Anthony Albanese accused of slow action calls anti-Semitism squad

“Avalite,” the name of a special operation of “nimble and experienced” state and federal counterterrorism specialists called in Monday to combat anti-Semitism, is a randomized term taken from a federal police database.

It doesn’t seem to matter in English.

Google it. You get gibberish.

That’s how much of the Jewish community feels about what it sees as a national leadership failure to deal with a problem that has been festering in broad daylight for too long.

On Monday, a task force belatedly set up by the Albanian government after Friday’s arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne is following up more than a year of what one senior Jewish community leader denounced as “paralysis by indecision”.

According to Peter Wertheim, executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, political fears of a backlash against rising levels of anti-Semitism have left leaders of all stripes “silenced”.

“It’s not just our government, it’s other governments, especially the centre-left governments in Canada and the UK, where there’s been a reluctance to call a spade a spade.”

“We have warned for a long time that it is only a matter of time before this escalates into violence, and we have seen that after setting fire to a synagogue, the next step is violence against people.

“Unless drastic changes are made by politicians, law enforcement and our so-called leaders in the university sector, the situation is only going to get worse.”

A long list of acts of intimidation

Friday’s attack is just the latest, ugliest example in a long list of acts of intimidation and aggression that AFP Commissioner Rhys Kershaw said have been directed at Australians “of Jewish ethnicity or religion … because of who they are”.

Labor MP Josh Burns had his office set on fire, cars were torched in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Jewish school principals told students not to wear uniforms outside, and Jewish artists were doxed.

Last Wednesday, Mr Wertheim said, hundreds of visitors to Sydney’s Great Synagogue were locked out while a group of people staged a demonstration.

But it was only on Monday that the authorities recognized what happened at the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea on Friday as a “terrorist attack”.

“This has got to stop,” Kershaw said Monday as he announced the creation of a “flying squad” of law enforcement agencies that will be deployed across the country whenever future incidents occur.

“The AFP will not tolerate crimes that undermine Australia’s security or our way of life.”

ASIO chief Mike Burgess warned that “discontent is spreading; provocative and inflammatory language is becoming normalised”.

Wertheim said Monday’s press conference at the court, attended by ASIO, AFP, Prime Minister Antony Albanese, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfuss and Home Secretary Tony Burke, was “better than no reaction at all”.

“But it will take much more to make a difference.

“It takes a coordinated approach from the federal, state and territory governments to make a difference.

“It takes a huge effort to change a trend in culture, and it doesn’t happen overnight.”

Albanese under pressure

Albanese will manage this crisis amid accusations that he was too slow to act.

Some critics wonder why Monday’s operation was not implemented six months ago.

At the same time, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton stepped up pressure on the Prime Minister, beating him by calling for a taskforce to tackle doxing, hate speech and harassment.

At his news conference on Monday, Dutton repeatedly referred to the incident at the synagogue as an “explosion”, a term disputed by Victoria Police, and threatened to deport holders of anti-Semitic visas despite the lack of evidence that migrants were involved.

He also laid the blame.

“It is clear to all Australians that the Prime Minister’s weak leadership has led to a period of divisiveness in our country and we have been saying for a long time that anti-Semitism has always been present in a society like ours, but in the last 13 months it has really escalated “.

Labor has dismissed the allegations as inflammatory and political, and has pointed to its decision to allocate an extra $32 million in Commonwealth funding to help Jewish communities strengthen security.

“This is a time when the country should strive for national unity and not look for areas of difference and differences on every issue,” Albanese said on Monday.

“I would think that every Australian would be horrified by what happened last Friday and would be equally prepared to condemn it and speak out against it. That’s not Australian.’

Wertheim says that since the attack on the synagogue on Friday, he has been inundated with emails and calls from people, many of them non-Jewish, across the country angry at what they see as lax policing and leadership.

“They say the elites have failed us and we want our Australia back where everyone gets a fair deal.”

Two decades have passed since a foreign policy crisis had significant domestic political consequences. The resurgence of virulent anti-Semitism may be what Australian voters will ultimately pass judgment on.