Israeli-Hamas war impacts Australia’s multicultural society and politics

Since the beginning of October, the intensifying military conflict between Israel and Hamas has split international opinion between those who support Israel’s counter-attacks against Hamas terrorists, and those who cannot bear to see the innocent casualties caused by Israel’s counter-attacks in the Gaza Corridor.

Israeli Defense Minister Galant declared on Monday that Hamas “has lost control of the Gaza Strip” and that militants are “fleeing to the south”. At the same time, the Qassam Brigades, a Hamas militant group, said Hamas was prepared to release 70 women and children hostages it was holding in exchange for a five-day full ceasefire in Gaza. All of this has caused indelible trauma to the Australian diaspora.

“Spreading ‘anti-Semitism’ and ‘Islamophobia’

Over the past few years, anti-Semitism has been on the rise around the world. In particular, there has been a noticeable rise in anti-Semitism during outbreaks of hostilities between Israel and neighboring countries or terrorist organizations.The past month has seen an upsurge in racist incidents against Australia’s Jewish and Muslim communities as the Israeli-Hamas conflict continues to escalate. After the Hamas attack early last month, when the Sydney Opera House was illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag, video footage of a small group of people lighting flares and chanting “Death to the Jews” outside the Opera House was shocking.

According to the 2021 census, Victoria has the largest Jewish population in Australia. Violent clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups broke out on the streets of Melbourne on Friday night. Pro-Palestinian protesters met in Princes Park, while pro-Israeli protesters gathered on the other side of the road, with police positioned between the two groups of around 200 people each. Police had to use pepper spray as a result of the fighting between the two groups in the middle of Hawthorn Road.

The clash took place outside a synagogue and a Burgertory burger restaurant, which was damaged by fire that morning. The burger chain’s founder, Hirmin Tayer, said he had received threats and believed the fire was a hate crime after he was photographed at a pro-Palestinian rally chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Although police say they believe the fire was not religiously or politically motivated, they are still treating the fire as suspicious.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan immediately condemned the violence, saying that all forms of anti-Semitism and attacks on the Muslim community are unacceptable. Police in Victoria have increased their presence in the area where the clashes took place. Opposition leader John Pessuto has also spoken out, saying all Victorians should be able to pray freely and safely without fear of intimidation. Prime Minister Albanese said all Australians have a responsibility to maintain peace, harmony and respect, and that hatred and prejudice in any form will not be tolerated in Australia. The Chief Executive of the Victorian Minority Community Council, Mohammed El Rafihee, has encouraged Jewish and Palestinian Australians not to hide their identities and has supported the idea that only through cooperation between communities in these difficult times can the cohesion of the Victorian community be maintained without letting international events affect the state’s social cohesion. But the reality of the conflict was a slap in the face.

Social cohesion put to the test

For many years, both Labor and Coalition governments have been supporters of Israel. The former Prime Minister, Mr. Morrison, even recognized West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and considered relocating the embassy, but the current government has openly cancelled this policy. However, after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, Australia immediately condemned the attack, but refused to criticize Israel’s retaliatory attack and affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. When the General Assembly of the United Nations called on Israel to stop attacking the Palestinians, Australia abstained from voting, which was questioned by many Australians.

Until the Israeli attacks killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and children, earlier this month, Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, wrote an op-ed saying that Israel needs to heed the calls from its allies urging it to exercise restraint, or the conflict risks spreading beyond the Gaza Strip because the international community will not accept the continued deaths of civilians. In her article, Wong outlined the Albanese government’s position in the strongest terms yet, saying that “the status quo is a disappointment to everyone” and that the only option is to seek a “lasting peace” through a political process, with a two-state solution that allows Israel and Palestine to live side by side. And a lasting peace requires people to see the humanity in each other and demands that each side respect the right of others to exist. It is easy for politicians, academics, and international law experts to say that both Israel and Palestine have the right to exist within established and secure borders; this principle is at the heart of the two-state solution. But what does that principle mean for the countless civilians who are in the killing fields?

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull  has said that while many leaders have made solidarity visits to Israel, Albanese should not have done so. Despite the fact that former Australian Prime Minister Morrison and former British Prime Minister Johnson visited Israel together, Mr. Turnbull said it would be better for Albanese to focus on domestic issues, which is the duty of the Australian Prime Minister to promote the interests of the Australian people. After all, at this stage, the ruling Australian Labor Party is being attacked by the opposition, its approval ratings continue to fall, and the pressure within the Labor Party is mounting, with many calling for it to do more to condemn Israel’s retaliatory actions.

