2 weeks Ago By Dominic Giannini
Jews around the world are being warned about rising anti-Semitism in Australia as the foreign minister cautions against using attacks for political gain. Login or signup to continue reading Jews or Israelis considering travelling to Australia have been told to "exercise extreme caution" by a Jewish human rights organisation following a likely terror attack against a Melbourne synagogue. The travel advisory is "a result of the failure of Australian authorities to stand up against persistent demonisation, harassment and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Australia", the Simon Wiesenthal Center declared.
The travel warning was concerning and reflected that anti-Semitism had been at an unacceptable level, Australia's special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal said. Israel itself has a level two threat on Australia advising travellers to increase precautionary measures since the fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue on Friday. People come to Australia "because we are a country that is peaceful, we are a country that respects people of different faith", Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
"Australia is not a country that will tolerate such an act," he said as he visited the synagogue on Tuesday. Many in Australia's Jewish community are feeling scared and unsafe and there has been a rise in anti-Semitism, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. "It's very important that we say very clearly this is unacceptable, no one in this country should be frightened of who they are," she told reporters in Perth.
But people needed to respectfully disagree on points of difference and avoid "misrepresenting views and exaggerating differences" to stop the conflict in the Middle East spurring friction in Australia, Senator Wong said. It wasn't anti-Semitic to say Israel needed to comply with international law, as all countries do, or call for children and other civilians to be protected in Gaza, she said. The internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism "makes it clear that criticism of Israel in a form that you would normally criticise another country, like its policies, is fine", Ms Segal said.
"But criticism of Israel, which damns it as a country that should be abolished, that should no longer exist, that all the Jews should disappear - that is anti-Semitic." It was the same definition Senator Wong referenced in a major foreign policy speech as both called for anti-Semitism to transcend politics and for the community to come together after the synagogue attack. Independent senator Fatima Payman questioned whether there was a double standard over incidents of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The government had rightly condemned the synagogue attack and pledged millions of dollars to support Jewish safety, "yet there is no outrage" over an Islamic school bus torched in Adelaide, she said. "Two acts of arson, two acts of hate, but two very different responses," she said in a social media video. South Australia Police are investigating but say no evidence has been found to indicate it was racially motivated as opposed to an opportunistic attack .
Islamophobia Register Australia also hit out against a Liberal senator calling incidents of Islamophobia "fictitious", saying it was escalating to unprecedented levels and posed a serious threat to the safety of Muslims. There had been a 600 per cent increase in reported Islamophobic incidents over the past year, it said. Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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