the polls this Saturday, 3 May. Though the 120 000-strong Jewish community – 0.4% of the population – typically base their votes on the cost of living, national security, education, and the same bread-and-butter issues as 27 million fellow-Australians, this time it’s different.

Jewish Australians today inhabit a landscape unprecedented in the history of the community and indeed in the history of this country, one in which the diversity which has long been championed as a badge of honour has been damaged and in which anxiety and fear, both personal and for the community itself, are now paramount.

The nation’s multicultural ethos was sullied on the night of 9 October 2023, when a mob massed outside the iconic Sydney Opera House yelling, “Where’s the Jews?” and other threatening chants. The chilling scenes marked a descent into a nightmare of antisemitism in which synagogues were firebombed; cars set alight; 600 Jewish artists cancelled; Jewish institutions defaced; university students assailed; and politicians’ offices attacked. Antisemitism became normalised, a staggering 2 062 incidents recorded in 2024. It represented a 316% increase on the previous year.

The fact that Australia has been home to more Holocaust survivors per capita than any country in the world other than Israel has heightened the community’s concerns.

Underpinning the situation is the harrowing situation in Gaza, with the ruling Australian Labor Party and the opposition Liberal Party staking divergent positions on such issues as resolutions regarding Israel at the United Nations; recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; and recognition of a state of Palestine. There have been 16 motions in Parliament on the Gaza war, all ending in division.

Government criticism of Israel’s handling of the war combined with the upsurge in antisemitism has resulted in a lack of faith among members of the community, who believe it didn’t respond quickly or effectively enough to the incidents.

On the other hand, the government points to the raft of measures it has implemented – increased funding for community security, for Holocaust education, and for school-based social-cohesion initiatives; criminalising Nazi and terrorist symbols; introducing anti-doxing laws; and establishing a federal police taskforce to combat antisemitism.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has capitalised on the situation, blaming the spike in antisemitism on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and pledging to cancel visas for individuals who engage in antisemitic conduct. He has also pledged to ensure that government grants aren’t given to organisations associated with antisemitic views, and to introduce a mandatory 12-month prison sentence for the public display of Nazi and terrorist symbols. And, he has foreshadowed an A$32.5 million (R385.7 million) security funding package and a new antisemitism taskforce.

Opinion polls show that just more than half of Australians believe the Gaza conflict has made Australia less safe, and 43% think the government isn’t doing enough to combat antisemitism, while 30% believe it is, and 9% say it has done too much.

All of which has brought a sharp focus on candidates contesting the handful of electorates in which the bulk of Australia’s Jewish community resides.

The electorate that has attracted the greatest attention is Wentworth, which encompasses significant sections of Sydney’s eastern suburbs and the nation’s largest Jewish community, comprising 15% to 20% of voters. The incumbent member of Parliament is Allegra Spender, an independent who, three years ago, unseated a former ambassador to Israel – the Liberal Party’s Dave Sharma.

“Fighting antisemitism has been one of my highest priorities,” she said recently, citing her role in calling on universities to adopt the IHRA’s (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s) definition of antisemitism. “I have surveyed students; taken these testimonies to vice-chancellors; condemned the encampments; successfully fought for an antisemitism envoy and a student ombudsman; and backed a judicial inquiry into antisemitism at university.

“I introduced amendments to strengthen hate speech laws. And I went to Parliament determined to unite it around a motion against antisemitism. People didn’t believe it was possible. It passed both houses of Parliament unanimously.”

Despite her track record, Spender was criticised for co-signing a letter requesting that the government restore Australian funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). She reversed her position a year later.

Last week, 47 000 anonymous leaflets were distributed across her electorate alleging that she was “weak” on antisemitism. Her main opposition comes from the Liberal Party’s Ro Knox, who has close ties with the community and has spent time in Israel.

Also attracting attention, for different reasons, was Australia’s attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, the most senior Jew in government and the son of a Holocaust survivor. He has been heavily criticised by members of the community for the government’s response to the crisis, so much so that he was heckled when he addressed an antisemitism summit in Sydney.

Then there were the comments by Greens MPs, such as that military exports to Israel assist the “genocidal ambitions of an apartheid state”; Palestinians are struggling against “settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing”; Gaza has “endured an invasion”; Israel is conducting “a manufactured and engineered famine”; and the trope that Jews have “tentacles”.

A Greens senator called for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador from Canberra, while a colleague charged that “military equipment trade” between Israel and Australia was being used to “literally fuel the genocide” and Israeli firms were producing weapons which were “literally being tested on the Palestinian people”.

Meanwhile, a “Muslim Votes Matter” movement was established, supporting candidates in electorates with substantial numbers of Muslim voters, and making the case that the government has been soft on Israel. And the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network is reportedly recruiting members to form a new political party to field candidates in the next election.

Voting is compulsory – there’s a modest fine for failing to do so – and holding the election on Shabbat isn’t an issue as electors can cast their ballots by postal vote prior to election day, which more than half of the population has done.

• Vic Alhadeff OAM is the former chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies in Sydney, Australia.