There was a time when leaving Australia never crossed my mind. Well, that’s not entirely true. Having an Israeli wife and being a passionate Zionist, we always considered the possibility of returning. But it was always a choice — one rooted in love for our ancestral homeland, not fear. For generations, Jewish Australians believed this country to be a place of safety, freedom, and opportunity.

Yet, in conversations with ordinary, everyday Australians, an unthinkable question was raised: What happens if things don’t change regarding the rising tide of antisemitism? Where would we go if this tide of hatred continues and we had to leave?

Conversations with children of Holocaust survivors revealed that their parents came to Australia because they believed it was a place where such horrors could never happen again. The mere fact that we are asking these questions today should be a line in the sand — a national wake-up call.

Something has gone terribly wrong in this country.

A Moment of Moral Clarity — Ignored

The events of October 7, 2023, changed everything. The Hamas massacre should have been a moment of moral clarity for the world. Instead, what followed in Australia was a rapid and deeply disturbing escalation of antisemitism. Excuses for terror. Celebrations of mass murder. An outright rejection of Jewish pain.

Days later, as Jewish Australians gathered at the Sydney Opera House to mourn, they were met with a mob chanting “Gas the Jews.” Not in Berlin in the 1930s, but in Sydney in 2023.

And the response? Political dithering. Weak condemnation. No accountability. That moment set the tone for what followed — a relentless surge of antisemitism, ignored, excused, or even encouraged by those in power.

Jewish students are being harassed on university campuses, shouted down, and excluded from public spaces. The so-called “protests” at the University of Sydney and other institutions are not about dialogue. They are intimidation campaigns.

Jewish businesses are being vandalized. Social media is awash with unfiltered hatred. Corporate Australia, once a champion of inclusivity, now turns a blind eye as its Jewish employees are pressured into silence.

Politicians who once claimed to stand against all forms of racism have, in many cases, enabled this wave of hate — the Greens and Labor and even the so-called “Teal” independents.

Are We Having the Same Conversations as Our Grandparents?

None of this is hypothetical. It is happening, and it is happening fast.

I find myself wondering: Were these the same conversations my grandparents had in Eastern Europe before they fled? Did they sit around the dinner table, debating whether it was time to go? Did they convince themselves that things would pass, that their neighbors wouldn’t turn against them, that the governments they trusted would ultimately protect them?

And what about my in-laws, who fled Iraq and the Arab world? Their families lived there for centuries — until, within a single generation, they were driven out. Did they have these same conversations before the choice was made for them? Before it was no longer a question of if, but how quickly?

For the first time in my life, I understand those conversations in a way I never thought I would.

Australia is Still Home — But For How Long?

That is the question many in our community are asking. Some are actively exploring options—where they might move, what opportunities exist in Israel, the United States, or elsewhere. Others are simply bracing themselves, watching, waiting, hoping that Australia will wake up before it’s too late.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

But change requires action — not just from the Jewish community, but from all Australians. The government must stop treating antisemitism as an abstract issue and start enforcing real consequences for hate crimes. Universities that allow the open intimidation of Jewish students should face serious funding cuts. Corporate leaders who claim to stand for diversity must ensure that includes Jews. The media must stop excusing antisemitism under the guise of “criticism of Israel.”

Most importantly, everyday Australians need to stand up. Just as we would never accept racism against any other group, we must refuse to normalize the hatred of Jews. Silence is not an option.

The fact that we are discussing a “Plan B” is a national crisis. But it is not too late to change the conversation. The real question should not be where will Jews go if this continues — but, how do we ensure this stops?

If we fail to ask — and answer — that question now, we may find that the decision has already been made for us. And by then, it may be too late.

Michael Gencher is the Executive Director of StandWithUs Australia, an international education organisation that supports Israel and fights antisemitism. Michael immigrated to Sydney from Canada in 1991, and was CEO and Head of Community within the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, where he was instrumental in promoting education, fostering dialogue, and addressing antisemitism.

The post Australia at a Crossroads: Why Jews Are Discussing a Plan B first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

The Academic Engagement Network (AEN) — a nonprofit which promotes academic freedom and honest scholarship on the subject of Israel — held on Feb. 5-6 two New York City area seminars which aired important ideas about Jewish relations with the Christian world and the Black community in America.

