This article was originally published in Australian Financial Review on or about 11 July 2025 and was written by the author in their capacity as a contributor for that publication.
It has been republished on the IPA website with permission. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
The best way to start to overcome antisemitism is to encourage young people to have a bit more empathy and lot less hatred for those they disagree with.
The Albanese government’s new plan is a good beginning in the fight against antisemitism. It remains to be seen whether it will ever be implemented.
The government says it would consider withdrawing funding from universities and arts organisations that don’t take action against antisemitism. Yet, somehow at the same time, Creative Australia is sending to the Venice Biennale an artist whose work appears to glorify a leader of Hezbollah, a terrorist group committed to the destruction of Israel. In the words of Creative Australia, the artist will “represent Australia”.
Antisemitism in Australia won’t be overcome by a government plan. Antisemitism is embedded in a culture that increasingly regards the expression of hate, either by word or deed, as legitimate and normal.
Likewise, the authorities tend to pick and choose what variety of hate they condone and what they condemn.
“Hate” is a strong word, but there’s no other description for the emotions on display in the streets of Australia’s capital cities most weekends as demonstrators protest against causes ranging from the fossil fuel companies supposedly burning the planet to the structural racism of Western civilisation. While antisemitism is different – the connotation of “net zero now” is not that of “from the river to the sea” – many protesters simply transfer the expression of their hatred of the world around them from one issue to the next.
After the latest attack on a Melbourne synagogue, the Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan, claimed “acts of hate” have no place in the state. If only that were true. The reality is that for years in Victoria, the authorities including the police, the judiciary and the Labor government itself, dominated by the socialist left faction, have largely turned a blind eye to what has happened in the state.
Antisemitism in Australia won’t be overcome by a government plan.
Last year in Melbourne the office of Josh Burns, a federal Labor MP who is Jewish, was vandalised. “Zionism is fascism” was sprayed in red paint across the office walls, petrol was poured and set alight, and $100,000 worth of damage was done. A 17-year-old boy who participated in the attack avoided a criminal conviction and was ordered into a diversion program after the magistrate said she was “particularly impressed” with the teenager’s “insightful reflection” on how his vandalism wouldn’t “change anything in Gaza”.
As the J-Wire news outlet reported, “The case has sparked debate over the effectiveness of diversion programs … Supporters argue that such measures help young offenders reintegrate into society without the burden of a criminal record, while critics worry that leniency could encourage further acts of vandalism.”
When anti-Israel protesters recently rampaged through a Jewish restaurant in Melbourne, police were told not to engage for fear of further inflaming the situation.
The Albanese government’s “special envoy on antisemitism”, Jillian Segal, has said that antisemitism is more prevalent among younger Australians. She’s probably right. But antisemitism would not be the only hatred commonplace among young people. There are myriad reasons why it’s increasingly no longer enough for young people to be disappointed, upset, or even angry about something; instead, they must feel hatred.
It’s no surprise that young people are more inclined to hatred when politicians and teachers tell children to make people like Greta Thunberg their role model. In 2019, Barack Obama spent an afternoon in Washington with Thunberg discussing climate change. He said of the young climate activist afterwards, “She embodies our vision … A future shaped by young leaders like her.”
That year, Thunberg famously lectured the grown-ups at the UN climate conference: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words … We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” It was a statement of hatred and contempt, displaying an attitude that young people around the globe felt entitled to emulate.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Thunberg now leads anti-Israel protests wearing a keffiyeh and shouting “crush Zionism”. Adults told young people to follow Thunberg and her ways, and that’s exactly what young people are doing.
The best way to start to overcome antisemitism among young people is to encourage young people to have a bit more empathy and lot less hatred for those they disagree with.
