April 29, 2005

EDITORIAL

The scourge of vandalism

THE timing of the attack on the synagogue in Newcastle last week was particularly poignant. Vandals daubed graffiti, including swastikas and antisemitic slogans, across the walls of the Orthodox shul just hours after Hitler’s 116th birthday and just days before Pesach, when we celebrate our freedom from bondage.

 

The perpetrators of the attack, believed to be members of the white supremacist organisation White Pride, knew full well that their vandalism would not only disrupt the small congregation of 30 or so members as it prepared for a major Jewish festival, but also send a message across the country that race hate is alive and well in provincial NSW.

 

But they may not have heard of the fate of Shannon Post, an associate of the extremist Australian National Movement, who was jailed last week for six months for vandalising the Perth Hebrew Congregation last July.

 

Whatever one thinks of the degree of severity of the punishment, the message Magistrate Robert Black sent was loud and clear: in modern, multicultural Australia race-hate crimes are not tolerated, and will be punished by jail.

 

It is to be hoped the Newcastle Police display a similar degree of persistence in their investigation into last week’s attack as their Perth counterparts.

 

Compounding the concern in the Central Coast was the case of Darren Mackay and Jenni Duncombe, who flew a Nazi flag in their backyard last week and initially refused to take it down when neighbours protested. What was most alarming was the fact they claimed they were unaware of the swastika’s offensiveness.

 

If the deliberate antagonism of Jews by the perpetrators of the Newcastle shul attack was cause for alarm, then the apparent blind ignorance of the Mannering Park residents is of equal worry.

 

Earlier this month, Nazi hunter Dr Efraim Zuroff referred to “Holocaust fatigue” in relation to Maori MP John Tamihere’s admission that he was “sick and tired” of hearing how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

 

If these residents are the exception, then the brouhaha over the Nazi flag is perhaps not worth worrying about. But if, in rural Australia, there are many others with a similar lack of knowledge about Hitler’s heinous crimes then this is an issue that must be urgently addressed. For it is precisely these apparently naive, innocent people who are perfect fodder for white supremacists and other race-haters who peddle anti-Jewish propaganda in Newcastle and elsewhere.

 

And if indeed we have largely succeeded in Holocaust education in the main metropolitan areas of Australia but failed in rural Australia — despite the notable success of B’nai B’rith’s Courage to Care travelling exhibition — then perhaps we must re-evaluate the direction of the huge investments we have made into Holocaust education in this country.

 

WHILE the attacks on shuls in Newcastle and Perth, and for that matter in Sydney and Melbourne over the past year, are cause for concern, it is the recent rise in attacks against Jews for Jesus missionaries in Sydney and a building belonging to a Messianic congregation in Melbourne which should be ringing loud alarm bells.

 

Whatever one thinks of their attempts to prosletyse Jews, physical and verbal abuse and attacks are entirely unacceptable forms of behaviour. We Jews have long been on the other end of the proverbial boot, and at no time should we sink to the ignominious depths of our enemies by adopting their tactics.

 

But perhaps the most disturbing attack was the vandalism earlier this month of Shira Hadasha, a new shul in Melbourne which aims to operate along Orthodox lines while striving to include women without contravening halacha.

 

The concrete slab thrown through its door could have been the work of anyone, but the sign accusing the congregation of being “treif” and calling on “defenders of our faith [to] keep our kehillah holy” appears to be the work of a Jew.

 

If true, it is of grave concern that a Jew would attack a Jewish house of worship, and it is to be hoped this is simply one individual on a lone crusade who the authorities will apprehend sooner rather than later.

 

Although we are all collectively victims of these attacks, we must not forget that — compared to the rest of Diaspora Jewry — we live in relative freedom here in Australia. Above all, however, we must never allow ourselves to become the perpetrators — against Jew or non-Jew.