A fortnight ago, Jewish communities across Australia and the world paused for Yom HaShoah, a solemn remembrance of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Days later came Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day), honouring Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror, followed immediately by Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day), a celebration of resilience and modern statehood. These days sit together in uneasy proximity: grief, memory, and survival intertwined – a reminder of the price of freedom.

Then, this weekend, Australia marked ANZAC Day, another sacred moment of national reflection. A day that, like Yom HaZikaron, binds loss to identity. A day when we say, with quiet conviction, that sacrifice should never be forgotten.

And yet, in the shadow of these commemorations, something deeply unsettling has emerged.

Graffiti has appeared on RSL clubs – places that stand not just as social venues, but as living memorials to those who served and died. Some of the slogans scrawled across their walls are not merely offensive; they are chilling: “Gallipoli — do it again,” “Death to the ADF,” “ANZACs = Colonisers,” “Kill the troops.” These are not expressions of protest or political critique. They are explicit endorsements of violence and a desecration of memory, a wish not only to erase history, but to repeat its bloodiest chapters.

It is impossible to ignore the parallel. These slogans sit disturbingly close to chants we have heard elsewhere: calls to “globalise the intifada,” alongside phrases like “death to the IDF”, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Israel = Colonisers.” In practice, such rhetoric has often translated into hostility toward civilians far removed from any battlefield. The pattern is the same: language that blurs the line........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)