This article by Dr. Oren about Australia’s rise in antisemitism is shocking. Has Australia decided to allow persecution of some of it’s longest inhabitants? By relatively newer immigrants? Is religious persecution allowed there??? I am very disappointed to hear this change of culture ‘down under’ to one of intolerance. Very sad news, indeed.
I don’t believe the reason for the rise in antisemitism in Australia is any different than the reason for its rise in many parts of the Western world. At the risk of sounding Islamophobic, there’s a correlation between the many hundreds of thousands of Muslims who have pour into the West and the corresponding rise of antisemitism in any given Western country. The problem is you can’t even speak or write the truth because you will branded as a bigot, racist, xenophobe, Islamophobe, and worse. It’s not the whole problem, but it’s a large part. Sorry to be so blunt but it needs to be said.
It’s a large part Sheldon, but this is a spiritual phenomenon - as evidenced by the shockingly large numbers on non-Muslim participants in these antisemitic/anti-Israel ‘protests’.
It is entirely consistent with Biblical prophecies concerning ‘the latter days’, ‘the coming Day of the Lord’, ‘the Last Day’, etc. Amongst other tragic and shameful things that lie ahead is ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’.
Jeremiah 30:7 (Tanakh)
“Ah, that day is awesome; there is none like it! It is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he shall be delivered from it.”
Zechariah 12:1-3 (Tanakh)
“A pronouncement: The word of the LORD concerning Israel. The utterance of the LORD, Who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth, and created man’s breath within him:
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a bowl of reeling for the peoples all around. Judah shall be caught up in the siege upon Jerusalem, when all the nations of the earth gather against her. In that day, I will make Jerusalem a stone for all the peoples to lift; all who lift it shall injure themselves.”
The above prophecy is in the process of being fulfilled today, and it will continue moving towards ultimate fulfillment for a number of years.
These things will play out exactly as those prophecies outlined, and the only place that Jewish people will have any ability to have security and defend themselves is in the Land of Israel.
BUT (Behold the Underlying Truth) God…
Psalms 121:4 (NKJV)
“Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
The entire world is being tested in this time; Gentile and Jew alike. G-d will be faithful to fulfill all His promises to His Chosen People and, through them, to all mankind.
There is a great storm coming upon the whole world, and what Israel needs is to turn to the Lord in faith and trust; to love Him with all the heart, soul, and mind, and for the leaders of her people to become like “…the Issacharites, men who knew how to interpret the signs of the times, to determine how Israel should act…” 1 Chronicles 12:33 (Tanakh)
Israel should build more housing in Judea/Samaria for such immigrants. This would infuriate the Australian Jew-haters who drove them out. All the better.
Yes. Israel should aggressively pursue the from the river to the sea solution, which will leave it with a roughly equal population of indigenous Arabs and Jews in the newly expanded and likely to be renamed (Palesrael?) country. It will, of course, follow the model that is currently in place within Israel’s actual borders, everyone has absolutely “equal rights”, even if they are from the 23% of the population that is composed of indigenous Arabs. So when the expanded Israel extends absolutely equal rights to everyone in the country that will include Easter Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and, in due course, Gaza it will change the political dynamics a lot with 50% of the population being indigenous and 50% of the population being Jews. Look for a change in the law so that both indigenous Arab refugees from around the world and desperate Jews have the same right of return to Israel among all the other “equal rights“. Good idea!
The problem is that Arabs in Gaza and Judea/Samaria are so radicalized, they are not ready as a society to be brought into the fold. Individual Arabs should be allowed to apply for citizenship, provided they sign a loyalty oath (required by most countries, as a pre-condition to granting citizenship). But granting them citizenship en masse, without screening out the ones who wish to kill/expel all Jews (a higher percentage of Arabs than you might think) would be suicidal.
I think Israel can annex the areas of Judea/Samaria it wants, while leaving large Palestinian cities/villages in political limbo. When Palestinians reform their terrorist ways, they can get a seat at the table. Harsh, perhaps, but realistic (I wish it weren't so).
P.S. - I don't know if you're familiar with Palestine Media Watch, but if not, you should explore their web page. They translate what Palestinian leaders say in Arabic, often quite different than what they tell the West, in English. Quite an eye-opener!
Please check in with the astute Elise Stefanik on this before proceeding. As you recall from several congressional hearings she has clearly told us that any actions or talk of from the river to the sea solutions is an indication of genocide. And certainly, seizing the territories of other sovereign nations goes far beyond that. Israel actually does have national borders and East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza are all outside those borders.
