There have been a lot of speeches – some might say too many! One thing I hope that this event produces is the civil dialogue we sorely need. I will return to that point later.

Think about your decision to attend a con­fer­ence to discuss the problem of Jewish hatred in Australia and how to combat it.

Did you expect:

• to be pressured not to attend, and harassed if you decided to do so?
  to be told that there is something improper with you learning about antisemitism?
• to say to your taxi driver when asked, as one of you did, that you were not going to this con­fer­ence and you were instead visiting a friend staying at the hotel?
• to be subject to security checking before you enter the venue?
• to face protests outside your hotel?
• to be yelled at, that you are a criminal and killing babies?
• to see a sig­ni­fic­ant police presence, and to be grateful for the safety it brings?

Trying to shut down a dis­cus­sion about how to combat Jewish hatred? That is antisemitism. The irony is obvious.

Part I

I want to take you back, almost two years. At this stage, I want to make a clear point – this is not a story about Israel. It is a story about Australia.

It was the morning of Wednesday 10 October 2023. The previous weekend on 7 October, Israel had been attacked like never before. We knew that many civilians were dead and many taken hostage – we did not yet know how many. We knew that the attack was brutal, but we did not yet know the full extent of the depravity. Some of the Hamas fighters were still holed up in kibbutzes, and Israel was slowly regaining its own territory. There had been no incursion into Gaza at that time. Whatever view one may take about the military operation in Gaza – and I acknow­ledge that there are many valid views, both for and against and many in between – at that point in time Israel had not yet had a chance to respond. Its people were blameless.

That Wednesday morning, I was on a train in Melbourne trav­el­ling into the CBD for work. The train was full. On the other side of the train, two men were chatting about world events, loud enough for all to hear.

The first said: “Israel deserved everything it got”.

The second agreed.

The first said: “The Americans will come in and help Israel like they always do, but that is because the Jews control all the money.”

The second agreed.

There it was. One of the oldest antisemitic tropes. Jews use money – our tentacles, as NSW Green MP Jenny Leong described us – to exert control and influence. And because we are Jews, that asserted influence (whatever that might mean) is always malign and never bene­fi­cial. On that thinking, Jews must be del­e­git­im­ised. Never mind that many have worked hard and con­trib­uted to the modern success of this country. Never mind that the Jewish mindset is to give back to community. On that thinking, to give just one recent example of many, Jewish phil­an­throp­ic families are fair game. A pro-Palestini­an march in Melbourne becomes a blockade of the National Gallery of Victoria. Why? Because a major donor family are “Zionists”. As if changing the label on the tin hides and somehow justifies the content of the message and the method by which it was delivered. Fur­ther­more, any Aus­trali­an who attended the art gallery with their family that day, was accused of being complicit in genocide.

That is the mar­gin­al­isa­tion, the othering that we have seen in this country. Eleven fire­bomb­ing attacks on Jewish targets including streets where Jews live, our syn­agogues and our busi­nesses. We now know that State sponsored terrorism stands behind some of those evil attacks, and that Iranian terrorist activity onshore is stoking the fires of hatred in this country.

But even that is not enough for the anti­semites. This week, a Sydney car­di­ology professor iden­ti­fied himself by name and pro­fes­sion and asked this question at a public forum: “I thought it was a no brainer that the [fire­bomb­ings] were Mossad-engin­eered events. Am I being totally naive, or has the Zionist lobby taken over ASIO as well?”

The cardiologist’s question was cheered and applauded. He asked it of a panel, who then discussed the so-called malign influence behind this very con­fer­ence. One of the pan­el­lists, a criminal lawyer from Sydney, replied that “there are very good reasons to doubt the official narrative from ASIO”. Another panellist, an online journ­al­ist who has cam­paigned against this very con­fer­ence, is reported to have made the sug­ges­tion that the [synagogue fire­bomb­ings were] a false flag, and that there was “sig­ni­fic­ant precedent” to say that Israel targeted syn­agogues for ‘their own political purposes”.

As the pro­test­ers said on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, “f — - the Jews”, “gas the Jews”, or “where’s the Jews”. And while the public pro­sec­utors debated what was actually said and whether it con­sti­tuted an offence, at least one part of that the message was crystal clear.

This is an ugly section of Australia we are presently facing – where parts of the intel­li­gent­sia, the political world, the street, the extreme left and extreme right – including neo-Nazi speakers being plat­formed, combine and coalesce around an inter­na­tion­al conflict half a world away, and look for a societal scapegoat. And the scapegoat is the oldest one there is – the Jews.

