The disturbing reason why pro-Palestine protesters won’t stop

Written by Jeremy Stowe-Lindner, Principal

There are times when shining a light in a particular direction in a particular way illuminates a truth that was intimated, but not entirely clear.

We now have such a light shining on the protests that engulf our cities each week, disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of our multicultural communities, and claim not to be anti-Jewish or antisemitic, merely pro-Palestinian.

The protests called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas – and we now have a ceasefire. They called for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza – and we now have a timetable for that. And they called for an increase of humanitarian aid into the territory – and that is now happening.

Yet the protests are continuing. Why?

Well, to the Jewish community and much of the wider world, the reason is clear. The protests were never just about a ceasefire, an Israeli withdrawal or humanitarian aid, since if they were, the protestors would be putting down their banners and going home. And very many of the protestors are still there.

Part of a long-term strategy fed by radical Islam and its unholy alliance with the far Left, the protests seek to eradicate from the world its only Jewish state.

In a world with 57 Muslim countries and a single Jewish one, in a region with 315 million Muslims and just 7 million Jews in Israel (in a country of 10 million), and in a Middle East of 9.9 million square kilometres with just 21,000 for Israel (that’s less than a third the size of Tasmania), the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the region is the protestors’ goal.

I have not seen one call for a two-state solution; the desired outcome is a one state solution and it doesn’t include Jews.

When they display symbols of the Israeli flag with a red X through it, or an Israeli flag in a trash can, or a ‘From the River to the Sea’ slogan, they are calling for the genocide of the Jewish population of Israel.

Where would they have those Jews go?

And by that logic, shouldn’t the protestors themselves – almost exclusively non-Indigenous Australians – pack up and leave Australia since their non-biblical claim to live in Australia, and their recent personal or familial emigration here, is a far greater act of occupation (or simple chutzpa) than Jews living in their ancestral homeland, a land to which they have prayed to for millennia?

The protestors seem to ignore the uncomfortable fact that before Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and slaughtered over 1,200 mainly civilian Jews, and kidnapped 250, there was no Israeli presence in Gaza. Israel moved in after it was attacked.

The protestors have made no call for the release of the hostages – which include children, old people, Holocaust survivors. I have not seen one call for a two-state solution; the desired outcome is a one state solution and it doesn’t include Jews.

And if humanitarian aid is their concern, let us consider their angst for just one other conflict in a nearby country. Given the far greater calamity in Sudan, for example, in which 61,000 have been killed in Khartoum state alone since October 2023, and according to Amnesty International 9 million people are displaced, where is their call for action in Sudan?

At this stage, allow me to complicate things with a nuance. Like most Jews, I am both a Zionist and pro-Palestinian. As a Zionist, I believe in the state of Israel as a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people. History has taught us that Jewish statehood is an essential element of Jewish security. The Holocaust demonstrated that we have over six million proofs for statehood from the last century alone.

The Zionism of many Jews, mine included, is entwined with supporting self-determination for all peoples. As a result I also believe that the Palestinians should have their own state , whilst noting that unlike the Jews, the Palestinians have never previously had statehood – prior to Israel, the region was ruled by the British, before them the Turks, before them various empires and so forth. The Palestinians have a legitimate call and cause for statehood and this should be fulfilled, in line with non-violence towards their Jewish neighbour.

Like many Jews I abhor many elements of both Netanyahu’s coalition and his ideology. Yet I am nuanced enough to differentiate, as I am here in Australia, my love for a country from my disdain for a government and some of its policies.

There is no such nuance in the protests. They say they want one thing – a Palestinian state – but they really want two things. They also want the region to be Judenfrei.

If they genuinely wanted peace, they would pause their protests and watch the ceasefire and its aftermath; they would balance their calls for an end to Israeli hostilities with calls for both the unconditional release of hostages and a change to the Hamas charter to destroy Israel. They would be as concerned about Muslims in countries as far and wide as Sudan, Iran and Myanmar as they are in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

As the Pullitzer Prize winning author Thomas Friedman wrote, “Criticising Israel is not antisemitic and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest.”If you criticise Israel alone, then you are showing your true colours. You are a racist agitator who seeks to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.

As an Australian non-indigenous coloniser you live on Aboriginal land but apply a double standard only to the Middle East’s Jewish minority.You tolerate and justify Hamas’s murder, rape and kidnapping in the name of resistance, and you deny the right to self-defence to just one ethnic minority.

It's time to hold up a mirror.