A soldier’s new mission – fighting antisemitism
On the night of October 10, 2023, as crowds chanted “Where’s the Jews?” at the Sydney Opera House only days after the massacre in Israel, Col Michael Scott turned to his wife and said, “I can’t stay silent.” That moment, he recalls, was when he realised he had a responsibility to act.
Scott, a highly decorated Australian Army officer with more than three decades of service, is not Jewish. Yet since that night he has become one of the most committed non-Jewish advocates for Israel and one of the clearest voices warning about the rise in antisemitism across the West.
Col Michael Scott
He traces the deeper shift back to the story of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and later confirmed murdered by Hamas. When he learned that celebrations had erupted in parts of the West Bank, he was shaken. By the end of that day, he had written an essay, “I am Yarden Bibas”, and within days he had begun drafting what would become his book, “A Light Still Burns: Israel and the Values Worth Defending”.
In the book he lays out a direct defence of Israel and the values it shares with Western democracies and warns of a growing assault on truth and moral clarity that he believes is shaping public discourse.
An unconventional background
Scott’s path to becoming a public advocate for Israel is unusual. Born in Mount Isa, Queensland, he joined the Australian Army at 17. His military career took him to East Timor, Bougainville, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The turning point came during his secondment from July 2019 to September 2021 with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation, an unarmed peacekeeping mission operating across Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. For more than two years he lived in Jerusalem, commanding 153 officers from 27 countries.
“My connection to Zionism started in my early twenties, when a non-Jewish mentor suggested I read about Israel’s wars as part of my professional development,” Scott explains. “But my deep personal connection to Israel and Israelis came from having lived there for over two years.”
The uncomfortable truth
What troubles Scott most is what he sees as a deliberate distortion of reality, reminiscent of the themes in George Orwell’s work. “Good, educated people are coming away with a judgement that two plus two equals five,” he says. “The only thing Orwell got wrong is that he mistitled his book. It should have been 2024, not 1984.”
Scott also points to what he considers internal moral failures within segments of the Jewish community itself. After October 7, he argues, there can be no compromise with those who aim to destroy Israel. His secular, humanist approach leads him to a stark conclusion: “In a world of monsters, if someone wants to murder our children, it’s our responsibility to rise and kill them first.”
This is not bravado. It is the perspective of someone who has spent a career in active conflict. He draws a distinction between protecting innocent Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Jews from jihadist violence and extending sympathy to terrorist organisations. As he notes, radical Islamic violence kills more Muslims than any other group, while Christians in Nigeria are also being killed in significant numbers.
Speaking to JWire, Scott explained his motivation: “My driving instincts are as a father and as a humanist. There’s been a misunderstanding of the meaning of tikkun olam, to heal the world. My simple approach is that in a world containing monsters, if someone wants to murder our children, it’s our responsibility to rise and kill them first.”
The ‘2023 Foundation’: a new approach
Scott believes his most meaningful contribution is not his writing or public speeches. It is his new organisation. In 2023 he founded the ‘2023 Foundation’, an Australian non-profit dedicated to combating antisemitism and supporting peaceful coexistence by bringing non-Jewish allies to Israel for first-hand experiences.
The model is partly inspired by the Fulbright Programme, created in 1946 to build cultural understanding. Scott envisions the ‘2023 Foundation’ as an Israel-centred charity that will prove its model in Australia, then expand to other Western democracies with sizeable Jewish communities.
The foundation’s work is based on three areas:
- Education: Sponsoring non-Jewish Australians for Master’s programmes at Israeli universities such as Hebrew University, the Technion, Reichman University, and Tel Aviv University. Scott recently met a Christian pastor exploring a Master of Theology at Hebrew University.
- Employment: Creating placements in Israel’s high-tech sector for English-speaking participants.
- Thematic visits: Week-long visits tailored to specific communities, including veterans around ANZAC Day or Beersheba Day, LGBTQ+ participants during Tel Aviv Pride, and Labour Party members exploring Israel’s union movement and history.
Strategic influence through personal connection
What distinguishes Scott’s work from traditional Jewish advocacy is his focus on audiences that Jewish organisations struggle to reach. “Jewish people may be the light unto the nations, but 0.2 per cent of the world’s population can’t win this one alone,” he says.
“The best way to overcome lies is lived experience,” Scott adds. “Truth is still putting its pants on while lies fly. Getting people across to Israel to experience it for themselves is the best antidote to this environment.”
He notes the challenge: “The level of gaslighting and misinformation is so profound that I’m moving at what Stephen Covey calls the speed of trust, or the speed of referral.” He believes many people cannot see the threat clearly, which he considers existential not only to Israel but to the West.
The broader geopolitical stakes
Scott’s analysis extends beyond Israel. He sees indicators of what future historians may call a major global conflict.
He identifies several preconditions:
- Russia against NATO in Eastern Europe
- Iran against Israel and United States interests
- Western nations weakening themselves through policy failures in immigration, manufacturing, debt, and education
- China potentially tipping from competition into conflict
“When I go down to Hyde Park and see the New South Wales Teachers Federation next to ‘globalize the intifada’, that concerns me,” he says. He argues that the people shaping education should not be the ones promoting such causes.
Drawing on the wisdom of Natan Sharansky (former Israeli politician and currently Chairman for the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy), he insists, “We cannot combat antisemitism separate from a defence of the Jewish state.”
Scott believes non-Jews will not defend Israel unless they know it firsthand. “You won’t understand Israel from what you read on the ABC or in universities. You have to go there yourself.”
A light still burns
The title of Scott’s book comes from his daily line on social media: “A light still burns. Israel and the values worth defending.” Despite the rise in antisemitism and what he sees as the weakening of Western resolve, Scott believes that light can endure.
But it requires action. It requires non-Jews speaking out even when it is unpopular. It requires Jewish community members reaching out to allies. And it requires people seeing Israel firsthand to cut through misinformation.
“We cannot compromise or apologise into a better tomorrow,” Scott says. He quotes Gandhi to strengthen the point: “There’s no guarantee that effort leads to success. But if we do nothing, we will fail.”
As he told JWire: “Those that threaten the safety and security of your kids and unborn grandkids threaten mine and others. I feel this is existential, not just to my Jewish friends in Israel, but to the West.”
This is not about politics or loyalty to any group. It is about the survival of Western civilisation, the safety of future generations, and a set of values that trace their roots to Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome.
As he works to build ‘The 2023 Foundation’ into a sustainable model for creating allies through lived experience, Scott represents a simple truth, that important voices sometimes come from unexpected places.
Hear Col Michael Scott in person
Col Michael Scott will launch his book “A Light Still Burns” at Emanuel Synagogue in Woollahra on Monday 15 December at 6.30pm in conversation with Rabbi Sam Zwarenstein. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. Tickets are pay what you can.
Book your place: https://events.humanitix.com/a-light-still-burns-michael-scott-in-conversation-with-rabbi-zwarenstein
For more information about the ‘2023 Foundation’, visit www.2023foundation.org.au. “A Light Still Burns: Israel and the Values Worth Defending” is available through Amazon in paperback, audiobook, and Kindle editions.
