This one’s on Netanyahu, not Albanese |
The Bondi massacre sits within a wider international context that has reshaped public attitudes to Israel, antisemitism and protest, complicating how grief, fear and responsibility are understood in Australia.
The massacre at Bondi fits so naturally into the context of Israel’s recent wars with its neighbours that one cannot help but wonder why so few in the post-massacre grieving will make explicit reference to it.
This is not to say that a retaliatory and appalling massacre of Jews on a Sydney beach could ever be justified as a legitimate retaliation for the actions of Israel. They can’t, and no one has made any serious attempt to do so. But nor can the Bondi massacre and the sense of siege enveloping Jewish Australians be understood without an appreciation of the dramatic shift of opinion about Israel that has occurred over the past few years. Benjamin Netanyahu, so quick to blame our prime minister Anthony Albanese for appeasement of Palestinians, should have more on his conscience.
Jewish Australians are blaming governments for an increasing sense of public hostility to Jews in general and Israel in particular. They have been finding classic antisemitic tropes invoked in public debate. Been specifically targeted by neo-Nazi groups, and have borne, locally, blame for actions of the Israeli state against the people of Gaza. They have copped flak for what they have done to Palestinians generally. Israel has recently bombed neighbouring nations including Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Yemen. The conflicts have been occurring since Israel became a state, but until recently, Israel has enjoyed strong support from western countries, including the US, Australia and most of Europe. That support and overwhelming Israeli military superiority (including nuclear weapons) has made successive Israeli governments slow to come to just settlements with the Palestinians it has displaced. And also resistant to pressure even from countries not openly hostile to Israel to work towards a two-state solution, to stop an aggressive settlement program, and to dismantle an increasingly authoritarian apartheid state.
In recent years some Israeli politicians have campaigned for Israel to annex all the lands of old Palestine. Even before October 7, this was leading to increasing criticism and impatience with Israel, and not only from essentially friendly states but from popular opinion around the world.
The massacre of Israelis by Hamas fighters on October 7, 2023, was originally perceived around the world as an unprovoked massacre of innocent civilians, entirely unjustified by any events immediately besetting the people of Gaze. In this it had parallels with Bondi, although the father-son pair who perpetrated the Bondi massacre are not to be compared with Hamas fighters.
Disproportion of retaliation raised indignation with Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately declared war on Hamas and invaded and bombed Gaza. Nations such as Australia (and Britain, France, Canada and other countries in Europe) “understood” Israel’s response and were initially understanding about the disproportion of it.
That disproportion developed until the number of Gazans who died exceeded 60 times the fatalities of the October 7 massacre. Almost the whole city of Gaza was levelled by bombing campaigns. Public buildings such as hospitals and schools were bombed on the allegation that they were concealing Hamas militants. Israel closely controlled entry and exit of Gaza, including denying access to outside journalists, and withheld supplies, fuel and power. Soon they were accused of a deliberate policy of starving the population and of engaging in a conscious program of ethnic genocide. International legal bodies, including the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of some Israeli figures, including Netanyahu for alleged war crimes, and the International Court declared the genocide allegations credible.
The international reaction and even the domestic reaction inside Israel was........