Part II

So how do we combat this stain? How do we turn something so dark into hope and light. As communal leaders, as upstand­ers one and all, how do we call for the Australia we know and love, an Australia that embraces, that cel­eb­rates and uplifts? How do we fight for the Australia we want?

For this, I draw upon another personal narrative. In my work life as a barrister in Melbourne, I of course speak with many of my col­leagues. Good people who say unpromp­ted “Well done. Do not stop. Keep going.” None are Jewish. None are Israeli. Each of the people I have mentioned, well under­stand that what we are all trying to protect is the safety and security of our fellow Aus­trali­ans.

We cannot change what happens in a conflict half a world away. But we can influence what happens here, to Aus­trali­ans, in our own backyard.

And so I have three con­clud­ing messages.

First, please use the tools and inform­a­tion you have gained from this summit. The work col­leagues I mentioned before have offered me their quiet support, and I am grateful to them for doing so. But we also need agents for change. As members of local gov­ern­ment and other community-based organ­isa­tions, you are in the unique and special position of being able to effect that change where it matters – on the ground. Use the knowledge you have gained from the speakers, and the inform­a­tion in your pack. Reach out to your State-based Jewish organ­isa­tions and the federal body the ECAJ, and use us to connect with the many community resources that are available. We are here to help you continue the dialogue that has started at this con­fer­ence. To help you build a local community that we all want to share and enjoy.

If we are to protect the Aus­trali­an way of life – the fabled mateship, the equality of treatment and of oppor­tun­ity, the fair go for all – then we must have that change.

Second, there are a number of thanks that I will deliver on your behalf. Thank you to all of our speakers. There have been so many of you! With one exception, I will not embarrass anyone by men­tion­ing or omitting any, but there have been high­lights. Each of you will of course have your own high­lights. For me, it has been the quality and depth across all of the present­a­tions. Please thank our speakers.

I will mention one speaker: Nova Peris OAM. Nova, your research, your hard work, your clarity of thought. We are in awe. I remember reading your first public statement on this topic, after 7 October. As you mentioned, it was in early December 2023 and delivered after careful thought at a time when your own community, your mob, was dev­ast­ated and grieving from a public setback. At that time, when we were in darkness, your voice was one of the early and very few bright lights. You did not need to step up for the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, but you did so then and have continued to so time and time again. You are an upstander, and a mensch – a Yiddish word meaning a person of integrity and respons­ib­il­ity. Nova, let me show you my own humble act of upstand­ing. I am wearing a kippah with an original indi­gen­ous design. I do so often, and always when I meet with politi­cians both here and overseas. This small piece of headwear publicly iden­ti­fies me as a proud Aus­trali­an Jew.

While I am engaging in a little bit of upstand­ing, let me acknow­ledge the presence of our friends from many faith and ethnic groups here, and the organ­isa­tions that commit to building rela­tion­ships across faiths and cultures. Without leaving anyone out, because of what was said in Canberra less than 24 hours ago, I par­tic­u­larly want to mention the attend­ance of the Hindu Council of Australia. I – we – say to you that the irre­spons­ible and pre­ju­di­cial comments that one Federal Par­lia­ment­ari­an made yesterday are wrong. The Aus­trali­an Jewish community condemns those comments. Every citizen of this country, no matter where they were born, has an absolute and uncon­di­tion­al right to be here, and to par­ti­cip­ate fully in all aspects of demo­crat­ic society. That includes the unfettered right to vote however they choose.

Thank you to our host, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. Unlike Will Nemesh from Waverley Council in Sydney, as a Mel­bour­ni­an I readily concede that your beaches win.

Thank you to CAM, its sponsors and its partners. When Sacha Roytman first proposed this event to the ECAJ, we thought this would be a massive under­tak­ing. And so it has turned out to be.

To the organ­isers Justine, Jenn, Arthur and Alex, please accept our col­lect­ive gratitude and pass it on to your entire team including our AUJS youth helpers. Thank you to the team at the Imperial Hotel. The facil­it­ies and the support have been brilliant.

Thank you to Queens­land Police and security for keeping us safe.

Third and finally, thank you – each and every one of you. For your courage in gathering here with us, to name the sickness of antisemitism in Aus­trali­an society and to discuss how to combat it. I look around this room, and I do not feel othered, excluded or alone as I did that day on a train in my country of birth and the city where I live and work. Today, this Aus­trali­an Jew feels loved and embraced.