Be careful, lest Israel threaten the pipeline of endless massive charity given to it as a ward of American taxpayers. The latest Pew public opinion poll in the United States shows that the percentage of Americans who disapprove of Israel has already risen from 42% to 53% while 68% of Americans don’t trust Netanyahu to do the right thing. Curiously, the 68% in the American polling matches up exactly with the 32% of Israeli Jews who indicate that they think that Netanyahu will fail to do the right thing where the war and hostages are concerned.
Israel is in the vise of deep state that wil do anything to prevent Israel expansion. New Olim forces geographic expansion and this is exactly what our deep state is fighting against. No expansion is the path to contraction and death. This is the law of the Universe. But what do these mediocre Israeli elite knows or cares about Universe?
A decade ago, during the sharp rise in antisemitism in France, many French Jews expressed an interest in making aliyah only to be discouraged by the state. They had difficulty finding jobs and affordable housing. The diplomas of doctors and lawyers were not recognized by the state. Consequently, the majority of French Jews who emigrated chose Britain, Canada and the United States. Israel missed an historic opportunity.
This is just not true. Those that wanted to come- came. Doctors were treated like all doctors from western countries- even better.
As for affordable housing - there is none for anyone here. Besides, the French have been budding up the price of apartments in Israel up and down the coast.
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. [...] We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”
― Karl R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume One: The Spell of Plato
Thanks Michael Oren for your concern about us Aussie Jews, I am descended on both sides of my family from Anglo Jewish Convicts, who were transported in the 1820's and 1830's.
We made aliyah in 2010, and returned to Australia in 2016, what happened?
- Netanyahu election scare campaigns.
- Charaedim refused to take any responsibility, and corrupt state-sponsored Rabbonim.
- Corrupt builders who were essentially ganavim who cheated young families.
- Impossible to get work - "you are not from here".
- Closed Israeli networks for life, refusing entry to "Anglos" and their competitive scarcity mindset.
You could call these cultural issues a result of our values conflicts.
For Aussies to both survive and thrive in Israel, it's best if they are retired with a decent income or young and want to study and make a difference. We are still strong Israeli advocates and always will be, we are very aware of what is happening here and we appreciate your perspective and wise words in your blog—just saying.
It seems that my statements resonate with several readers. I also feel the need to add that my six years in Israel were transformational, I went as a thought leader in organisational learning and development, and had to let go of everything I knew to be true. I learned first hand what it means to be entrepreneurial and innovative. I even created an Israeli start-up to teach and coach others on how to be, think, and act differently, which still operates today. I also empathise with, and deeply respect the Israeli culture, as a relatively new nation, Israel has yet to define its cultural norms, which, on the one hand, make it nimble and agile, on the other hand, makes it chaotic, disrupted, and unstable, which is what we are experiencing right now. Hopefully, we will see it continue to evolve into an even more energetic, optimistic, creative, inventive and innovative contributor to tikkun olam, because we sure need it too.
Meanwhile, Australia's Jews might want to fight back occasionally. A knuckle sandwich here and there would discourage the vast majority of these animals
It is right for both ethical and religious reasons, to encourage the arrival of more Jewish olim from all countries. What is not right, and something that we older olim had to endure too, was and is the difficulties that olim have to manage to overcome in taking their early steps in finding a home and a job when the former does not seem to be readily available nor the latter highly priced (even through a mortgage), at what many olim cannot afford.
The high prices and low availability of jobs is due to one single problem which we have been living with and which has now become almost impossible to recognize and to overcome. As an amateur economist (who incidentally is the author of a book about it), I can see the cause of this, which is not an idea supported by any of the Israeli political parties nor their ineffective ways for wishing to find its solution!
Our building sites of useful land have become very costly and the reason is only because the Israel Land's Authority has taken up the policy of the purchasing and responsibility for cheap land, from what was once the KKL's job of land management (and of which they stopped leasing it), and then selling it at high prices to the building contractors.
In about 1960 the Labor government under Ben-Gurion changed the law so that the land and its buildings were to be regarded as one item of real-estate, instead of it being separately treated as both a natural resource plus an item of durable capital goods. This set the scene for speculation in land values which the government wanted to stop by giving this responsibility to the Land's Authority. However this Authority wrongly believed it would be advantageous to help balance the national budget when useful sites could then be sold at ever increasing prices to speculating private individuals and building companies.
