How the left should speak about antisemitism

On December 14th, two gunmen opened fire on a celebration marking the first night of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 and injuring more than 40. The gunmen, a father and son, have since been linked to the Islamic State. Immediately, as observers near and far were just beginning to process and mourn, bad actors rushed in to claim the narrative. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a rebuke of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, linking the antisemitic attack to Albanese’s call for a Palestinian state. Australian antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal similarly linked the attack to a peaceful August 3rd Palestine solidarity march over Harbour Bridge attended by 300,000. She used the opportunity to promote her controversial 20-point plan to combat antisemitism, which would necessitate the broad adoption of the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism, mandate Trumpian funding cuts to universities, and crown herself arbiter of acceptable speech related to Israel/Palestine in the media. American politicians quickly weighed in to express solidarity with the state of Israel and link the violence to the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Some prominent American Jewish figures like New York Times columnist Bret Stephens and former US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt claimed—without evidence and before anything was known about the shooters—that the attack was downstream from use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a dig at New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani who chose not to condemn the phrase.

On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and senior editor Mari Cohen spoke with Sarah Schwartz, the Melbourne-based executive officer of the new progressive, independent Jewish organization the Jewish Council of Australia. They parsed the various responses, from Australia to the US to Israel; explored the folly of conflating the ideology of the Islamic State with Palestinian national or solidarity politics; and reflected on the role and responsibility of the Jewish left amid antisemitic violence.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading

“Jews, antisemitism and power in Australia,” Max Kaiser, Meanjin

“Bondi Beach Is What ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Looks Like,” Bret Stephens, The New York Times

Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement on Bondi Beach

Tweets from Rep. Claudia Tenney, Rep. Cory Mills, and Deborah Lipstadt

“'Not a blame game': Antisemitism envoy responds to Bondi attack, following Netanyahu snipe,” Ewa Staszewska, Anna Henderson, SBS News

“Labor is fast-tracking its response to the antisemitism envoy’s report after the Bondi attack. What are the recommendations?,” Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian

“I was at Bondi Beach last week. Our concerns were ignored,” Marina Rosenberg, eJewishPhilanthropy

“A Canadian Antisemitism Statistic Went Viral—But It Has No Source,” Blake Lambert, Jewish Currents

Israeli figures talking about antisemitism as an opportunity to trigger immigration to Israel

“Sydney Gunmen Were Motivated by ISIS, Australia’s Leader Says,” The New York Times

“Understanding ISIS’s Palestine Propaganda,” Samar Batrawi, Al-Shabaka

“Islamic State's Response to October 7,” Ilana Winter, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

“The importance of understanding the differences between Hamas, IS and al-Qaeda,” Dino Krause, Danish Institute for International Studies

“The Centrality of Anti-Semitism in the Islamic State’s Ideology and Its Connection to Anti-Shiism,” Daniel Rickenbacher

“Criminal complaint reveals new details in alleged ISIS-inspired plot to attack Jewish people in NYC,” Aaron Katersky, ABC News

Tweet by Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN Majed Bamya

“Australian state proposes ban on protests at places of worship to fight rising antisemitism,” Rod McGuirk, AP

“The Tangled Knot of Anti-Zionist Violence,” Daniel May, Jewish Currents, and the accompanying letters

“Chabad’s Extremist Turn,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

Rabbi Eli Schlanger’s Zionist activism

Transcript forthcoming.