Western civil­isa­tion as we have known it is every­where showing signs of deep distress. Liberal demo­crat­ic societies have never been wealthier, healthier or more tech­no­lo­gic­ally advanced, and yet never more dir­ec­tion­less, spir­itu­ally empty and polit­ic­ally fractured.

The clearest sign of dys­func­tion has been the pro­gress­ive degrad­a­tion of our political discourse.

Freedom of expres­sion and the free-flowing contest of ideas are among the key attrib­utes that dis­tin­guish free and demo­crat­ic nations from those that are dominated by dictators, secular and theo­crat­ic. These freedoms have provided the best mech­an­isms for sep­ar­at­ing truth from error in public life, but they cannot work if the contest of ideas is over­whelmed by dem­agoguery and polar­isa­tion arti­fi­cially amplified to digitally-driven extremes.

In a public square flooded with online mis­in­form­a­tion and dis­in­form­a­tion, people increas­ingly form their opinions on “feels”, not facts. Quality public debate falls away and is sidelined by name-calling, demon­isa­tion and dehu­man­isa­tion. The pursuit of truth is forgotten, and the ground­work is laid for violence.

We have seen this most clearly in the appalling sustained rise in antisemitic hatred and violence in most western countries including Australia, where an orgy of violent antisemitic rhetoric and incidents following the Hamas atro­cit­ies in Israel in 2023 cul­min­ated in the terrorist massacre of 15 innocent people at a Jewish community event cel­eb­rat­ing Hannukah at Bondi Beach last year.

As always, the antisemitism is symp­to­mat­ic of a more wide­spread malaise. The bonds of decency and trust between citizens which are the glue of demo­crat­ic societies are under unpre­ced­en­ted attack, spear­headed by a fever of words. Governor-General Sam Mostyn was right to urge Aus­trali­ans to “learn or relearn to exercise our muscle of decency” following the shocking targeted attack on federal inde­pend­ent MP Helen Haines. The incident cannot be dismissed as an isolated act of a lone actor with mental health issues. That person picked up on and acted out the hatred and violence that has increas­ingly become a nor­m­al­ised part of our political discourse.

Israel has not been immune to this either, espe­cially in the lead-up to the coming elections. A close associate of Prime Minister Netanyahu recently used an ugly racial ste­reo­type to describe his opponent, Gadi Eisenkot. Earlier this year Prime Minister Netanyahu sacked his chief of staff for resorting to such language. These were not isolated cases. It has been thor­oughly dis­heart­en­ing to read about public figures in Israel making coarse racist remarks, espe­cially during the election campaign.

The ECAJ deplores such comments and acknow­ledges the pain and shame they engender in many Aus­trali­an Jews and other sup­port­ers of Israel. The approach­ing anniversary of the assas­sin­a­tion of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 is a poignant reminder of what should be an obvious truth: hateful words lead to violent deeds, and at times to outright murder.