Like Covid, the aftermath of October 7 has been an excellent litmus test of basic humanity. Hat tip: if you support the people who purposefully massacre thousands of civilians on a high holy day, including hundreds at a peace festival, and indulge in a savage orgy of torture, mutilation, rape and murder, including of babies, then you failed the test.
There have, in the faintest of silver linings, been a few pleasant surprises. Nova Peris, as a left-wing Labor politician, is not the sort of person I’d share many views with. But, when the chips of basic human decency came down, Peris was and is unflinchingly on the right side.
Especially when so many in the Aboriginal political lobby have let themselves be deranged by hatred of Israel. The ultimate lunacy of these types is that they have the gall to accuse Jews of being ‘colonisers’ in their own indigenous homelands. Peris is having none of that bullshit.
Right now I am in Jerusalem with a delegation of Aboriginal Australians, many of whom are stepping on to the land for the first time. We are here to listen, learn and bear witness to the story of a people who, like us, are indigenous to their ancestral homeland and have endured centuries of hardship, displacement and conflict. Our purpose is not only to learn their history but also to carry that truth back to Australia.
Our journey began in Jerusalem, a city layered with history. For hundreds of generations, Jewish people have prayed at the Western Wall, the ancient retaining wall of the Temple Mount. Their connection to this land predates recorded Christian and Muslim presence.
At least Christians have a genuine connection to Jerusalem.
For Christians, Jerusalem is the site of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. For Muslims, it is the sacred setting of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.
At least Jesus was indeed crucified in Jerusalem. Muhammad never set foot within a thousand kilometres of Jerusalem, which hasn’t stopped Muslims from spending the last 1600 years violently attacking Jews in the city they built in their ancient homeland.
Since arriving in Israel we have sheltered repeatedly from missiles, drones and rockets launched mostly by the Iranian regime and its proxy militia in Yemen, the Houthis.
This is not only disruption: these are war crimes. Targets include civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, places of worship and the majesty of Jerusalem itself. It is precisely at these times, inside the iron embrace of bomb shelters, that I’ve stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Indigenous Australians and international visitors.
Which you certainly wouldn’t be able to do in any ‘Palestinian’ enclave.
Contrast this with those who deliberately exploit civilian populations as shields. Hamas has constructed 700km of tunnels beneath Gaza, often under hospitals and schools, offering cover for its military while risking the lives of those it claims to protect.
This strategy, tragically, creates headlines but hides a calculated tactic to exploit civilian pain for propaganda […]
Just as Israel defends life inside its own borders, it seeks to minimise civilian death when fighting its enemies. As much as possible Israel warns civilians and pursues targeted strikes against known military threats. Every civilian casualty is taken seriously. Every investigation is public.
Unlike so many of her formerly fellow-travellers on the left, Peris is absolutely unflinching: this is a blindingly clear moral test.
This is a moment for moral clarity. Our delegation has seen the faces of those who defended life on Saturday night. We have held babies saved by Israel’s Iron Dome. We have pressed hands with Jewish families who sleep in shelters, with Druze children who fear rockets from Hezbollah, with Muslims who long to worship in peace. We have listened to the stories of trauma at Majdal Shams, where Druze parents recounted losing 12 of their own children to Hezbollah rockets in 2024.
We carry those stories back to Australia and we demand our media, our leaders, our neighbours do the same. We cannot stand by while human lives are cynically used for political propaganda […]
Every Australian should stand up and say: we will not tolerate anti-Semitism. We will not tolerate the denial of Israel’s right to exist, to defend its people, to preserve its Jewish heritage.
Try telling that to your mates in the Labor party.
