It’s elementary

It is amazing how something that is simple, basic, fundamental and easy to understand can frequently be made complicated and complex.

Politicians and political commentators are experts at transforming perfectly clear challenges into double speak, confusing and hypocritical hypotheses.

Every Shabbat, I read a publication issued by the Orthodox Union (OU) that contains a wide selection of commentaries, explanations, and thoughts on the week’s parsha (portion of the Torah).

There is always something worthwhile to learn, and this week’s issue, coinciding with the beginning of the Book of Exodus, was no exception.

It recounts the advent of a new Pharaoh in Egypt “who knew not Joseph.” In plain, simple language, the text reveals what commentators have described as the first recorded instance of official Jew hate. Joseph had saved Egypt from economic catastrophe and prevented a mass starvation. His family and descendants had been granted permanent residence in the country. However, all this subsequently meant nothing as a new administration now deemed the Hebrews as a potential threat to Egyptian security. It was thus necessary to curtail their freedom and introduce discriminatory edicts.

In his commentary, the late Rabbi Moshe Hauer, a past Executive President of the OU, wrote these very perceptive words:

“Antisemitism has never been just about physical attacks on Jews. It is the great conspiracy theory, in which a narrative is generated about the Jewish People, portraying us as all-powerful and utterly disloyal, a combination of factors that create a climate of hatred and resentment towards us. Demonisation creates space for physical attack.”

“This was a critical stage in the process of our Egyptian experience – the demonisation of the Jews. Before a taskmaster had cracked his whip or thrown a Jewish baby into the Nile, a narrative had to be constructed to recast the Jews as the Egyptians’ oppressors.”

These two short paragraphs sum up the Jewish experience over the last three millennia so succinctly and clearly.

They also explain unambiguously how the demonisation of Israel, Jews and Zionists has fallen on such fertile ground in every continent.

Concurrently, I took the opportunity to catch up on the drama in Australia over the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate the Bondi pogrom and its associated causes and effects.

It has been a sordid spectacle watching the Prime Minister and his colleagues being dragged reluctantly to make a U-turn on the subject. Public pressure from across society finally compelled the politicians to fold.

Although a Royal Commission is now being launched, one has to wonder whether it will be worth the effort, time and expense.

The 12-month timeframe is questionable.

How long can it take to hear submissions?

The events leading up to the massacre need to be thoroughly researched, but the evidence is already clearly recorded. Warnings from Jewish and security spokespersons over a long period of time are available for scrutiny.

The toxic atmosphere generated over several years, which laid the groundwork for subsequent violence, graffiti and arson, is no mystery except to those who prefer to shut their ears and close their eyes.

Since October 2023 and indeed well before that infamous Hamas murderous event, swathes of Australians participated in boycotts, marches, demonstrations and riots against Israel, Zionists and Jews. Slogans and chants of the vilest kind have been heard in the capital cities of every state. Weekends have seen central business districts taken over by mobs screaming obscene invective as well as calling for the death of Israelis and supporters of Israel. The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge were hijacked, with politicians and others enthusiastically participating in the widespread mayhem and incitement.

The roles of the Federal Government and law enforcement authorities in caving in to mob violence, physical and verbal, are clearly documented.

The recorded demonisation of Israel by the Government, Greens and other assorted officials is no mystery. The almost daily denunciations of Israel and its democratically elected officials in the aftermath of October 2023 obviously fell on very fertile ground.

Accusations of genocide, deliberate mass starvation policies and repeated lies about the IDF all had their poisonous aftermaths.

It doesn’t take a genius to discover where the demands for “death to the IDF”, “from the river to the sea,” and “globalise the intifada” originated from. They all sprang from the fetid minds and brain-addled ignoramuses and bigots who parroted the rhetoric already articulated by their political representatives and social media.

None of these facts is a mystery. They are all on record and easily accessible.

Why does it need a year to dig up and consider?

Is it hoped that somehow the Royal Commission will exonerate the clearly guilty parties just in time for the 2028 elections?

One of the principal tasks of this review supposedly is the question of “what drives antisemitism” and how hate speech contributes to this plague.

One would think the answer is very clear and elementary, especially given the abundant evidence available.
Jew hate has always been present, albeit in relatively small pockets of the Australian population. Jews have contributed to Australian society out of all proportion to their small numbers and generally speaking have found a welcoming home in the “lucky country.”

This has changed dramatically over the last few decades, and one should ask what has precipitated this evolution.

Some extreme left-wing commentators and self-loathers will maintain that the rise of Jew hate is a result of the fanatical right-wing fundamentalists governing Israel. Blaming Jews for being hated and hounded is, of course, a very old strategy going back all the way to Pharaoh.

It’s not the small white supremacist groups of neo-Nazis who, while more visible, remain a fringe group shunned by most.

Jew hate has mutated into hate against the resurrected nation-state of the Jewish People and is being promoted and sustained by alliances between mainstream political and social groups.

A coalition between the far left, democratic socialists, communists, radicalised academics and university faculty and students provides a potent core for disseminating lies and slanders.

Add in a rising number of jihadist advocates who use these useful idiots as cannon fodder, and you have a lethal army of haters and inciters.

Those who are being infected with a virulent hate of jihadist ideology now constitute a growing army of followers in Europe, the UK, Scandinavia and Australia.

Those who preach, advocate and educate jihadist doctrines should be denied citizenship and, if necessary, deported. This is not a campaign against Islam but a necessary defence against fanaticism and rhetoric that leads to terror.

If the Royal Commission tackles these topics, it will prove worthwhile.

If, however, it ignores the obvious in the interest of so-called “social cohesion”, it will be a colossal waste of time and will not solve or even come close to solving the tsunami of Jew hate now threatening to engulf everyone.

It’s elementary.

 

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.