We hear a lot from Australia’s Zionist Jews in the media, not so much from non-Zionist Jews. Judith Treanor on hate laws and a nation in upheaval.
This sneer on X stopped me in my tracks today. I’ve received a lot worse from trolls, Zionists and racists on social media, but this one encapsulated so much of the climate we’re living in.
I am conscious that I’m centring Jews again by writing this. I would hazard a guess that most Australians are sick of hearing about Jewish feelings ad infinitum. I sure am. Not that that means we shouldn’t be shocked and horrified by what happened at Bondi. That’s a given.
But please indulge me for a short while, because anti-Zionist Jews are rarely heard from in the media.
We’re either ignored or attacked.
And this is where we’ve landed: a stranger on the internet interrogating my Jewishness.
Sure, I’m not religious now, but I was brought up in an orthodox religious family. I was proud of my Jewish heritage until the day it became synonymous with a genocide of Palestinians.
Tweet. X
Zionism is not Judaism, but you are supposed to think it is
The “How Jewish are you?” tweet reflects an entire political and media climate that insists there is one Jewish community and one Jewish view, and that view is unwavering support for Israel.
We hear it from almost every politician, besides the Greens and a couple of independents. My stomach sinks when the likes of Pauline Hanson parrot these words while showing she has no idea what Jewishness even is: “I stand with Australia’s Jewish community.”
Or when Julian Leeser declares that “the Liberals will stand with Jews” as the draconian hate law reforms get rammed through federal parliament. Which Jews, exactly? I ask.
And when Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declares: “There is no doubt the Jewish community is safer because of the new laws…”
But there is no single Jewish community.
There are Jews who support Israel, Jews who oppose Israel, Jews who oppose Zionism, Jews who are secular, Jews who are devout, and Jews who are devastated that our identity as a people has been hijacked by Zionism, and that ‘we’ oppressed people have become the oppressors.
The political class prefers not to acknowledge that reality because it disrupts the story they want – that Australia is under siege from “extremists”, and that
cracking down on speech and protest is necessary to protect “the Jews”.
The wrong kind of Jew
If I oppose Israel’s atrocities, I’m not Jewish enough.
If I march against apartheid, genocide and torture, I’m a kapo.
If I refuse to treat a foreign state as sacred, I’m a self-hating Jew.
We are ignored by politicians in their decision-making. Ignored by the mainstream media. We have been erased, while being told we are being protected.
So, how Jewish am I?
If we’re doing this grotesque audit of my Jewish identity, let’s get it out of the way.
- My Ancestry.com DNA test says I am 98% Jewish, listing the Eastern European countries of my ancestors where some were exterminated in the Holocaust.
- My name means “women of Judea”.
- My parents married under the chuppah. The rabbi’s son was their best man.
- My beloved grandpops sang in the choir at the synagogue. He had a beautiful voice. My nanny was part of the team who prepared kiddush after services.
- I was obsessed with every detail of the Holocaust from an early age. Not a day went past when it didn’t sit somewhere in my mind. I used to volunteer at the Jewish Museum in Sydney.
- The last time I travelled back to the UK was to attend my father’s stone setting at Bushey New Cemetery, just north of London. He lays near Rabbi Lord Jonathon Sacks in case anyone’s checking.
And ironically, I have more Jewish friends now than I had for decades, because a humanitarian movement has brought us together.
We are a community.
Not one recognised by the media and political class, but a community nevertheless.
And for anyone wondering whether I would have been “Jewish enough” in the 1940s: Hitler would have killed me anyway.
That’s how Jewish I am.
Hate laws and lists
Yesterday, the Albanese government did a backroom deal with the Liberals to ram through the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 as part of the political response to Bondi.
The laws expand hate-related offences, create a framework to ban “hate groups”, and hand the Home Affairs Minister expanded border and visa powers over anyone deemed to “promote hatred” or extremism.
They sold it as “Jewish safety”
but we know which Jews they are referring to. It’s absolutely not for the safety of Muslims, First Nations people or the safety of any other minority who cop it in Australia.
They sold this as cracking down on extremists. But history tells us that once governments build these systems, the net easily widens.
Anti-Zionist groups are already conflated with ‘extremism’ from the simple fact we attend pro-Palestine marches for peace.
We’re a threat to politicians’ beloved “social cohesion”.
Under this new regime, it is not hard to imagine Tony Burke deciding to go after groups like ours.
This is the same Tony Burke who led the Walk for Respect in Lakemba in 2017, a march against racism and hate speech towards Muslims. I was there and I remember it well.
Ironically, my friend Laurie said to me today: “The Nazis put us on lists.” Now these new hate laws have passed in Australia, “we’ll be back to being on lists” for raising our voices for Palestine.
The country is broken
The destruction the two terrorists wreaked at Bondi on 14 December has reached way beyond the victims. In the weeks since, the massacre has torn at a country that has historically responded to tragedy with unity rather than blame and politicisation.
While the country was still reeling from initial shock, the pro-Palestine protest movement was blamed. Five weeks on, the finger-pointing and vilification is getting worse.
The public space including social media platforms and legacy media is openly toxic. Those who cannot distinguish Judaism from Zionism, Muslims from terrorism, or protest from violence have been emboldened by political and media rhetoric to spew bile online. Decent people are called terrorists and people like myself are told we’re not Jewish enough.
So much for eliminating hate, Albo. Oh wait, here comes Herzog…
White supremacists with Australian flags. What really went down at Bondi