EDITORIAL: Jewish Australians deserve honesty from cops

Is it safe to go to synagogue?

Is it safe for my children to wear their uniforms as they walk to their Jewish school?

Will wearing a kippah or Star of David in public open me up to vile abuse?

Is it safe to be Jewish in Australia?

This is the tragic everyday calculus performed by Australia’s 117,000 Jews as they come to terms with the rising tide of anti-Semitism.

For decades, they’ve taken for granted their right to safety in their own nation, as all Australians should be entitled to do.

As Labor MP Josh Burns writes in The Nightly today, Australian-born Jews have always understood that there were people in the world who hated them; those who wanted them wiped from the earth.

They grew up hearing about about the evils of anti-Semitism from parents and grandparents who came here from overseas.

But it was an experience far removed from the reality of their own lives.

Now, it’s an experience they understand all too clearly.

Jewish Australians are in fear for their lives, and it’s a fear that escalates every time another car is firebombed, another synagogue or school vandalised.

The discovery of a caravan allegedly packed with explosives, along with a note listing potential targets, including Sydney’s Great Synagogue and the Sydney Jewish Museum along with the addresses of Jewish residents, has further amplified their terror.

What they need from authorities right now is information. They need to know how seriously to take these threats, and how best to keep themselves and their families safe.

Instead, they’ve received silence.

Details of the alleged terror plot were first uncovered January 19, when a Dural resident looked inside the parked caravan.

NSW Premier Chris Minns was briefed on the incident the following day.

From there, silence.

It wasn’t discussed at the January 21 National Cabinet meeting convened by Anthony Albanese to discuss anti-Semitism.

The Prime Minister won’t say when he became aware of the threat. The Daily Telegraph, which broke news of the plot of January 29, has reported police didn’t believe it was necessary to let the PM in on the news.

It is an unbelievable state of affairs if the Prime Minister was kept in the dark on an issue of vital national security.

Just as unbelievable is NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb’s belligerent and tone deaf response once the plot was made public.

Ms Webb, who didn’t bother showing up to the first press conference after the news broke on Wednesday, lashed out at the media at a second press conference on Thursday, saying the leak had “compromised” the investigation.

That’s hard to believe, given the police had two people alleged to be low-level players already in custody, and had assigned a 100-strong task force to tracking down the perpetrators. If there are other players involved in planning what could have been a massacre, you can be certain they were already aware cops were coming for them.

Jewish Australians deserve honesty from their police about the threats they face.