Columbia University hosted the first event, “Ecumenical Zionism: Jews, Christians, and the Land of Israel,” at the Jewish Theological Seminary, a discussion on the ways in which both Jewish and Christians scriptures pointed to the restoration of the Jews in Israel following an extended exile. The featured speakers included Anglican priest Gerald R. McDermott, Regents University professor Dr. Carrie Wood, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, and Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch — who told The Algemeiner on Monday that such a dialogue is necessary.

“First of all, no nation, even the strongest of nations, can exist without allies and without friends,” said Hirsch, whose podcast In These Times has welcomed some of the world’s most renowned academics and public figures as guests. “We often forget that there are only 15 million Jews around the world who can still use all the friends we can get. Any community that offers friendship to the Jewish community is welcome.”

McDermott, author of Israel Matters: Why Christians Must Think Differently about the People and the Land and editor of The New Christian Zionism: Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Land, stressed during the Feb. 5 event that such support, even when coupled with hotly contested eschatological claims, is present throughout the Christian community.

For centuries, he explained, the Catholic Church taught supersessionism, a replacement theology in which God’s covenant with the Jewish people, as well as the Jewish people’s claim to the land promised to them, is abrogated by the advent of Christianity. However, a substantial portion of the Christian world came to reject this view after a rediscovery of the Jewish scriptures precipitated by the Protestant Reformation fostered the conviction that the restoration of the Jews in Israel is a necessary expression of God’s will and faithfulness. In the 19th century, this view found one of its most consequential articulations in the doctrine of dispensationalism, a belief that the Jews’ return to Israel would signal the coming of the Messiah — or for Christians, his return — and the end of the world as people know it. For tens of millions of Christians around the world, especially those living in the US, it is this belief which commands support for Zionism and the security of the State of Israel.

A “new” Christian Zionism is gaining acceptance among scholars, McDermott explained, noting the Christian world’s discovering arguments for Zionism which avoid the leaps of dispensationalist theology. It looks beyond the notion that the reestablishment of the Jews in Israel has eschatological significance and points instead to the many Christian scriptures which affirmed the centrality of the Jewish people to God’s plan for mankind and foreshadowed their homecoming to Jerusalem.

Mutual agreement on the irrevocability of God’s promises to the Jewish people persists even amid profound disagreement between Christians and Jews on the identity of the Messiah and Christianity’s innovation on the concept of monotheism — i.e., the Trinity, the idea that God is three entities, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It also binds the destinies of Christians and Jews while being a potent defense against attacks on Israel and the Jewish people, according to McDermott.

“It is a deep theological reason why we should support Israel in this war against the new Nazism. Jews have more title to the land than any other people. God called them to share the land in justice, and they have shown time and again they are willing,” McDermott said, concluding his remarks. “Like Hitler’s Nazis, Iran and its proxies are conducting genocide, the attempted elimination of a whole people, the Jewish people. If we Christians thought it was right to destroy Nazism in World War II, then we should support Israel in her efforts to destroy this new Nazism.”

AEN’s second event took place over several hours at three universities — including the City University of New York-Brooklyn College, New York University, and Cooper Union — and explored the history and continued importance of Black and Jewish cooperation on civil rights as well as the cultures of Black Jews throughout the world. Led by Dr. John Eaves, a politician and founder of Black and Jewish Leaders of Tomorrow, the gathering engaged audiences in a thoughtful dialogue on a sensitive issue.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Academic Engagement Network has set its sights on reviving the formidable Black-Jewish alliance, which toppled the Jim Crow laws in the segregated south in the 1960s and prompted a massive expansion of social and civil rights. Eaves, an African American Jew who grew up in the southern US, has been a major partner of that effort, touring the country to stress the importance of pluralism, interracial harmony, and equality before the law.

“Judaism is a whole lot more diverse than people give credit, and I’m proud of the fact that I am part of this diverse religious family” Eaves said to an audience of Jewish students at Cooper Union, discussing what he has done to share Judaism with African American youth and kick start a new era of solidarity. “And so, we’re doing unity dinners across the country. We’re bringing Black students and Jewish students from [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] and Jewish students who are part of Hillels and variously predominantly White universities in Atlanta, in New Orleans, in Washington DC, in Houston, in Philadelphia, in Baltimore, and several other cities.”

