Frydenberg: Anti-Semitism Rising in Australia Since 7 October

On the third anniversary of Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Australia has failed to hold its communities together. He made the comments in an interview on 4BC Brisbane.

The program's host opened by describing the anniversary as a day for solemn remembrance. They argued that planned pro-Palestinian rallies in Sydney and Melbourne were inappropriate on such a date. They also said memorial events in Brisbane, Adelaide and other cities were being held in private. The host criticised the prime minister for what they called a lack of national unity and a muted response to the attacks. They said the problem was bigger than any one community.

Frydenberg recalled the scale of the attack. About 1,200 people were killed, and 251 were taken hostage. He said children were killed in front of their parents and parents in front of their children, and he cited mass sexual violence by Hamas, which Australia lists as a terrorist organisation. He said that, scaled to Australia's population, the toll would be roughly 4,000 deaths in one day and close to 1,000 hostages.

Frydenberg said he once asked Dennis Richardson, the former head of ASIO and a past secretary of the defence and foreign affairs departments, what he would advise if Australia suffered such an attack. Richardson's answer, he said, was to hunt down those responsible for as long as it took. Frydenberg said Israel is doing that against many regional enemies.

His main concern, however, was at home. He described the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia since the attacks as violent, rapid and unprecedented. He said a failure of leadership has left all Australians, Jewish and non-Jewish, less safe. The host said leaflets had been circulating in parts of suburban Brisbane with large migrant communities, including areas Frydenberg's interviewer said they had once represented in parliament. The host said they had never seen anything like it.

Frydenberg noted that Australia's Jewish population is just over 100,000, a small share of the country. He said Jewish Australians have contributed to national life since the First Fleet. He pointed to Sir John Monash, Sir Isaac Isaacs, Frank Lowy and Olympic gold medallist Jessica Fox. He said none of them saw a conflict between their faith and their citizenship.

Since 7 October, he said, Jewish Australians have been wrongly targeted over events overseas. He listed firebombed synagogues and child care centres, boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses, university encampments, and harassment and violence. He said these culminated in the 14 December attack at Bondi last year, which he described as Australia's worst terrorist attack. Fifteen people died, including 10-year-old Matilda. He urged listeners to connect those events with the current protests. The interview ended mid-discussion in the material provided.

Note: the video was published under a title referring to 16 foiled terror plots. The segment summarised here centres on the anniversary and Frydenberg's remarks on anti-Semitism and social cohesion. The views above are those of the interviewees.