EDITORIAL: The grave dangers of ignoring the evil in our midst

There is “evil at work” in this country.

Those are the words of Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, whose former family home was doused with red paint in the early hours of Friday morning, in what appears to be yet another incidence of anti-Semitic vandalism in Sydney.

Two cars were scrawled with hateful slurs and then firebombed.

Police are still investigating whether Mr Ryvchin was the target of the attack. If he wasn’t, it would be “one hell of a coincidence”, he said.

Mr Ryvchin fears acts of “terrorism” such as this are only the beginning.

“I fear that we’re going to wake up before long with someone dead. I think that’s the trajectory that we’re on, and we’ve been there for a long time,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“When you have people in our society who were so consumed by wickedness and hatred that they would set fire . . . to suburban streets and risk the lives of everyone who lives here, simply because they disagree with certain views or opinions, it shows that we’re in a very dangerous state.”

Since October 7 2023, anti-Semitism has been escalating in Australia at an alarming rate.

It started on the steps of the Sydney Opera House when a mob of thugs gathered to celebrate the murders of 1200 Jews by Hamas terrorists. And it has festered since, allowed to run unchecked by weak-willed politicians.

The results were predictable. Homes in Jewish suburbs have been targeted. Cars are torched with a depressing frequency. The electoral office of Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns was scrawled with hateful slogans and windows smashed in.

And in an act which demands to be called what it is — terrorism — a Melbourne synagogue was firebombed.

It is hard to believe that these are incidents taking place in modern, multicultural Australia. But to ignore it would be a terrible mistake.

The results of an international study released this week by market researcher Ipsos, commissioned by the Anti-Defamation league, found a shameful 20 per cent of Australians held an “elevated level of anti-Semitic attitudes”.

That’s worse than Britain, US, France, Germany.

And our hatred is rising. A decade ago, 14 per cent of Australians held such views.

We are in a crisis of anti-Semitism. The “evil” that Mr Ryvchin spoke of threatens to take hold.

Yet our Federal leaders seem reluctant to take any meaningful action.

When Anthony Albanese appointed lawyer Jillian Segal as Australia’s first Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism, he said it was a “critical step in easing the tensions” playing out in Australia as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.

But since then he has repeatedly ignored her advice, including a request he convene a meeting of National Cabinet to deal with the “near daily” anti-Semitic incidents which have left Australia’s Jewish community in fear for their lives.

How much longer can this crisis go ignored?