Hysteria, bias and lies – let’s set the record straight!

By Adam Kreuzer, Antisemitism Education and Strategies Officer, Committee Member – Australian Jewish Association (AJA)

Thursday 18th January 2024

“Does any of us under the age of, what, 80 remember a darker time to be a Jew?” – Progressive British author Jonathan Freedland.

Given the mass hysteria, complete absence of criticism towards the terrorist group Hamas for their rape, torture and murder of innocent Israeli civilians, and blatant anti-Israel bias being passionately espoused by the Australian Greens, Pro-Palestinian activists, and the mainstream media, it’s important for the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) to clarify some key facts in relation to the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. Let’s set the record straight.

FACT # 1: Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia. The Australian Government has classified Hamas as “an ideologically and religiously motivated violent extremist organisation, which fuses Palestinian nationalist and Sunni Islamist objectives” and has listed Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist entity since 2001.

The Australian Greens vehemently opposed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s statement in Parliament that “the evil committed by Hamas in Israel has chilled every Australian heart. This was no act of war against the army of an enemy. It was the slaughter of innocent people. It was an act of terror.” The Prime Minister’s subsequent backtracking and nuanced commentary to appease the pro-Muslim constituency and elements within the ALP is disappointing but in no way surprising.

FACT # 2: Hamas instigated the conflict with Israel.

The conflict began when Hamas militants launched their deadly cross-border surprise attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, in what has been described as the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. CNN have reported that “more than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the assault, and more than 240 were taken hostage, according to a count by Israeli officials.”

FACT # 3: The massacre of Israelis meets the globally recognised definition of a mass killing.

The complete lack of acknowledgement, recognition or acceptance that attacks by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, were anything but a mass killing is astounding and biased in every way. Let’s look at the definition of a “mass killing” to prove this further.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s (USHMM) Early Warning Project assesses the risk of mass atrocities in countries around the world “using state-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative methods and a range of widely available data.”

This globally recognized research body considers “a mass killing to have occurred when the deliberate actions of armed groups—including but not limited to state security forces, rebel armies, and other militias—result in the deaths of at least 1,000 noncombatant civilians who are targeted as part of a specific group, over a period of one year or less.”

FACT # 4: Israel’s response to the mass killings by Hamas is not genocidal in intent or outcome.

On Tuesday 9th January 2024, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed genocide charges against Israel in its war against Hamas as “meritless” in a press conference in Tel Aviv. Blinken believed it was “particularly galling” given that those attacking Israel continue to “openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.”

Statistics being reported by the mainstream media relating to deaths in Gaza are sourced from the Gaza Ministry of Health (a contradiction in terms) and can’t be trusted. This, in addition, to evidence showing Hamas using innocent Palestinian citizens as human shields and building tunnels directly below schools and hospitals.

This has now been proven beyond doubt and is another inconvenient truth chosen to be ignored by those who continue to push the blatant, antisemitic agenda. The USHMM defines genocide as “an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

According to the Washington Post, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s stated military goals in response to this mass killing by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, are to:

1. End Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip. 2. Target the Hamas leadership. 3. Collapse the military of Hamas and their governmental capabilities to the point that they cannot recover.

This is Israel’s 9/11 moment, and they must safeguard their citizens from any future threats and attacks. Hamas have a moral and ethical obligation to protect their citizens from armed conflict, rather than using them as human shields. The lack of focus on Hamas and their actions, beliefs or objectives is unbalanced, biased and unreasonable.

FACT # 5: LGBTQI rights are non-existent in Gaza and result in punishment, torture, and death.

According to prominent ex-Muslim author and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “if you’re a Muslim family and within your family, there’s someone who’s suspected of being gay, it’s the obligation of the family to commit honour killing. So, it doesn’t even go as far as the government and tribunals and trials. But when that happens, it’s done quite publicly, and it’s done in the most gruesome fashion.” Ali also said that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is in place, Hamas was actually governing Gaza, and what were they doing to homosexuals? They throw them from tall buildings.”

BBC News Arabic / Arab Barometer, 2018-2019, was a research study which asked Palestinians a simple question: Is homosexuality an acceptable practice? 95% of respondents opposed and 5% supported.

Reason.Com state that “gay and transgender people, both in Gaza and the West Bank, face an extraordinary level of persecution, persecution that may result in a yearslong prison sentence or even death.” This same website reports that “last year, in the West Bank, 25-year-old Ahmed Abu Marhia’s severed head was found on the side of the road after he was murdered for being gay. The killer videoed the execution and shared it on social media.” Many LGBTQI Palestinians are seeking asylum in Israel. This is a fact. The same country that the “Queers for Palestine” movement is rallying and mobilising against, with such passion, anger, and enthusiasm.

The immersing and intertwining of extreme Anti-Zionist and Hamas-apologist elements amongst global leadership of the LGBTQI community is alarming, hypocritical, and frightening, to say the least. One can only hope that those protesting from within this community will come to their senses and sanity will prevail. I won’t be holding my breath.