DVIR ABRAMOVICH: Think anti-Semitism is someone else’s problem? Think again

A dark cloud is descending over Australia, and its shadow grows longer by the day.

The vile defacement of a Sydney synagogue with swastikas — symbols of mass murder and genocide — is not just a crime against Jewish Australians.

It’s an outright betrayal of every value we claim to uphold as a people.

This isn’t just graffiti.

It’s a blazing alarm, screaming for attention: anti-Semitism has entrenched itself in our midst.

And this headline is not from a faraway place or a bygone era.

It’s happening now on our watch, in the streets we walk every day.

Australia’s hard-earned reputation as a sanctuary for Jews is being ripped apart by the razor-sharp claws of anti-Semitism leaving behind a nation unrecognisable to those who once saw it as a beacon of hope

There are days when I barely recognise the Australia I have loved for nearly 40 years.

This is not the Australia I grew up believing in — a land where a “fair go” meant something, where justice wasn’t just a word, and where no one had to hide their identity for fear of abuse

This is not the Australia I have proudly called home.

The anguish of witnessing this descent is almost unbearable.

Do you feel safe? Jewish Australians don’t.

The past 16 months in Australia have seen anti-Semitism surge beyond belief.

Chants of violence against Jewish people, Israelis and Zionists echo in public squares, and the symbols of evil are shamelessly paraded in broad daylight.

We are teetering on the edge of a moral abyss.

This is not only about the Jewish community.

This is a firestorm that threatens to engulf us all.

What will come next?

Imagine walking into your place of worship, glancing over your shoulder, wondering if the next symbol of hate will be aimed at you.

Let there be no illusions — anti-Semitism is not a solitary evil.

The same forces that vilify and target Jews will not hesitate to turn their ire on anyone who dares to be different.

Everyone will in the crosshairs of this prowling beast that will devour the rights, safety, and dignity of every vulnerable group in its path.

To ignore this is to hand the keys of our nation to unvarnished bigotry, paving the way for a fractured, fear-ridden Australia.

So, let’s stop pretending this is someone else’s problem.

Anti-Semitism is a dagger in the back of every Australian ideal we claim to stand for, a wrecking ball swinging through the heart of our democracy, a litmus test of a society’s health.

When intolerance against one group is accepted, it metastasises, spreading its venom to others and infecting the bloodstream of a society.

Today it’s swastikas on synagogues.

Tomorrow, it’s your community, your family, your future.

It’s an insidious rot that is eating away at the values that hold us together as a nation.

Creeping into every corner of our society, it is gaining strength from frightening passivity and moral blindness, thriving in the shadow of inaction.

This is about the fear now stalking Jewish Australians as they send their kids to school or dare to display their faith in public.

It’s about a community being forced to question its safety in a country that promised them refuge.

To the leaders of this nation: where are you? Where is the thunderous condemnation, the decisive action, the unrelenting fury against this unrelenting demon.

Statements of “anger” and “concern” by political leaders won’t cut it.

This is a national emergency, and it demands a response as fierce as the hurricane of prejudice and fanaticism we are pushing against.

Here’s the harsh truth: by allowing anti-Semitism to mutate, we are sending a message — that Australia is a shelter for hardcore bigots and home-grown extremists.

That the lessons of the Holocaust, the cries of “Never Again,” were nothing but empty words.

Today, Australia stands on a knife’s edge.

This is the moment we decide if we are a nation that confronts this epidemic with unflinching resolve or one that cowers in the face of its insidious proliferation.

The luxury of outrage whispered behind closed doors is gone.

What we need now is a sky shattering roar of collective defiance and the iron-willed determination to stamp out this dangerous phenomenon wherever it dares to surface.

Inaction is an endorsement.

This is a seismic jolt warning us of what’s to come.

it’s an air raid siren.

The time to act was yesterday, but today is all we have.

Let history record that when hatred knocked on our door, we slammed it shut with the full force of our collective will.

This is about who we are — and who we refuse to become.

Dr Dvir Abramovich is chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission