Well that went well didn’t it? Following a major terrorist attack there was an appropriate response, a shining moment of the Jewish community largely rising above and taking the high road, encouraging goodness and strength in community, NSW Government takes responsibility and vows to investigate.
But then, a bunch of small minded (and small other things) Liberals who wanted to seize the momentum and are oppositioning Tony Abbott style simply had to jump up and down about getting a Commonwealth Royal Commission instead of a NSW one. Anything to take a tragedy and turn it in to a moment to score political points, while the dead were still being buried.
They manipulated grieving families into signing on to their confected outrage. Told them that this is what was needed, appropriate, what they should demand.
So now, the NSW Royal Commission into the terrorist attack at Chanukah celebrations at Bondi Beach is cancelled. And in it’s place we get a Commonwealth Royal Commission into ‘social cohesion’.
Here’s the Commonwealth RC terms of reference:
- Tackling antisemitism by investigating the nature and prevalence of antisemitism in institutions and society, and its key drivers in Australia, including ideologically and religiously motivated extremism and radicalisation.
- Making recommendations that will assist law enforcement, border control, immigration and security agencies to tackle antisemitism, including through improvements to guidance and training within law enforcement, border control, immigration, and security agencies to respond to antisemitic conduct.
- Examining the circumstances surrounding the antisemitic Bondi terrorist attack on 14 December 2025.
- Making any other recommendations arising out of the inquiry for strengthening social cohesion in Australia and countering the spread of ideologically and religiously motivated extremism in Australia.
Absolutely, Albanese should have immediately called a Royal Commission into what undoubtedly is one of this country’s greatest defence and intelligence failures. His delay in doing so is inexcusable.
But because of the politics of it, and media coverage that was an absolute balagan of tropes and drama, we now get a bullet point and swept under the table in a bigger debate. Just like the dead and injured Jewish heroes were largely ignored so the media could fawn over a not-Jewish guy that tackled a gunman, the aftermath, investigations and debate are furiously being made to focus on anything but Jews.
Yeah sure we’ll ‘investigate the nature and prevalence of antisemitism’ and ‘examine the circumstances’ of the terrorist attack, but this Royal Commission will not give the community the answers it seeks, nor are the recommendations sought in any way related to preventing the hate that has been so tragically laid bare. Read the terms of reference again – recommendations are only sought for advising law enforcement and security agencies on how to respond, and to improve social cohesion.
Language matters. It’s why I generally refer to it as the Chanukah Massacre, not ‘Bondi’. It happened on Chanukah, targeted at a Chanukah event. It didn’t happen in Bondi at all – Bondi Beach is a different suburb. Referring to it as ‘Bondi’ coupled with ‘tragedy’ or ‘event’ or any other term that strips away the violent terrorist element of it, is possibly the single greatest example of just how entrenched and widespread antisemitism is in this country. Anything we can to diminish the reality and dismiss the awfulness of it, and strip the Jewishness from it.
Albanese’s language in referring to a Royal Commission that was supposed to be about antisemitism and a single terrorist event as a Royal Commission about ‘social cohesion’ is possibly the second greatest example of how entrenched antisemitism is in this country. Make no mistake, the short term handle the Prime Minister is using will be the driver of the media narrative and political debate, and in just the blink of an eye all mention of antisemitism will be erased by debates about gun laws and this elusive concept of ‘social cohesion’. Again, anything to be able to talk about anything other than Jews being killed for being Jews.
The third example undoubtedly is the outrage about a known hate preacher that has called for the death of Jews more times than I can be bothered recounting was asked not to attend a writers festival. Boo hoo. She never should have been invited in the first place, but the is Australia, where it is completely acceptable to call for the death of Jews for being Jews and call it art or academia, just as it is completely acceptable to deny Jews the same rights to express themselves in art or academia, or to quote the so-called writer in question “Zionists have no right or expectation of cultural safety“.
Hate preachers are not just bearded guys in a makeshift mosque with a YouTube channel. They are everywhere in this country. They’re elected to parliament, host talk back radio programs, and pretend to be academics or writers. They profess their hate openly and without any repercussion, and when any attempt is made to say ‘that’s really not ok’, the broad response is to condemn and bully those who object to the hate, and the hater is praised for their efforts.
Australia has refused for literally decades to deal with its hate. It’s not like the level of hate is not a known problem in Australia – just ask Indigenous Australians, from the Deaths in Custody RC to the Voice referendum, it’s really well documented just how much Australians love to hate based on ethnicity or identity.
