Car in New South Wales, Australia graffitied with antisemitic message. The word “F***” has been removed from this image. Photo: Screenshot

With just a few days to go before Australians head to the polls on May 3, the country’s Jewish community is reeling from a decision that has left many feeling betrayed, sidelined, and deeply concerned about the future.

In a move that has shocked — but not entirely surprised — us, the ruling center-left Labor Party has entered into preference deals with the far-left Greens party — effectively elevating them in key electorates across the country. In Australia’s unique preferential voting system, these deals play a critical role in determining who ultimately wins a seat, often tipping the balance in tight races.

And this year, this move has sent a very clear and troubling message to Australian Jews: our concerns are expendable.

To understand the magnitude of this, one needs to understand who the Greens are in the Australian context. This is not merely a progressive party focused on the environment. The Australian Greens have positioned themselves as one of the most strident anti-Israel voices in mainstream politics, openly accusing Israel of apartheid, calling for arms embargoes, and failing to condemn the Hamas atrocities of October 7. Their members have fueled division on campuses, marched under banners declaring “Resistance by Any Means,” and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with movements that seek to delegitimize the Jewish State.

Now, through Labor’s preference deals, they have been granted a possible path to greater power.

It’s a decision that is difficult to reconcile — especially given that the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, is himself Jewish, holds a very safe seat, and is the most senior Jewish member of the Australian Parliament. He is acutely aware of the deep concern and distress felt by the Jewish community in the wake of rising antisemitism and anti-Israel hostility.

And yet, despite his unique position of influence within the Labor Party, he and Labor have chosen to preference the Greens — an openly hostile and inflammatory party when it comes to Israel — over moderate candidates in key electorates.

This gut-wrenching move not only undermines the re-election chances of Josh Burns — one of only three other Jewish Labor MPs, and one of the caucus’ few consistent voices of support for Israel and opposition to antisemitism — but it sends a demoralizing message to the Jewish community: that even in this moment of fear, pain, and increasing isolation, political expediency trumps principle.

For many, this is not just disappointing — it feels like a betrayal.

What makes this moment even more precarious is the very real possibility of a hung parliament — a scenario in which no party secures a majority in the House of Representatives. If that happens, Labor will need to negotiate with minor parties and independents to remain in government.

That means deals not just with the Greens, but potentially with the so-called Teals — a group of climate-focused independents who campaigned on integrity and transparency but have increasingly aligned themselves with activist rhetoric and anti-Israel narratives, while remaining silent in the face of rising antisemitism, effectively enabling it through inaction and association.

While their positions may not be as extreme as the Greens, their silence has often been deafening — and their willingness to serve as kingmakers in a divided parliament raises significant questions for the Jewish community.

This political realignment comes at a time when antisemitism is on the rise in Australia. In the months since October 7, we have seen hate rear its head on our streets, in our universities, and across social media. Jewish students are being harassed. Hostile graffiti now stains our neighbourhoods. Community institutions are forced to bolster security, and families are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish.

The silence — or worse, strategic partnership — with those who embolden this environment is not just disheartening. It is dangerous.

We are told this is simply politics. That preference deals are just mechanics. But when those mechanics elevate those who have shown contempt for our community’s safety, values, and identity, then the message is clear: power matters more than principle.

This isn’t about party loyalty. The Jewish community in Australia is diverse in its political views. But what unites us is the growing fear that we are being pushed to the margins. That we are being treated as politically inconvenient. That we are alone.

For the international Jewish community, this should be a moment of solidarity and concern. Australia has long been a beacon of multicultural harmony — a place where Jewish life thrived openly and proudly. But the cracks are showing. And if a new government is formed with the Greens and Teals holding the balance of power, those cracks could widen quickly.

The next government will shape more than just policy. It will shape how safe Jewish Australians feel in their own country. It will shape whether antisemitism is confronted or excused. It will shape whether Jewish voices are listened to or left behind.

This election may be Australian, but its consequences are global. We ask our friends and allies abroad to stand with us, to raise awareness, and to understand that the fight against antisemitism is not confined to one nation — but is a global moral test.

Australia is at a crossroads. We hope it chooses the path of courage, principle, and solidarity.

Michael Gencher is Executive Director StandWithUs Australia, an international nonpartisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism.

