In a feat of enterprising delusion and sinister suppression, Australia’s second largest state has decided to deal with what it regards as an antisemitic problem.  After last December’s attacks on Sydney’s Bondi Beach by two gunmen on attendees of a Hanukkah event that left 15 people dead, it has become modish to insist that a blight has gripped the continent.  On 8 February, the State government of Premier David Crisafulli announced it was “delivering strong, decisive action to combat antisemitism [and] address terrorist-motivated offending to make Queensland safer.”

As with other parts of the country, antisemitism has been singled out as the exceptional hatred, so unique as to require singular laws and singular treatment.  (Others, such as Islamophobia, do not merit similar attention.)  In doing so, lawmakers betray that cardinal principle in passing legislation: keep the subject matter general and avoid the temptation towards exceptionalism.  

Despite existing federal laws already targeting protest, prohibited symbols and prohibited organisations, the States have sped into their legislative chambers to propose legislation that further stifles speech and lawful assembly.  There is little by way of evidence that the state of Queensland has a raging antisemitic problem, but the conservative government of Crisafulli is cocksure that its measures are “making Queensland safer after Labour failed to crackdown on antisemitism during their decade of decline.”  These measures come in the form of the Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Bill 2026 (Qld), which is being rushed through the review process with a mere seven days for public submissions.  Debate and firm scrutiny are to be kept to a minimum.

The prohibitions demonstrate a cloddish, untutored approach to Middle Eastern politics and religion.  In what amounts to the fuzzy drafting of an ignoramus, Islamic State is bracketed with Hamas;........

© Middle East Monitor