He added, “What we’ve found is that the Black students and the Jewish students reach an incredible conclusion, and that incredible conclusion which is so simple and so basic: we’re more alike than we’re different.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Academics Gather to Discuss Improving Jewish Relations With Christian World, Black Community first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Hamas should have been wiped off the face of the earth by now. Instead, it still breathes, still kills, and still holds hostages. Why? Because the world enables it. Because cowardice and political games have taken precedence over justice. Because the so-called “international community” would rather see Israel restrained than see Hamas destroyed.

Hamas is not a political movement. It is a death cult. It massacres civilians, rapes women, kills children, and brags about it. It launches rockets from hospitals, schools, and mosques, knowing full well that the bleeding-heart elites in the West will cry “war crimes” the moment Israel dares to fight back. This is not resistance. This is terrorism, pure and simple.

Why are Israeli hostages still in Gaza? Because Hamas knows that playing with human lives gives it power. The world lets Hamas get away with this obscene game, treating it like a legitimate actor rather than the terrorist mafia that it is. Every hostage negotiation drags on endlessly, designed to humiliate Israel and make Hamas look like a force to be reckoned with.

Hamas does not negotiate in good faith. It tortures, rapes, and brutalizes its captives. It holds them in underground tunnels like animals. It strings out their release to extract maximum concessions. And the world watches, shrugs, and calls for “restraint.”

Restraint? Against monsters who burn babies alive? Israel should not be negotiating with Hamas. It should be erasing it.

Israel’s soldiers have laid down their lives to protect their people, but they have been betrayed — not by their government, but by a world that refuses to let them finish the job. The IDF has fought heroically, navigating the impossible battlefield of Gaza while trying to minimize civilian casualties — something Hamas never even considers. Yet every loss Israel suffers is met with silence, while every Hamas casualty is met with international outrage. The double standard is sickening.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have long warned the world about Hamas. Trump took a hardline stance against radical terror groups, cutting off their funding and isolating their enablers. Netanyahu has been calling for decisive action for years. But instead of listening, the world mocked them. Now, as Hamas continues to slaughter and kidnap, their words ring more true than ever.
Last week, Trump and Netanyahu met in Washington to discuss a solution to the Hamas problem. Netanyahu vowed that Israel would “finish the job,” while Trump proposed a shocking idea: a US takeover of Gaza to rebuild it into a “Middle Eastern Riviera.” The response? The usual hand-wringing and excuses. The world is too spineless to take action, too blinded by its hatred of Israel to see the truth: Hamas will not stop until it is obliterated.

A sickening new narrative has emerged: “Israel lost the war.” Why? Because Hamas still exists. Because it still fires rockets. Because it still holds hostages. This defeatist nonsense is exactly what Hamas thrives on. The media paints a picture of Israel as a struggling, wounded nation, while portraying Hamas as a scrappy underdog. This distortion is not just irresponsible — it’s deadly. It emboldens Hamas, encourages further terror, and pressures Israel to back down.

Israel has not lost. The only way Israel loses is if it stops fighting. And that cannot happen.

Let’s talk about Qatar — the rich, two-faced Gulf state that bankrolls Hamas while pretending to mediate peace. Qatar hosts Hamas leaders in luxury hotels, funds their operations, and provides them with a political shield. And yet, the world still treats Qatar as a “partner.” Enough. Qatar must be sanctioned, isolated, and treated as what it is: the financial lifeline of a terrorist empire.
No more fake diplomacy. No more pretending Qatar is a neutral player. Any nation that funds Hamas is complicit in its crimes.

The only real solution is complete eradication. No ceasefires, no negotiations, no half-measures. Hamas is a cancer, and you do not negotiate with cancer. You cut it out.

Israel must be given full support to finish the war. The world must stop pretending Hamas is a political entity and recognize it for what it truly is: a genocidal terrorist cult that thrives on Western weakness. And those who support Hamas — whether they be nations, media outlets, or activists — must be called out and held accountable.

The suffering of Israeli hostages, the deaths of Israeli soldiers, and the continued existence of Hamas must not become just another tragic chapter in history. The time for words is over. The time for total eradication is now.

Amine Ayoub, a Middle East Forum fellow, is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco.

The post Why Hamas is Still Around: A Global Failure That Must End Now first appeared on Algemeiner.com.