Along with this, some lands previously were given freely to kibbutzim and for occupation by olim-hadashim who arrived here with little more that the clothes on their backs. The Socialists in power then did not like to make these necessary changes, so that the benefits from land ownership were not justly shared. Instead of continuing the policy of leasing (as if the occupiers were paying ground-rent), they chose to give greater benefits to their apparently poorer fellow workers, particular on rural sites. 65 years later we now have the dire results arising of this older mess-up.
I can suggest two solutions to this problem, but neither would be regarded a being "politically correct" by any political party!
Israel is currently protecting the Druze in their own communities in Syria. There is a plan for them to freely cross the border for religious activities with Israeli Druze and to work in Israel.
Well i am Australian Israeli whom happens to be a jew and born in the fubious suburb of Darlighurst have 4 indigenious children whom are 8th generation Israeli originating from Jerusalem where i chose to give birth as a respect to life and my chosen adopted country which sadly i saw but never envisaged the level of antisemitism today hearing my fellow Sydney siders not all jews too seeking to leave Australia for fear of a lifestyle that is just a memory in my mind today. Sadly 58 of 59 hostages remain in Gaza after Edan Alexanders release.
We hope that in name of 251 hostages and 1200 dead from 2023 you will vote for the voice of Yuval Raphael in Eurovision 2025 if in the Diaspora!
We need to more than welcome Australians the lack of assistance over the years preferring other English speaking communities leaves me not convinced that Israel seeks any Australian support other than for financial gain unfortunately. Our support is limited by lack of caring for many Australian Israelis over the years to assist them integrating with Sabras in addition to the Maccabiah event which was forced to be compensated by Israeli govt reps.
I'm a gentile and US Navy Veteran who stands with Israel. So many in the West have lost their moral compass.
Yes! And thank you for your service
Thank you for your support, service, and a moral compass pointing in the right direction.
April and Michelle, you make an old man blush. I stand in awe of the courage and bravery of so many Israelis and Jews around the world.
My homeland of Canada is no better (and arguably, it is even worse).
From what I hear even worse. Hi friend !
Canadian universities are like US Ivy League universities. My old department is now infested with Palestinianist professors.
Hey!
This article by Dr. Oren about Australia’s rise in antisemitism is shocking. Has Australia decided to allow persecution of some of it’s longest inhabitants? By relatively newer immigrants? Is religious persecution allowed there??? I am very disappointed to hear this change of culture ‘down under’ to one of intolerance. Very sad news, indeed.
I don’t believe the reason for the rise in antisemitism in Australia is any different than the reason for its rise in many parts of the Western world. At the risk of sounding Islamophobic, there’s a correlation between the many hundreds of thousands of Muslims who have pour into the West and the corresponding rise of antisemitism in any given Western country. The problem is you can’t even speak or write the truth because you will branded as a bigot, racist, xenophobe, Islamophobe, and worse. It’s not the whole problem, but it’s a large part. Sorry to be so blunt but it needs to be said.
It’s a large part Sheldon, but this is a spiritual phenomenon - as evidenced by the shockingly large numbers on non-Muslim participants in these antisemitic/anti-Israel ‘protests’.
It is entirely consistent with Biblical prophecies concerning ‘the latter days’, ‘the coming Day of the Lord’, ‘the Last Day’, etc. Amongst other tragic and shameful things that lie ahead is ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’.
Jeremiah 30:7 (Tanakh)
“Ah, that day is awesome; there is none like it! It is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he shall be delivered from it.”
Zechariah 12:1-3 (Tanakh)
“A pronouncement: The word of the LORD concerning Israel. The utterance of the LORD, Who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth, and created man’s breath within him:
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a bowl of reeling for the peoples all around. Judah shall be caught up in the siege upon Jerusalem, when all the nations of the earth gather against her. In that day, I will make Jerusalem a stone for all the peoples to lift; all who lift it shall injure themselves.”
The above prophecy is in the process of being fulfilled today, and it will continue moving towards ultimate fulfillment for a number of years.
These things will play out exactly as those prophecies outlined, and the only place that Jewish people will have any ability to have security and defend themselves is in the Land of Israel.
BUT (Behold the Underlying Truth) God…
Psalms 121:4 (NKJV)
“Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
The entire world is being tested in this time; Gentile and Jew alike. G-d will be faithful to fulfill all His promises to His Chosen People and, through them, to all mankind.
There is a great storm coming upon the whole world, and what Israel needs is to turn to the Lord in faith and trust; to love Him with all the heart, soul, and mind, and for the leaders of her people to become like “…the Issacharites, men who knew how to interpret the signs of the times, to determine how Israel should act…” 1 Chronicles 12:33 (Tanakh)
Am israel Chai
Israel should build more housing in Judea/Samaria for such immigrants. This would infuriate the Australian Jew-haters who drove them out. All the better.
