This report shows antisemitism is not just a problem of security or law enforcement. It’s a cultural and societal cancer that needs attention through our schools, university, media and even the arts. That was the reaction from the opposition after the independent report into antisemitism was released. Senator Paul Scarr is The Shadow Minister for Immigration. Senator Welcome to ABC Radio. Darwin, what was your reaction when that report was released last week?
Senator Scarr
My initial reaction was it should be. Should be calls for all of us as Australians to reflect, to reflect on the current situation. We find ourselves in Adam, and we are in a national crisis. We have a situation where there are parents dropping their children off to school, where there are armed guards on the gates. That’s been the case, though that’s been the case forever. When I was working in Jewish schools in the 90s, that was the situation. Then it has certainly increased in terms of the intensity of that security and there are additional millions and millions of dollars which are being spent on those security measures. So as Jillian Segal said in her report, there has been a substantial, I mean, a700% increase in acts of Semitism in Australia following the attacks on Israel on 7 October. So we’ve seen an actual explosion in antisemitism. We have Jewish families in our country today who are talking about potentially emigrating from Australia because they don’t feel safe, they have a plan B to emigrate from Australia, and we did not see that in the 1990s.
Adam Steer
All right. Well, let’s get to the real basic of this question, what exactly is antisemitism, and how does it differ from criticism of some of the actions of the current Israeli government?
Senator Scarr
I think, in my view, there’s a clear line between good faith criticisms of the policies of the Israeli government, on the one hand, and acts of antisemitism which provide, which provokes or promotes a hatred of the Jewish people and hatred of their cultural identity, which promotes conspiracy theories about the power of the Jewish community, which rolls out ancient tropes, the blood libel trope as an example, and all sorts of conspiracy theories around Jewish people and in their role in our community. So I think there’s a clear line. I think there’s a clear line between good faith criticism of the State of Israel in relation to the current situation in the Middle East on the one hand, and antisemitism on the other.
Adam Steer
Because we do have the International Criminal Courts issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, the defense minister of Israel, at the same time, they issued arrest warrants for the Hamas leaders, all for crimes against humanity and war crimes. I mean, these are fairly serious accusations that are being leveled at the Israeli government. You can understand why some people would feel, particularly over the last couple of years, and we’ve seen what’s gone on in Gaza that they’re pretty angry at what’s going on in the Gaza Strip, and they’re pointing the finger at the Israeli government for a lot of it.
Senator Scarr
I understand the passions that are in the community. I receive strong representations from members of the community in relation to what is happening in Gaza in the wider Middle East. However, there is no excuse. There is no excuse for the harassment vilification of Jewish people in Australia, and that is what is happening today. There is no excuse for attacking synagogues. There is no excuse for allowing an environment to occur on our university campuses where approximately 60% of Jewish students don’t feel safe on our university campuses. There is absolutely no excuse for that sort of behavior in Australia.
Adam Steer
Absolutely. Do you feel the tide is turning? I saw on the ABC TV news report last night that there were 1000s of Israelis protesting against their own government for what they were describing as genocide in Gaza, because this is the essence of the problem, right? Isn’t it? Is that? Is that, for some, they’re saying there is genocide going on in Gaza, and for others, saying, Don’t criticize the Israeli government, that means that you’re being antisemitic. That’s sort of the center of this issue, isn’t it?
Senator Scarr
Now, well, I don’t define it that way. Adam, I think, in terms of criticism of the Israeli government, and you give the example of the people of Israel themselves, demonstrations on the streets of Israel, that that is within the the confines of of political debate, political argument, freedom to protest, etc. What we’re talking about here is where that steps over the line, where that becomes hatred, vilification, harassment and violence, attacking synagogues, creating a situation where people don’t feel safe in our community. From my perspective, that’s a pretty bright line between what’s acceptable conduct in a pluralist, democratic society like our own, on the one hand, and what crosses that line and instills fear of into people in our community, and that’s where it’s unacceptable.
Adam Steer
So what would you like the federal government to do here? Senator?
Senator Scarr
Well, what we’re looking for is leadership from the federal government in terms of implementing the plan, which has been put forward by Jillian Segal and Jillian Segal’s plan, it’s a call to action, but it’s also a work plan, and we in the opposition will be holding the federal government accountable to how, with respect to how it implements that work plan, we simply can’t have a situation where a part of our community does not feel safe. They’re subject to vilification, to harassment. We can’t allow that to occur in our country.
Adam Steer
Senator, good to hear from you. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Senator Scarr
Thanks very much.
