Hanukkah Terror Has Roots in Australia’s Alienation of Jews

As Jewish families across Australia celebrated the first night of Hanukkah, shots rang out at Bondi Beach in Sydney. The target was a party, per New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, “[on] the first day of Hanukkah. What should have been a night of peace and joy celebrated in that community with families and supporters, has been shattered by this horrifying evil attack.” The death toll as of this writing is 12, including one shooter. Police identified one of the shooters as Naveed Akram.

Minns’ statement is notable for its contrast with the immediate reaction of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. In the aftermath of what was clearly a targeted terrorist attack on Australia’s Jewish community, Albanese released a statement labeling the attacks “shocking and distressing.” Albo, as he is known, was quick to sympathize with “every person affected.” Who was that “every person”? Beachgoers? Surfers? The target was a “Hanukkah by the Sea” celebration of the Jewish festival of lights. But for Albanese, a mention of Jews was one word too many in a seventy-word statement. (He later condemned the attack on the Jewish community.)

Here’s the problem: Albanese and his Foreign Minister Penny Wong have done their utmost in the twenty-six months since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel to signal their uninterest in the well-being of Jewish communities, in Israel, Australia, and beyond. Like their political counterparts in Europe and the United States, Laborites in Australia have turned on Israel and Zionists everywhere. And like the fringes of the left in the United States, Spain, England, Canada, and France, they have gone further, aligning themselves with Israel’s enemies.

The surfacing of Jew-hatred in Australia has been notable, even by international standards. Aussie Jews, like much of the world’s Jewish communities, believed the pieties about “never again,” but were rudely awakened when a post-October 7, pro-Palestinian march in Sydney began chanting, “Gas the Jews.” A synagogue was firebombed in Melbourne. The leader of one of Australia’s most prominent Jewish organizations had his former home vandalized and burned in Sydney. Two Sydney nurses were caught on video threatening to kill Jews. Universities have, as in the United States, worked assiduously to isolate Jewish students.