Yes. Israel should aggressively pursue the from the river to the sea solution, which will leave it with a roughly equal population of indigenous Arabs and Jews in the newly expanded and likely to be renamed (Palesrael?) country. It will, of course, follow the model that is currently in place within Israel’s actual borders, everyone has absolutely “equal rights”, even if they are from the 23% of the population that is composed of indigenous Arabs. So when the expanded Israel extends absolutely equal rights to everyone in the country that will include Easter Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and, in due course, Gaza it will change the political dynamics a lot with 50% of the population being indigenous and 50% of the population being Jews. Look for a change in the law so that both indigenous Arab refugees from around the world and desperate Jews have the same right of return to Israel among all the other “equal rights“. Good idea!
The problem is that Arabs in Gaza and Judea/Samaria are so radicalized, they are not ready as a society to be brought into the fold. Individual Arabs should be allowed to apply for citizenship, provided they sign a loyalty oath (required by most countries, as a pre-condition to granting citizenship). But granting them citizenship en masse, without screening out the ones who wish to kill/expel all Jews (a higher percentage of Arabs than you might think) would be suicidal.
I think Israel can annex the areas of Judea/Samaria it wants, while leaving large Palestinian cities/villages in political limbo. When Palestinians reform their terrorist ways, they can get a seat at the table. Harsh, perhaps, but realistic (I wish it weren't so).
P.S. - I don't know if you're familiar with Palestine Media Watch, but if not, you should explore their web page. They translate what Palestinian leaders say in Arabic, often quite different than what they tell the West, in English. Quite an eye-opener!
Israel should establish new Jewish communities in Gaza and South Lebanon, and they need to do so without apology or explanation.
Please check in with the astute Elise Stefanik on this before proceeding. As you recall from several congressional hearings she has clearly told us that any actions or talk of from the river to the sea solutions is an indication of genocide. And certainly, seizing the territories of other sovereign nations goes far beyond that. Israel actually does have national borders and East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza are all outside those borders.
Be careful, lest Israel threaten the pipeline of endless massive charity given to it as a ward of American taxpayers. The latest Pew public opinion poll in the United States shows that the percentage of Americans who disapprove of Israel has already risen from 42% to 53% while 68% of Americans don’t trust Netanyahu to do the right thing. Curiously, the 68% in the American polling matches up exactly with the 32% of Israeli Jews who indicate that they think that Netanyahu will fail to do the right thing where the war and hostages are concerned.
Very genocidal of you. And where are the millions of native Arabs supposed to go? Sorry, but a lot of questions must be asked.
BTW, I don’t give a crap about where the enemy lives
Perhaps the rest of the world might not agree with you.
The rest of the world can suck a big kosher salami
Somebody badly needs a hug.
They can occupy the homes of all the Jews who were ethnically cleansed from Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Lebanon, Algeria...etc.
Israel is in the vise of deep state that wil do anything to prevent Israel expansion. New Olim forces geographic expansion and this is exactly what our deep state is fighting against. No expansion is the path to contraction and death. This is the law of the Universe. But what do these mediocre Israeli elite knows or cares about Universe?
You know it very well Ambassador.
You wrote this:
A decade ago, during the sharp rise in antisemitism in France, many French Jews expressed an interest in making aliyah only to be discouraged by the state. They had difficulty finding jobs and affordable housing. The diplomas of doctors and lawyers were not recognized by the state. Consequently, the majority of French Jews who emigrated chose Britain, Canada and the United States. Israel missed an historic opportunity.
This is just not true. Those that wanted to come- came. Doctors were treated like all doctors from western countries- even better.
As for affordable housing - there is none for anyone here. Besides, the French have been budding up the price of apartments in Israel up and down the coast.
Why did the West fight Islam and stop its expansion at the battle of tours or the Polish king Jan III Sobieski ending the siege of Vienna 1683?
Don’t forget Karl Popper:
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. [...] We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”
― Karl R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume One: The Spell of Plato
Good question. When you get a good answer, let us know.
They were defending their culture, something we seem incapable of doing, probably because we are undermined by "progressives."
Progressives are a curse.
Thanks Michael Oren for your concern about us Aussie Jews, I am descended on both sides of my family from Anglo Jewish Convicts, who were transported in the 1820's and 1830's.
We made aliyah in 2010, and returned to Australia in 2016, what happened?
- Netanyahu election scare campaigns.