And because of small minded petty hate on the political stage, we won’t be dealing with it in this Royal Commission either. We’ll only be making it worse, giving people a platform to talk about how much they hate immigrants or anyone who is different, and an excuse to broadcast their preferred brand of hate for the next two years.
But that’s what you were wishing for, right?
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
ahhh … and finally you get to the part where you acknowledge Australia is a racist country … finally.
Annabel Doherty Not really, but it has racist elements. It’s probably the least racist country i have lived in. The issues is not about race, it is that the country has changed and it is not the country of many that grew up here. Australia of 1960’s is not Australia of the 2020’s. This sense of dispossession is what is driving the discontent that is seen in the Hanson attraction.
John Kechagias Yes, I should have said bigoted country. Sloppy of me.
I dunno but I think there would be something even more wrong with us if we had not changed in 60 years. But I get that some people are annoyed that there are laws about discrimination now. I understand people think life has ‘changed’ and they can not handle the change. People who used to just get chucked in institutions with no acknowledgement of their human rights or humanity wish what you wish for too. I guess women probably wish for what you do too, maybe even child sexual assault victims …
[ ] Albanese’s legacy of his own failed Labor leadership extending to Kevin Rudd’s failed leadership continue to grow. The lies continue to spill out of Albo’s mouth, how can anyone believe anything he says regarding the removeral of Kevin Rudd a total failure as a leader representing Australia given a hand out job from his mate, Albo, bye, bye birdie, Albo your next your honeymoon is well and truly over! Oh Magoo you’re done it again!🥸
Calvary Risen he’ll win the next election in a hand canter again.
I take issue at you calling Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah a hate Preacher. When she referred to the end of Israel and to the Zionist led regime she was referring to the ending of the Gaza Genocide and that Israel and Zionism cannot continue as entities creating this hate. That this part of the Middle East needs to change tack completely (my words). She has been exonerated by the tribunal and allowed to continue practicing as a lecturer. Her statements do not state that she wants to kill Jews. You are misreading her completely and your article is maligning her in a shocking way by stating she is calling for the death of Jews just because they are Jews. Your comments carry weight and you need to be mindful of what you say.
Heather Judy Cohen Well said, thankyou.
Heather Judy Cohen that assessment is not based on a single comment; I have been aware of her hateful and intolerant views since studying such views and language along side Hanson and others in my PhD. I am not misreading, misrepresenting, or misinterpreting: she repeatedly and regularly calls for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their traditional lands (from the river to the sea, end of Israel, etc) and indeed from the world (globalise the intifada). She has celebrated the death of Jews, and denied the right of Jews to mourn their dead (including on Dec 17 in specific reference to the Chanukah massacre). She routinely misrepresents what Zionism is – a political belief that Jews have an equal right to a safe homeland – as some kind of terrorist ideology, uses the term ‘Zionist’ in a manner that infers criminal gang activity and outright calls those with Zionist views – which is about 95% of Australia’s Jews – as evil and part of a death cult, people who should be hated, condemned, and denied equal rights. She is, undeniably, a hate preacher in the common language understanding of those words.
This view is very much aligned with the majority of Jewish diaspora in Australia. However there is a smaller number of Jewish people in Australia that understand that Israel is enacting a genocide. The view that they have an equal right to a safe homeland is strange, as they already have the right over Israel and Occupied Palestine. It is the Arabs/Palestinians that are disenfranchised, tortured, not allowed to protect their own land in the West Bank (they cannot carry arms) . There is an apartheid occuring in Israel and the occupied lands right now. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to be a Palestinian academic and to see the inhumane treatment of people from her homeland. One group seems to have the right to annihilate a group of people with the support of their population and many in the Diaspora (for Jewish people), yet the other party in this part of the world has no rights. And by the way the criminal (terrorist) gang activity perpetrated against Palestinians in the West Bank by ‘Settlers’ is atrocious, all with the backing of the IDF (IOF) and the police
Heather Judy Cohen Medinat Yisrael is not Am Yisrael, and one should not be expected to pay the price for the other. Having lived and worked in the West Bank, I can assure you that most of the Israel/Palestine conflict is propaganda (which you appear to have swallowed a gallon of): Arab Israelis have more rights than Jewish Israelis in some respects, Palestinians who choose not to become citizens of Israel obviously do not get the benefits of citizenship. That is their political choice and thus it can’t be apartheid on that basis. A genocide would fit if they were killing arabs everywhere, but they’re not, it only fits if you define the Gazan people as a separate people. Hamas attacked, killed, raped, took hostage and terrorised Israelis and some tourists – and didn’t stop to check their religion – with the support of the Gazans who elected them. There is evil on both sides of this tragedy – I see both, and I don’t hold the citizens of either side responsible for it, nor do I expect that Palestinians or Israelis elsewhere – nor Muslims or Jews elsewhere – should be held in any way responsible or should die for the political actions of elected governments. Abdel-Fattah does, and her views long predate the October 7 attack – which she celebrated and praised. She is a hate preacher, full stop.
