“It is definitely getting worse for Jews [in Australia],” Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Ryvchin spoke to the Post just two days after a man attempted to set fire to a centuries-old historic synagogue in East Melbourne. Twenty people were inside the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue but did not suffer injuries as a result of the incident, according to the Victoria Police.
Not long before, Israeli chef Eyal Shani’s Miznon restaurant in Melbourne was also attacked, with some 20 protesters recorded yelling “death to the IDF” while throwing chairs, food, and glassware.
“Last summer, we had a spate of antisemitic fire bombings that are alien to Australia. The period seemed to come to a close, and wider society seemed to think it was over, or exaggerated to begin with, but the Jewish community experience was contradictory to this,” Ryvchin said.
“The firebombings may have ceased, but in schoolyards, on campuses, online, the antisemitism continues to be really quite shocking.”
Ryvchin said that no one in the Australian Jewish community is surprised about the renewal of violent firebombings, given the prevalence of rabid extremism across the country.
Massive increase of antisemitism in Australia
As a result of the massive increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia, the country’s law enforcement launched several task forces last year specifically aimed at preventing attacks and arresting perpetrators. This includes the New South Wales Police’s Strike Force Pearl, which was set up in December 2024 to respond to a spate of antisemitic attacks in Sydney.
“The measures haven’t been working,” said Ryvchin, nevertheless acknowledging that it is difficult to hypothesize if things would be worse without these measures.
He raised the issue that wider society in Australia still draws a “clear distinction between traditional neo-Nazi antisemitism and firebombings vs the activities of the anti-Israel movement.”
“In most people’s minds, these are separate,” Ryvchin said, “but when you look at these anti-Israel protests, you see portraits of terrorist leaders and chants of ‘death to the IDF.’”
Although both are versions of antisemitism, they appear to be distinct owing to the political echelon and society, in general, viewing anti-Israel sentiment and activity as a form of political expression, Ryvchin said.
“But the incident in the restaurant was broadcast to social media, it was mobilized and planned, he noted, “and the authorities let it happen.”
“This is a violent movement, but they are reticent to accept it.”
In this capacity, Australia lags behind other countries, such as the US and the UK, Ryvchin continued. The US and the UK have both worked to proscribe certain groups (see Britain’s proscription of Palestine Action this weekend)
‘Australia is lagging behind’
“There is this complete disconnect. The political class says: ‘These are political slogans,’ and chooses to look the other way,” Ryvchin said.
“There is this obfuscation and casting of doubt,” he continued, adding that politicians seek to muddy the waters by not letting Jews define antisemitism themselves or by dismissing the definitions given.
“The lengths that some members of parliament go to to cast doubt on the lived experiences of the [Jewish] community” are extraordinary, he said.
“Would they go to these lengths if it was about victims of sexual violence or about other races?” he asked. “But when it’s about Jews,” it’s different.
Some politicians see antisemitism as a “nuisance” and are “sick of hearing about it but also doubt the legitimacy and veracity of it at the same time.”
Friday’s attacker has been arrested and charged with reckless conduct, endangering life, criminal damage by fire, and possession of a controlled weapon, but not hate crime or terrorism.
Part of the reticence to charge attackers with a hate crime or terrorist offense is due to “natural law enforcement bureaucracy,” said Ryvchin, whereby the motivation must be investigated first.
Still, there is undeniably the “casting of doubt” factor as well.
“You have 14 firebombings of specifically Jewish targets, each of them accompanied by unequivocally anti-Jewish graffiti, but fringe figures still claim it’s not antisemitism.”
There is a political blowback for labeling something terrorism, Ryvchin added, with some seeing it as “pandering to the Jewish community.”
“The second people have the opportunity to say ‘this isn’t antisemitism,’ they will take it,” he said.