- Charaedim refused to take any responsibility, and corrupt state-sponsored Rabbonim.
- Corrupt builders who were essentially ganavim who cheated young families.
- Impossible to get work - "you are not from here".
- Closed Israeli networks for life, refusing entry to "Anglos" and their competitive scarcity mindset.
You could call these cultural issues a result of our values conflicts.
For Aussies to both survive and thrive in Israel, it's best if they are retired with a decent income or young and want to study and make a difference. We are still strong Israeli advocates and always will be, we are very aware of what is happening here and we appreciate your perspective and wise words in your blog—just saying.
It seems that my statements resonate with several readers. I also feel the need to add that my six years in Israel were transformational, I went as a thought leader in organisational learning and development, and had to let go of everything I knew to be true. I learned first hand what it means to be entrepreneurial and innovative. I even created an Israeli start-up to teach and coach others on how to be, think, and act differently, which still operates today. I also empathise with, and deeply respect the Israeli culture, as a relatively new nation, Israel has yet to define its cultural norms, which, on the one hand, make it nimble and agile, on the other hand, makes it chaotic, disrupted, and unstable, which is what we are experiencing right now. Hopefully, we will see it continue to evolve into an even more energetic, optimistic, creative, inventive and innovative contributor to tikkun olam, because we sure need it too.
Meanwhile, Australia's Jews might want to fight back occasionally. A knuckle sandwich here and there would discourage the vast majority of these animals
It is right for both ethical and religious reasons, to encourage the arrival of more Jewish olim from all countries. What is not right, and something that we older olim had to endure too, was and is the difficulties that olim have to manage to overcome in taking their early steps in finding a home and a job when the former does not seem to be readily available nor the latter highly priced (even through a mortgage), at what many olim cannot afford.
The high prices and low availability of jobs is due to one single problem which we have been living with and which has now become almost impossible to recognize and to overcome. As an amateur economist (who incidentally is the author of a book about it), I can see the cause of this, which is not an idea supported by any of the Israeli political parties nor their ineffective ways for wishing to find its solution!
Our building sites of useful land have become very costly and the reason is only because the Israel Land's Authority has taken up the policy of the purchasing and responsibility for cheap land, from what was once the KKL's job of land management (and of which they stopped leasing it), and then selling it at high prices to the building contractors.
In about 1960 the Labor government under Ben-Gurion changed the law so that the land and its buildings were to be regarded as one item of real-estate, instead of it being separately treated as both a natural resource plus an item of durable capital goods. This set the scene for speculation in land values which the government wanted to stop by giving this responsibility to the Land's Authority. However this Authority wrongly believed it would be advantageous to help balance the national budget when useful sites could then be sold at ever increasing prices to speculating private individuals and building companies.
Along with this, some lands previously were given freely to kibbutzim and for occupation by olim-hadashim who arrived here with little more that the clothes on their backs. The Socialists in power then did not like to make these necessary changes, so that the benefits from land ownership were not justly shared. Instead of continuing the policy of leasing (as if the occupiers were paying ground-rent), they chose to give greater benefits to their apparently poorer fellow workers, particular on rural sites. 65 years later we now have the dire results arising of this older mess-up.
I can suggest two solutions to this problem, but neither would be regarded a being "politically correct" by any political party!
Wow that’s interesting and discouraging.
Would Israel ever accept Druze immigrants from Syria? I assume there are more prospects for building housing and communities in the Golan.
Israel is currently protecting the Druze in their own communities in Syria. There is a plan for them to freely cross the border for religious activities with Israeli Druze and to work in Israel.
Well i am Australian Israeli whom happens to be a jew and born in the fubious suburb of Darlighurst have 4 indigenious children whom are 8th generation Israeli originating from Jerusalem where i chose to give birth as a respect to life and my chosen adopted country which sadly i saw but never envisaged the level of antisemitism today hearing my fellow Sydney siders not all jews too seeking to leave Australia for fear of a lifestyle that is just a memory in my mind today. Sadly 58 of 59 hostages remain in Gaza after Edan Alexanders release.
We hope that in name of 251 hostages and 1200 dead from 2023 you will vote for the voice of Yuval Raphael in Eurovision 2025 if in the Diaspora!
We need to more than welcome Australians the lack of assistance over the years preferring other English speaking communities leaves me not convinced that Israel seeks any Australian support other than for financial gain unfortunately. Our support is limited by lack of caring for many Australian Israelis over the years to assist them integrating with Sabras in addition to the Maccabiah event which was forced to be compensated by Israeli govt reps.