Leaders speak about antisemitism

January 30, 2025 by AAP
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Senior leaders have condemned the antisemitic incident involving a caravan full of explosives as an “attack on the Australian way of life”.

Australia’s top leaders are speaking out after a van packed with explosives was discovered in Sydney’s northwest with a note containing anti-Semitic material.

* “There’s zero tolerance in Australia for hatred and for anti-Semitism, and I want any perpetrators to be hunted down and locked up. It’s as simple as that. They have no place and this sort of engagement is designed to create fear and terror in the community, and it will not succeed, because our community is stronger than the cowards who engage in this sort of activity.” – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

* “This is a deeply concerning matter, and it hasn’t gone away as an issue for our country. We’re still seeing overnight attacks on Jewish homes, and when you have Holocaust survivors who have lived in our country since 1945 in peace, now saying that they feel unsafe in our country, it is a national disgrace.” – Opposition Leader Peter Dutton

* “The feelings in the Jewish community are not only one of understandable concern and anxiety because of the repeated nature of these attacks, but increasingly one of anger, and I think it’s an anger that is shared more widely by a very large number of Australians who have had a gutful of these events. They bring shame on our country. They demean us as a nation.” – Peter Wertheim, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive

* “Not only has the caravan been removed and the contents removed from the public, but also the owner is out of play and in custody – so the risk to the public has been mitigated very early on … We are not leaving a stone unturned in this matter.” – Police Commissioner Karen Webb

* “There are some terrible people in our community, I’m ashamed to say it, but that’s the truth. Bad morals, bad ethics, bad people will commit these acts, but Australians stand united against this appalling racism. Most Australians, from every background, regard this kind of hate-filled activity as the opposite of what it means to live in our country and our community in Australia in 2025.” – NSW Premier Chris Minns

* “The time for half measures is over. We need to throw the book at anyone and everyone who is engaged in anti-Semitic attacks, and we need to improve and increase the security that is provided to the Jewish community … Because this isn’t just an attack on the Jewish community, it is an attack on our Australian way of life.” – Liberal MP for Berowra Julian Leeser, whose electorate includes the location the van was discovered

* “Thankfully, this incident was foiled, but what lies behind it is sickening, and that there was an attempt to pursue an event of this kind is really appalling. There is no place for this kind of activity in Australia.” – Defence Minister Richard Marles

* “This is undoubtedly the most severe threat to the Jewish community in Australia to date. The plot, if executed, would likely have resulted in the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil. For 16 months, the Jewish community has been warning that unchecked incitement, violent rhetoric, and weak leadership have created the perfect environment for extremism and terrorism to flourish. This is not just a threat to Jewish Australians, it is a threat to our shared values, our safety, and our way of life. – President of ZFA  Jeremy Leibler

 

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