Responsibility For Each Other

On Sunday morning we awoke to the horrible news of an attack targeting Jews in Sydney, Australia. The focus was a Chanukah celebration on a beach ushering in the first night of the eight-day holiday that is all about using light to dispel the darkness that pervades so much of our world.

We also learned that Jews in New York or anywhere in the world are responsible for each other, as was made clear when Fox News charged their Jerusalem-based correspondent with reporting on the Australian massacre, which occurred over 8,500 miles away from Israel.

Is Fox News saying they don’t have a single reporter on the entire continent of Australia that can report on this story? Or are they saying that if a story happens to be about terrorism against Jews, they can only assign it to Israel-based reporter, Trey Yingst?

The point is that when something happens to Jews in Australia, it’s not a local issue pertaining to Down Under, but something that affects Jews everywhere. That means all Jews—anywhere they happen to be in the world.

Essentially, what happened in Australia is the tragic result of the growing anti-Jewish hate and extremism that has been allowed to grow by both local and world leaders. That includes speech by podcasters like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Piers Morgan.

When it comes to waffling on the matter of Jew-hatred, we also have to call into question someone like Megyn Kelly, who insists that Tucker is her friend, and when it comes to the hateful rhetoric of Candace Owens, all Megyn can say is that she doesn’t have the time to listen to her.

If Megyn Kelly is authentic and honest, it’s time for her to separate from Carlson and start listening to Owens so she knows what she’s talking about.

In the aftermath of an attack like what happened in Sydney last Sunday, the time for mincing words and nuanced speech must end. Like George W. Bush said in the aftermath of 9-11: “Either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists.”

Australia has demonstrated over the last two years that they are with the terrorists, which means they do not give their Jewish community a second thought. We hope this policy will be adjusted over the short-term, but so far there’s no sign of that.

Australia and several other countries like Canada, France, and Spain decided to recognize a Palestinian state even though no such entity exists by international law. And in all likelihood, regardless of what happens going forward, the only Palestinian state that will exist will be like the one that exists today—in their imaginations.

But as we saw this past week, a country like Australia that sides with the Islamic extremists in the world today signals that any crime committed against their Jewish population will be tolerated by Prime Minister Albanese and his government. In fact, way back in August, Prime Minister Netanyahu communicated with Albanese that not only was his government not doing enough to combat antisemitism, they also let the Jew-haters in their midst know that attacks of this nature will be ignored and unpunished. Recently, the Australian PM rejected Netanyahu’s accusations that Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state contributed to Sunday’s deadly attack on Bondi beach. But there is no doubt that this movement has generated a culture in which violence is becoming shockingly commonplace.

In the aftermath of October 7, in fact on October 9, there was an anti-Jewish protest at the Sydney Opera House, where the crowd was heard chanting, “Gas the Jews.” The Albanese government did not react and basically just looked the other way.

Right now, at least for this week, the pressure and the spotlight is on Australia and how they are going to react. Most likely, as time passes, the Albanese government will maintain their current policies, which pose a threat not only to Jews, but to all Australians.

Of course, just as in the U.S., the trouble started with open borders and a virtual stampede of unvetted immigrants, many with violent pasts and criminal records in the countries they came from, and we’re all too happy to see them go elsewhere.

Italy and Germany are very much in the same predicament as Australia. At least in the case of Germany, and considering their ugly, violent history with Jews, they will most likely not recognize a Palestinian state, which as we stated, does not exist. In fact, the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state within the borders of Israel is just another way of calling for the dismantling of and, sorry to say, destruction of Israel.

Not to digress too much, but what we saw on the news stations on Sunday and the murders of Jews in Sydney is what New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani would call “globalizing the intifada.” While Mamdani released a statement condemning the murders of Jews on Sunday, if he were to be asked, in all probability, he would still insist that he is in favor of globalizing the intifada.

As is the case when events like this occur, there is a big over-the-top reaction, but then a few days or weeks later, it all fades into history, which will probably be the case here as well, sadly.

That is, of course, except for the widows and orphans who are left behind and must begin to deal with their losses and piece their lives back together.

So, in the meantime, what can we do? The Jewish people will move forward regardless of whatever obstacles we face or how difficult the challenge. That is our history and it looks like that is destined to be our future. I saw online on Monday night that there was a large community gathering on Bondi Beach in Sydney sponsored by Chabad to light the large outdoor menorah on the second night of Chanukah. I heard a radio host the other day saying that the Jewish event organizers should understand that they need more and better security.

For more than two years now, we’ve heard in the media that the October 7 attack was the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Now we have a new yardstick, which is that the Bondi Beach massacre was the largest attack on Jews since October 7.

And that’s the sad state of affairs. Happy Chanukah. 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.