The post The Labor Party Sends an Alarming Message to Australian Jews in Upcoming Election first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Demonstrators take part in an “Emergency Rally: Stand With Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza,” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

My bet is that both Ruth R. Wisse and The Wall Street Journal received more than a handful of nasty comments and threats since her opinion essay (“Harvard is an Islamic Outpost”) appeared in the WSJ last week.

But we should thank her for this powerful piece, where she documents the slow penetration and infestation of Islamist ideology into Harvard and academia at large. This has rapidly accelerated in classrooms and through student action since October 7, 2023. The same process has been happening on numerous other campuses around the US, most prominently at Columbia University.

The ensuing chaos, encampments, limiting campus access to Jewish students and faculty, calls for destruction of Israel and so much more, were encouraged by some campus administrators and faculty as expressions of free speech.

But this conduct has finally been called out for what it is — support for terrorist groups, and an assault on the rights and safety of Jewish students. And as Ruth Wisse compared celebrations of October 7 to Kristallnacht pogroms, she noted that “some people were forced to confront what they tried to ignore.” Some, however, did not — and continued to claim that support for October 7, and calls for genocide against Jewish students, were protected as free speech.

It is incomprehensible that the previous administration let radical leftists, radical Islamists, and their supporters have free rein when it came to endangering the civil rights of Jewish students, and it is incomprehensible that the few student leaders of these antisemitic and anti-Zionist demonstrations were considered heroes and freedom fighters.

This would not have happened if the hate had been directed against any other minority group besides Jews.

Now, Columbia, Harvard, and other universities are grappling with the consequences of their inaction. They do not want to lose the huge amount of Federal money they receive, but they do not want to be seen as acquiescing to Trump and people like him. That might be the reason why Harvard President Alan Garber is finalizing a task force dealing with antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment at Harvard. Unfortunately, this task force is diminished by a concurrent task force “on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias.”

Harvard still refuses to admit that it has a unique problem regarding discrimination against Jews.

And as for foreign students who have been allowed to support terrorism in the streets of America and on their campuses, it is tragic — if not a travesty — that they are allowed to extol support for radical and terroristic ideologies that seek to destroy our way of life. They often do not appreciate the freedom they experience here, or tolerate any viewpoints that differ from their own. They do not express gratitude for the opportunity to obtain a great education that they can take back home to improve lives in their countries, but are instead seeking to misuse their visas to advocate for terrorism.

It is a pity that this is lost on some of the best universities in the US. Kol Hakavod to Ruth Wisse.

Dr. Jaroslava Halper has been a professor of pathology at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA for many years. She escaped from communist Prague because of antisemitism, and lack of freedom and free speech. The gradual increase of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in certain circles in her second homeland, and the devastating October 7 massacre by Hamas, led her to realize that more active engagement is necessary to combat antisemitism, including anti-Zionism. 

The post Examining the Hate at Harvard, Columbia, and Elsewhere first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas holds a leadership meeting in Ramallah, in the West Bank, April 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman

“May their father be cursed,” sneered Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas, mocking the United States in a televised speech.

This crude insult wasn’t a one-off — Abbas repeated it and was met with laughter and applause by the audience. It takes some nerve for Abbas to say something like that, after the Palestinians have received over $2.1 billion in American taxpayer-funded aid just since October 7, 2023.

In the speech, which was broadcast on official PA television, Abbas did not just curse but openly ridiculed the US, boasting about his repeated defiance of American leaders and policies: “33 times I told them [the Americans] ‘No!’”

Abbas also used the occasion to lavish praise on Saudi Arabia for refusing to normalize relations with Israel, crediting Riyadh for conditioning any peace on the establishment of a Palestinian state.

This is not the first time that the Palestinian leadership has responded to American generosity with insults and rejection. Abbas and the PA have a history of disdain for the US, despite all that the US has done to help them.

Below is the transcript of Abbas’ recent remarks:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “Thanks to King Salman bin Abdulaziz, King of Saudi Arabia, and the crown prince and prime minister, the esteemed Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their brave position against normalization with Israel and for conditioning this on the establishment of a Palestinian state. A great kindness, we thank him.

They [Americans] said to him: ‘Normalize,’ or something like that. You know the Americans, the Americans are like that. May their father be cursed (laughter and applause). I am not a great Arab leader, I am a dwarf, this small. 33 times I told them [the Americans] ‘No!’ But not everybody does that because I’ve got nothing to lose, may their father be cursed.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, April 23, 2025]

Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), where a version of this article first appeared. 

The post PA Leader Mahmoud Abbas ‘Cursed’ America Twice in Speech in Arabic Last Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.