On Saturday night, we went to bed after learning of the tragic attack resulting in the deaths of two students and the wounding of nine others at Brown University in Providence, R.I. We awoke on Sunday morning to learn of the vicious attack on Australian Jews resulting in at least 15 dead and 40 wounded as they celebrated the first night of Hanukkah at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

Hanukkah, the Jewish “Festival of Lights,” is the eight-day holiday that commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after a rebel group led by Judah Maccabee defeated the Syrian Greeks and reclaimed the Temple.

When they sought to relight the Temple’s menorah there was only enough ritually pure olive oil to keep the flames burning for one day. However according to the Talmud the flames burned for eight days, just enough time to produce a new supply of olive oil. In a real sense, Hanukkah is a celebration of religious freedom, the triumph of light over darkness and the power of faith against overwhelming odds.

Since the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis antisemitism has been on the rise in Australia due to the Israeli retaliatory war with Hamas. In 2024, while worldwide antisemitic attacks decreased Australia along with Italy experienced the biggest increase in antisemitic attacks in the world.

Australian Jews are centered in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and account for 117,000 citizens in a nation of 28 million. Uriya Shavit of Tel Aviv University said recently that Australia was once one of the safest communities for Jews in history characterized by religious tolerance and coexistence. However, the rise in antisemitism in Australia since Oct. 3, 2023, has led some Jews to question if they have a future in Australia.

In the wake of the most recent outrage the Executive Council for Australian Jews issued a statement calling for government leaders, in particular Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to move beyond just words saying that “The time for talking is over. We need decisive leadership and action now to eradicate the scourge of antisemitism from Australia’s public life….”

Australia joined several other Western nations, including the UK, France, Canada, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Malta, in recognizing a Palestinian state, primarily in late 2024 and 2025, driven by frustration over the Gaza war and a push for a two-state solution, something the United States remains opposed to. The United States, Germany,, and Italy are among the Western nations that have not yet recognized a Palestinian state, generally arguing that statehood should be the result of a negotiated settlement between the parties. It should be noted that on Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, also known as the Partition Resolution, which would divide Great Britain’s former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states in May 1948 when the British mandate was scheduled to end. However, the established Arab states directed the Palestinians not to accept this “two state” solution.

The United States also has experienced Antisemitism. There is the case of the liner St. Louis, which sailed from Hamburg on May 13, 1939, with more than 900 Jewish refugees seeking refuge from Nazi persecution, intending first to reach Cuba and then the United States. In the end the Roosevelt State Department denied entry forcing its return to Europe, tragically resulting in many passengers later perishing in the Holocaust.

Following the end of World War II and the revelation of the Holocaust it took the 1947 movie “Gentlemen’s Agreement” starring Gregory Peck, and John Garfield, to shed light on antisemitism in the U.S. In the movie a journalist played by Peck is assigned by his editor to write a series of articles about antisemitism. He decides that the best way to understand the problem is to pose as a jew. He quickly discovers the extent of the bigotry and hatred that exist, not just from overt bigots, but from “polite society” who maintained a “conspiracy of silence” around the issue. It was this reality that in the 1920s led to the development of the “Borscht Belt” resorts in the Catskills as a haven for Jewish New Yorkers facing discrimination.

However as we are all aware antisemitism has boiled to the surface again, especially on some college campuses, following the October terrorist attack on Israel. For the year 2024, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents, the highest number since 1979 when it started tracking.

In 2023, anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 68% of all religious based hate crimes in the U.S. These reports also drove behavioral change amongst Jews such as avoiding the wearing of items that would identify them as Jewish in public. Sadly 57% of American Jews now consider antisemitism a “normal Jewish experience.”

The Jews have been victims of antisemitism since they were driven from Palestine two thousand years ago. In Europe from the middle ages to, in some cases even the Nineteenth Century Jews faced legal and social restrictions that barred them from owning land and joining guilds.

These prohibitions effectively excluded them from most professions, particularly agriculture and skilled trades, forcing them into a limited number of occupations like tax collecting or money lending that were often held in low regard by the Christian majority. 

Much like anti-Trumpism and racial hatred, antisemitism may often be the result of a need by some to find an object of hatred as a way of venting over problems in their own lives that have nothing to do with the object of hate.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com