Antisemitism is fuelled by Israel and its lobby, not their opponents
By Ali Kazak
Feb 11, 2025
It’s outrageous that leaders of Zionist-controlled Jewish organisations and the Israeli lobby blame Australians protesting Israeli war crimes for rising antisemitism.
If any party is responsible for the rise of antisemitism, it is Israel’s heinous occupation, aggression, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and sadistic war of genocide it commits in the name of Jews against the Palestinian people that the world has rarely witnessed anywhere else, not the noble Australians who oppose and demonstrate against these crimes. Equally, it is also the responsibility of the Zionist leaders who claim to represent the Jewish community and defend and never condemn these crimes.
They are the ones who conflate anti-Israel and anti-Zionism as anti-Jews, accordingly making Jews complicit in Israel’s crimes; this is antisemitism. Therefore, we see more and more Jews beginning to open their eyes to the true nature of Israel and Zionism and the danger the Zionist colonial project in Palestine poses to them and their interests in their homeland by enflaming antisemitism around the world; hence they are taking a stand against Israel and raising the slogan “Not In Our Name”.
In a recent interview with ABC TV, former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said, “from the get-go, the prime minister should have set red lines that were not to be crossed … the absence of action, those who hate and those who harm have been emboldened and we’ve seen daily protests where people are actually calling Jews Nazis, Jews terrorists, Zionists terrorists and we know a Zionist is simply somebody who believes in the existence of the state of Israel.”
These claims are lies. For the last 15 months, weekly demonstrations have been taking place in cities throughout Australia attended by hundreds of thousands of Australians, including Jews, and in the presence of security forces. Everyone knows that Frydenberg’s claim is completely false.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations do not raise slogans against Jews. They distinguish between Jews and Zionists. Those who do not are the ones who are deceived by the Zionist propaganda conflating Jews with Israel and Zionism.
Secondly, a Zionist is actually the one who supports Israel’s colonial project in Palestine as it was defined in the “Basel Program” of the first Zionist Congress in 1897 and racial discrimination of the indigenous Christian and Muslim Palestinians.
The attempts of Frydenberg and other Zionists to brand pro-Palestinian demonstrations as anti-Jewish are rejected and strongly condemned.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam came from our part of the world and are part of our Arab and Islamic culture. Antisemites who cover up their attack against Jews by using Israel’s crimes do not belong to the Palestinian camp and are condemned.
In this regard, it is important to point out that Palestinians and Arabs are Semites. I am certainly more of a Semite than Frydenberg and most Jews in Australia.
Frydenberg defined his “red lines” saying “When people are waving the Hamas and Hezbollah flags — terrorist flags, flags of terrorist organisations — they should be punished, arrested, and convicted.”
By that token, the Israeli flag and star of David on Israel’s warplanes, tanks, bombs and the uniforms of its soldiers and officers who are committing the most extreme form of state terrorism, ethnic cleansing, massacres, apartheid and waging a war of genocide, butchering tens of thousands of civilians, including children, is a symbol of crime and hate. Therefore, raising this flag is a provocation, confrontational, an affront to the feelings of the Palestinians and all humane Australians; it should be banned, and people raising it should be arrested and convicted.
If antisemitism is escalating in line with Israel’s crimes and its oppression and denial of Palestinians’ rights, does the solution lie in violation of citizens’ rights by suppressing and criminalising people for protesting and expressing their rejection and denunciation of these crimes against humanity or in bringing an end to Israel’s crimes?
In his interview, Frydenberg said, “When people call for the abolition of the state of Israel (saying) ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, that is a very violent statement.”
So I would like to ask him where is Palestine? What does he call the Zionist destruction and occupation of Palestine from the river to the sea and their ethnic cleansing of more than 70% of the Palestinian people? And why are he and his like against freedom, equality and democracy in the country from the river to the sea?
Any observer will notice that in their media interviews, Frydenberg and the Zionist leaders do not attack and draw attention to the antisemites, but rather to the demonstrators against Israel and its war of genocide, trying to taint them as antisemitic. This is because they consider the enemies of Israel and Zionism to be the antisemites and not the enemies of Jews.
The father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, did not see any conflict with antisemites, he even asked for their assistance and saw them as allies. He wrote in his diaries, “The antisemites will become our most dependable friends, the antisemitic countries our allies.” And indeed, as we can see, antisemites and Christian Zionists who advocate for Armageddon, and the killing or conversion of Jews, are the best and most staunch supporters of Israel and Zionism.
Ali Kazak is a former Palestinian ambassador and head of delegation to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region. He is an expert in Australian-Arab relations and affairs, and author of “Australia and the Arabs”. (In Arabic).
https://johnmenadue.com/antisemitism-is-fuelled-by-israel-and-its-lobby-not-their-opponents/