(Queensland, Australia) — After Britain lost its American colonies in 1783, it also lost its method of dealing with those who committed minor crimes. You see, Britain used to transport convicts to distant lands rather than keep them on British soil. They preferred to export the “criminal class” rather than allow them to create social problems at home, particularly in the poor and overcrowded cities. So, with America no longer an option, an alternative would need to be found. Australia, which had been claimed for the British Crown by Lieutenant James Cook, would become the preferred location. The First Fleet, consisting of eleven ships and commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, set up a convict settlement at Sydney Cove (now Circular Quay) on 26 January 1788.
Unbeknownst to many people, at least eight Jewish convicts arrived on the First Fleet. Over a thousand more people of Jewish descent were sent to Australia as convicts during the next 60 years. In addition, Jewish free settlers were arriving in Australia as early as the 1820’s. By 1901 (the time of Australia’s federation when the Commonwealth of Australia was declared) it is estimated there were over 15,000 Jews in Australia. Today, that number is approximately 100,000. Australia was long considered friendly to the Jewish people, but a closer examination of our history demonstrates an antisemitic underbelly which is again plaguing our nation.
Australia’s refugee quota of German Jews during the World War II period was 5,000 per year over a three-year period. Given that the Australian government received 50,000 applications from Jews wanting to escape from Europe in 1938, there was only a one in ten chance of success. Despite the horror of the Holocaust becoming public, to our great national shame, anti-Jewish hysteria exploded in the media and halls of parliament just at the time when Jews were desperate to escape certain death. In 1946, Australian politician Henry Gullett stated in federal parliament: “We are not compelled to accept the unwanted of the world at the dictate of the United Nations or anyone else. Neither should Australia be a dumping ground for people whom Europe itself, in the course of 2,000 years, has not been able to absorb.”
After the 1967 Six-Day War, far-left activists again targeted the Jewish people. Influenced by anti-Zionist propaganda from the Soviet Union, Australian university campuses began indulging antisemitic behaviour. The Australian Union of Students, for example, which had come under Trotskyist and Maoist influences in the early 1970s, proposed anti-Israel resolutions. Members of the Jewish Students movement who campaigned against these resolutions were physically attacked. The 1990’s would prove even deadlier for Australian Jews. In 1990, three synagogues were set on fire in Melbourne and in 1991, four synagogues in Sydney were firebombed.
In the early 2000’s, Australian politicians proved that they were still under the illusion that handing out peace prizes would actually bring about peace in the Middle East. On 6 November 2003, then Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, handed the Sydney Peace Prize to Palestinian activist, Hanan Ashrawi. The act was met with fierce opposition from the Jewish community. The citation was supposedly because of Ashrawi’s “commitment to human rights, to the peace process in the Middle East and for her courage in speaking against oppression, against corruption and for justice.” In response, the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said, “Every decent person, including Palestinians, wants a peaceful and just resolution and there are people we look to for change and reconciliation. Hanan Ashrawi is nowhere on that list. She is an old-style propagandist.”
The evidence of Ashrawi’s unsuitability for the peace prize was conveniently overlooked. As far back as 1993, she was a known supporter of Hamas and held the view that the only way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis was to absorb Israel into a Palestinian state. No surprise then that after October 7, Ashrawi went to work defending the indefensible – painting Hamas as the victim and accusing Israel of lying by attempting to discredit claims civilians were massacred en masse by Hamas. Ashrawi further claimed that the savage rapes of Israeli women and the decapitation of Israeli babies didn’t occur. For over twenty years, she has been absurdly portrayed as some sort of peace activist when, in reality, she is a terror apologist.
Speaking of terror supporters, the Iranian Ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, said earlier in the year that he looks forward to the “heavenly and divine promise” made by Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yasin that would lead to “wiping out the Zionist plague” by “no later than 2027”. After such abhorrent comments, you would expect the Australian Government to have expelled the Ambassador. Instead, along with most other countries, Australia recently recognised “permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. It is the first time an Australian government has voted in favour of the “permanent sovereignty” resolution since it was introduced in some form two decades prior. Thankfully the pro-Israel stance of the incoming US administration will be able to mitigate some of the damage done by Australia at the UN. However, this latest act affirms that our Australian government is spiritually blind and ignorant to the dangers of its position under God’s clear declaration in Genesis 12:3.
There have been times in Australia’s history where we have clearly supported Israel and the Jewish people. However, we also have much to be sorry for, as this article reveals. Also part of the problem is that replacement theology is taught by many Australian churches. If we, as a nation, are to have any chance of getting right with God, we must uphold His truth concerning Israel. I thank God for Australian pastors and Christians who do teach the truth regarding the past, present and future of Israel. But, like the Jewish people in Australia, they are very much in the minority and often held in contempt.
