Last week’s reflection post included the following:
There has also been a violent, antisemitic act of hate with an arson attack on a synagogue in my home city.
As has been expected, that has now been declared an act of t_rr_r_sm (my apologies for the typing, but I need to be careful I don’t run afoul of Blogger’s rules).
This is not the first incident of t_rr_r_sm in my home city - in fact, I was working in the city in the Queen St offices of the company I worked for at the time, less than one km from Russell Street in 1986, and felt our building shake.
That was a shocking event, but we’re in a different era now - perhaps the second era, in many ways, since those days, when such terrible events are more frequent ... but the shock is still felt.
The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) issued a press release with the sentiment - which I agree with - that this attack is an attack on all of us.
And that sentiment applies to all such events, wherever they happen, and I note this list includes 71 events for this year to the end of November.
To be included on a list, an event must meet criteria. Australia, as with other nations, has a legal definition of t_rr_r_sm - and these definitions will vary somewhat (see here for an examination of the differences in definitions in Africa).
Our laws (this is a good summary, and this is a more detailed outline) include protocols for listing organisations as t_rr_r_st (including H___s [partially listed in 2003, comprehensively listed in 2022] and H_______h [2021]), addressing financing, prevention, counter t_rr_r_sm, and my understanding is that some consideration is required before events are declared, but I can’t find any commentary on that.
It is clear, in my opinion, that some such procedure has been followed, as several days have passed between the event and the declaration. This is good, as the term can also be misused - for instance, as a pejorative term.
And in the current emotionally loaded climate, avoiding misuse is important.
The declaration increases the powers and resources which can be used - see, for instance, “The Melbourne synagogue fire is being treated as a terror attack. Here’s why that matters” https://theconversation.com/the-melbourne-synagogue-fire-is-being-treated-as-a-terror-attack-heres-why-that-matters-245558
As an example of those additional powers and resources, this has led to the Australian Federal Police also establishing an antisemitism taskforce to address other events as well as this one.
The establishment of such actions under a pre-defined system means the sorts of mistakes made after 9/11 (and although in another nation I well remember that terrible day) are more likely to be avoided - and, in their newsletter today, the JCA stated they “heartened by the overwhelming flow of solidarity from across the community, including our friends at the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network and the Islamic Council of Victoria”.
From here police will do their work - and that should be free of distractions from emotive, biased people.
Other gravely concerning, appalling events in West Asia will also continue to be assessed (e.g., by the ICC and the ICJ).
And those who do the work of this blog should continue to clear the nonBPM, heal and/or spirit rescue the victims, and strengthen the BPM - and do NOT try being psychic detective. Even if such methods worked the evidence they revealed would be inadmissible in court and thus worse than useless, as verifying it would take police resources away from evidence that is admissible and thus useful.
PS - I will add a few news links here, beginning with this one:
“AFP taskforce to target antisemitism as Asio boss warns politically motivated violence a ‘principal’ concern” https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/09/afp-antisemitism-taskforce-albanese-government-asio-boss-ntwnfb “The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director general, Mike Burgess, urged all Australians to “watch our words”, raising concerns about rhetoric leading to inflamed tensions. The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said Friday’s fire at the Adass Israel called for a “time for national unity””
Also, whoever did this was as destructive of the Palestinian cause as the ultra-narcissists of H___s
These news reports show my main concerns are valid: that some - NOT ALL! - people would take this event as an excuse to impose anti-Palestinian discrimination, or to minimise/deny human rights abuses against Palestinians:
“‘Intimidatory’: Antisemitism envoy says city streets no place for pro-Palestinian protests” https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/intimidatory-antisemitism-envoy-says-city-streets-no-place-for-pro-palestinian-protests/u4h0z202u “... comments have been described by one Palestinian advocate as “a thinly veiled attempt" to "silence critics of the Israeli government”” See also “Antisemitism envoy criticised over 'dangerous' call to ban pro-Palestinian city protests” https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/antisemitism-envoy-criticised-over-dangerous-call-to-ban-pro-palestinian-city-protests/u4h0z202u
“‘Harmful’: Liberal senator’s ‘fictitious Islamophobia’ claim condemned” https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/liberal-senator-dave-sharmas-fictitious-islamophobia-claim-condemned/5wqbmxqc2 “Liberal senator Dave Sharma's remark that Islamophobia is "fictitious" has been criticised by Muslim groups who described them as "deeply concerning" and said they risk undermining the lived experience of victims”
“Australia’s UN Gaza ceasefire vote praised, but critics label it a mark of shame’” https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australias-un-gaza-ceasefire-vote-praised-but-critics-label-it-a-mark-of-shame/2bji3t0m6 “Australia was among 158 countries supporting the resolution, which also called for the release of hostages held by H___s” This is a powerful statement by the world: it would have been far more likely to be effective had it happened BEFORE 7th October ... Dithering on human rights is devastating
A more positive reaction to events is:
“Religious leaders condemn ‘irrational’ attacks after ‘devastating’ synagogue blaze” https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/religious-leaders-condemn-irrational-attacks-after-devastating-synagogue-blaze/3z2lz3m91 “Recent antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne have ignited widespread condemnation and calls for unity from religious and political leaders across Australia”
This shows the dangers of poorly thought out or rushed reactions:
“Clergy abuse survivors hit out at moves to ban protests outside Australian places of worship” https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/13/clergy-abuse-survivors-hit-out-at-moves-to-ban-protests-outside-australian-places-of-worship “Those who protested outside Catholic churches believe they would have been arrested if such laws were in place”
And this is a very telling opinion:
“I don’t need Peter Dutton to tell me as a Jewish person how to respond to antisemitism” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/12/i-dont-need-peter-dutton-to-tell-me-as-a-jewish-person-how-to-respond-to-antisemitism-ntwnfb “Politics was the last thing on my mind when I saw parts of the Melbourne synagogue reduced to ashes after the fire”
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
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Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here.
(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)
Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).#PsychicABetterWorld and candles for Viva La Résistance à Tr_ mp! and may all that I do be of value and actively BPM used for and by the nonphysical BPM
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