Neither Jews nor Israel were the issue, nor were there any signs of antisemitism, at the Reclaim Australia rally and the counter rally in Sydney on Sunday. Nev­er­the­less, the series of rallies and counter rallies around Australia, in April and over this weekend, and at other times, and the movements behind them, are of concern to the Jewish community.

The Sydney Reclaim rally on Sunday was unmis­tak­ably against Islam and Islamist terrorism. There were Aus­trali­an flags, Eureka flags and an Abori­gin­al flag. The speakers included Pastor Danny Nalliah, a Sri Lankan born Christian, Shermon Burgess, leader of the United Patriots Front and gun enthu­si­ast, and a woman who spoke of being raped by a gang of Muslim men. The crowd of around 200 were generally well behaved, although at times ugly chants of “Filth!” referring to Muslims who had committed violence were heard. The rally was attended by various right wing groups under the Reclaim Australia banner – Party For Freedom, Rise Up Australia, Concerned Citizens, Australia First Party, and others.

The counter rally in Sydney was organised by socialist groups, mainly Socialist Altern­at­ive, Socialist Alliance, and Solid­ar­ity. There were plenty of banners, and the rally was unmis­tak­ably anti-Abbott, anti-police, anti-Nazi, pro-Muslim, and pro-Abori­gin­al. The crowd of around 400 were rowdy, with several attempts to break out of the police blockade, and angry speakers often accusing the police of pro­tect­ing the Reclaim­ers, while the crowd chanted “Nazi scum” at various times. Speakers included Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, Rahaf Ahmed of the Uni­ver­sity of Tech­no­logy Sydney Muslim Society (and of Palestine Action Group), several Abori­gin­al speakers, and others.

Police and the riot squad were out in force with several hundred officers determ­ined to keep both rallies separate and apart. They formed a blockade around each rally, and had a police presence in the city blocks of Martin Place in between the two rallies. The aim was to avoid the violence that had featured in previous protests. Arrests were made in both Sydney and Melbourne.

From a Jewish community per­spect­ive, both the far right Reclaim­ers and the far left counter groups of social­ists include indi­vidu­als and groups who are hostile to Jews and/or to Israel as a Jewish state.

Reclaim rallies have included neo-Nazis, and other far Right people, Pauline Hanson as a speaker, white pride groups, racist sentiment, and swastika tattoos. One major Reclaimer, neo-Nazi Neil Erikson, was convicted of making abusive and racist phone calls to a Melbourne rabbi. Australia’s most prominent neo-Nazi, Ross ‘The Skull’ May, has given support to Reclaim.

Reclaim­ers also oppose mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism. All ethnic and religious com­munit­ies in Australia have the right to maintain and express their tra­di­tions, within Aus­trali­an law. The Jewish community is a prime example of how an ethnic and religious minority can maintain tra­di­tions and still be integ­rated into Aus­trali­an society. Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism is a decades old gov­ern­ment policy that reflects Australia’s make-up and encour­ages social cohesion. Muslims, as Aus­trali­ans, are also clearly entitled to practice their religious tra­di­tions along with every other Aus­trali­an, as long as it is within Aus­trali­an law.

The anti-Reclaim­ers are often touted by them­selves and by the media as “anti-racist” but this is simplist­ic and inac­cur­ate. In their activ­it­ies, forums and protests, the only com­munit­ies they show support for are the Muslim community and sometimes the Abori­gin­al community. Racist sentiment and incidents against other com­munit­ies like Indians, Chinese or Arab Chris­ti­ans do not rate a mention. Their oppos­i­tion to Islamo­pho­bia is con­sist­ently coupled with oppos­i­tion to the Abbott gov­ern­ment. It is as though support for Muslims is pre­dic­ated on oppos­i­tion to the federal Liberal gov­ern­ment.

In addition, the organ­isers of the anti-Reclaim rallies are generally the same people who organise anti-Israel rallies, including the annual al-Naqba rallies, the weekly protests against Israel during the Israel/Gaza war in 2014, and other anti-Israel protests. At these protests, anti-Jewish chants of “Khaybar Khaybar” and the chant calling for the destruc­tion of Israel “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” are common. Placards equating the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi swastika and other Jewish/Israel equi­val­ence with Nazism are increas­ingly a standard component. Other placards have been remin­is­cent of the Blood Libel, accusing Jews and Israel of delib­er­ately targeting and murdering children in a ritual bloodlust. Australia’s most prominent neo-Nazi, Ross ‘The Skull’ May, has attended Al-Naqba rallies, in a show of support for the destruc­tion of the Jewish state.

Neither the Reclaim groups nor those who protest against them exhibit a vision of a demo­crat­ic Australia built upon mul­ti­cul­tur­al diversity, social harmony, and oppos­i­tion to all forms of extremism. Instead, they each promote their own forms of intol­er­ance, bigotry, and divis­ive­ness.

Main­stream Muslims are an intrinsic part of the solution to Islamist violence, despite what the far Right and far Left would have us believe. By placing all Muslims in the ‘bad’ basket as the far Right do, and by the Left denying or ignoring the problem of Islamist violence around the world, neither are producing solutions, only scape­goat­ing and blame.

While pro and anti-Reclaim­ers organise and hold their street rallies, shouting abuse at each other, perhaps it is time Aus­trali­ans of good-will, across the religious and ethnic spectrum, sat down with Aus­trali­an Muslims and came together to discuss how we can all counter both Islamist extremism and Islamo­pho­bia, as well as other forms of extremist violence, bigotry and racism, including antisemitism.