‘Stand with us’: Jewish community once again subject to terror and devastation

Commentary by ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin originally published in the Daily Telegraph on 11 December 2024.

The Jewish community again woke to scenes of terror and devastation.

More burning cars and broken glass. Another act intended to terrorise us, drive us from our country and make our fellow Australians fearful of associating with us.

How long will this continue and with what horrors will it end?

We have been warning the country of this for some time.

Months before the October 7 atrocities, we reported that anti-Semitism in this country was already reaching historic highs.

The restrictions and the isolation caused by the pandemic had revived conspiracy theories about Jews as spreaders of disease and profiteers.

We had warned of the need to dispel the myths and to show the Australian public who the Jewish people really are through deeper engagement and education.

Anti-Semitism did not suddenly appear in this society on October 7.

But it has been allowed to become a fact of life, visible in the scorched out synagogue, the graffiti, the street abuse, the exclusion, the boycotts and the threats.

The immediate response of government was to meet our requests to secure vulnerable community facilities.

This is plainly necessary but we do not want to live behind walls and observation towers and armed guards.

We don’t want to de-integrate from a society we adore and a country we have lived in since the First Fleet, a country we have helped build.

We have made our appeals to government but today we appeal to our fellow Australians – stand with us. Support us. Don’t let those who hate our great country prevail.