Australia is a multicultural and multireligious country, and people may have different and deeper views on issues related to the Middle East conflict, but political discourse must be handled with respect. The recent escalation of the Israeli-Hamas conflict has been traumatic for the Australian diaspora: people with relatives in Israel want to know if the hostages will be released, and they want to know how many people will die. The Jewish community has legitimate concerns about its safety in Australia, given the heightened tensions in the community and the resurgence of virulent anti-Semitism. The Palestinian community in Australia, at the heart of the Labor election, is also in a state of despair, given the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza and the soaring number of deaths and injuries every day.

People come to Australia because they want to live in a country that is peaceful, tolerant and respectful, and peace, tolerance and mutual respect are not just empty promises, they need to be carefully maintained by all members of the community. Authoritative studies have shown that Australia’s social cohesion has been declining since the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The just-released 2023 Scanlon Foundation’s Social Cohesion Report, a research project mapping the mood of the multicultural nation since 2007, shows that economic pressures and geo-political uncertainty have put Australia’s social cohesion at a ‘critical turning point’, with the number of Australians expressing a strong sense of national belonging and pride at a 17-year low. This is worrying.

Solving problems based on reality is the real deal

Many things involve the issue of scale, especially historical, cultural and social issues, for which there are almost no standard answers. In the case of the Palestine issue, we can start with the departure of the Jews from the land of Palestine during the Roman era, or we can analyze it from the Ottoman Turkish Empire and British colonialism. As for Zionism, it can be discussed from the long history of discrimination and unequal treatment of Jews in Europe, and also from the anti-Semitism of the German Nazis. As for the question of the sovereignty of the land of Palestine today, should we think of it in terms of British colonialism or the UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947? From different historical starting points, there are naturally different conclusions about who should own this land.

To be more realistic, what is the role of the Israeli-Palestinian issue under the Cold War framework? Simple answers are never enough to satisfy the needs of different positions and scales of thinking, but the collision of different positions, different thinking and different values is a living reality. Australians come from more than 100 countries around the world, and they will have different perspectives on history. The question of where the government stands when making decisions about how to act in the present day is a major concern.

As a country of immigrants, Australia has naturally developed a multicultural community. It is not the first time that political parties have struggled to deal with multiculturalism, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 20 years ago caused a stir within the Australian Labor Party. That year, pressure was brought to bear on two pro-Palestinian backbenchers to moderate their outbursts in parliamentary debates on the Middle East, given the risk of losing votes and donations from Jewish voters. Politicians may say nice things in front of the media about occupying the moral high ground, but in reality their behavior is closely related to their core interest – the vote.

The nation-state is the foundation of modern international relations, and the formation of core national values is an important symbol of national maturity and an important guarantee of national stability. However, Australia has always suffered from the influence of racism in the construction of nationalism. Not only did it implement the “White Australia Policy” to exclude people of color in its history, but after the implementation of the multicultural policy, although racism was officially ended, there were still many outbreaks of racial discrimination, which demonstrates that racism has not died out, but exists in a new and more insidious form. Australia’s multiculturalism policy pursues equal coexistence, but neglects interracial integration and fails to heal the cultural rift between mainstream groups and ethnic minorities, so it is not surprising that the country’s sense of identity and belonging is at a low point, and its continued construction is in trouble.

Albanese paints a rosy picture for Australians: we need to ensure that Australia remains a microcosm of our ideal world, that people of all faiths and backgrounds can live together in a multicultural society. There is no place for hatred, no place for anti-Semitism, no place for Islamophobia. However, what should the government do when disputes between people of different faiths and backgrounds arise due to different demands, escalating into conflicts and breeding hatred? Given the complexity of human nature and the fact that the government can foresee such a possibility, what kind of policy should be adopted to prevent conflicts beforehand, so that conflicts can be avoided as far as possible, and at the same time, there should be measures to cope with conflicts once they occur. This can definitely not be achieved by just saying a few nice words, but rather, it is necessary for the government to genuinely enter into the multicultural communities in its daily life, to put aside its arrogance, to understand them, and to listen to them, so that it can come up with a sustainable policy. It is necessary for the government to truly enter the multicultural community in every aspect of its daily life, put aside its arrogance, understand them and listen to them before it can come up with sustainable policies. It seems that the Australian government has a long road ahead of it.

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