The RC into antisemetic hate speech will only create more speech that the Jewish will hate.
Facts can NOT be construed as hate speech.
Why has the Australian government pandered to a 0.4% minority who spread bigotry and religious extremism in Australia, while referring to assimilate in Australia??
Australian politicians need to support international laws and conventions and stop supporting genocide and war criminals.
Like the US Australia has been infiltrated by traitorous paid Zionist Israeli goose stepping foot soldiers masquerading as patriotic Australian politicians. Chris Minns is an insult to Labor values.
The cynical, contrived and contemptuous use of antisemitism by the Zionist propagandist to demand a royal commission is a ruse to censor debate and cripple our freedoms.
When the Zionist lobby are more powerful then the Australian peoples democratic rights then something has gone horrible wrong. Tens of thousands of brave young Australians made the ultimate sacrifice for our collective freedoms and values and not to be dictated too by a foreign regime.
How is it that genocide is the ultimate hate crime as apartheid is the purest fotm of racism while terrorism is the most evil and heanous act of violent coercion perpetrated upon a people which are crimes against humanity itself and yet antisemitism is far more abhorrent?
Have these people demanding a RC ever come together to demand a full and open independent inquiry into the stand down order and the use of the Hannibal Doctrine on October 7 by the Zionist Israeli government?
Have they ever come together to condemn the genocide and apartheid rule of the Zionist Israeli government?
Have they ever come together to condemn the use of starvation as a weapon?
Have they ever come together to condemn the mass slaughter of women and children?
Are they interested in facts or more interested in supporting a war criminal who threatened the democratically elected leader of Australia for recognising a Palestinian state ?
There needs to be a RC into the forces, foreign and domestic, that have targeted a organised and orchestrated a divisive campaign for a RC that will avoid any mention of the elephant in the room, the genocide being perpetrated by Zionist Israel.
Australians are far better then those who seek to divide and control us.
It is important not to conflate Judaism and Zionism. They are two very different things. Meanwhile, the Richardson investigation into the massacre is proceeding, and will take about four months to complete. Then, and only then, there will be the Federal Royal Commission.
Alisa Perks #factcheck the review is not a thing anymore, it has been folded in to the Royal Commission on Social Cohesion https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/independent-review-federal-law-enforcement-intelligence-agencies-terms-reference
New England My understanding is that the Richardson investigation is happening first, and then the RC flows on from that.
John Kechagias we haven’t removed any comment from you.
Maybe the person i responded too removed their comment and so mine disappeared with it. Thanks for replying.
New England Times or have they been hidden? My comment isn’t visible and didn’t violate any fb community standards.
Considering the Commissioner that has been chosen the result will be anything but credible.
This is what happened in the old Soviet Union and how Putin controls Russia, please read and pass it around.
Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB informant who defected to Canada, spent much of his life warning the world about the dangers of government propaganda and how it can distort truth in societies. His reflections offer a powerful insight into the mechanics of demoralization—how it strips away the capacity for individuals to perceive the truth, even when presented with irrefutable facts. According to Bezmenov, once a person is demoralized, they become immune to true information, no matter how much evidence is shown to them.
This powerful observation sheds light on the pervasive influence of misinformation and the importance of critical thinking in a world filled with conflicting narratives. When people are subjected to manipulative propaganda, they begin to lose their ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, often even rejecting the truth when it is right in front of them. This is a dangerous path for any society, leading to a collective loss of discernment and understanding.
Bezmenov’s warning is not just about external propaganda, but also about the internal process of demoralization, which can lead to a collective breakdown in society’s moral and ethical compass. It is a call to remain vigilant, to seek truth with discernment, and to educate ourselves and others to recognize when manipulation and misinformation are at play.
In these times, where information flows freely but truth is often elusive, it is more important than ever to hold on to our ability to think critically and maintain a clear moral vision. Without this, societies risk becoming fragmented, with their values eroded and their future uncertain.
… and yet you reject a poem written expressly AGAINST hate? Odd. Reject it because you don’t publish poetry and I’d say fair enough.