It’s the unique hate that inflames all others, and Australia is failing to quell it

June 30, 2026 — 5:00am

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Jew hate isn’t just one of the many hatreds poisoning Australian society and security. It’s uniquely potent. Because it inflames all the others. It’s a special poison that seeps into all the various veins of destructive malevolence.

The director-general of ASIO, Mike Burgess, gave this revealing insight during his annual national threat assessment last week.

“Sadly, and illogically,” he said, “hatred of Jews is one thing virtually all the violent extremist cohorts have in common. Neo-Nazis are antisemitic. Islamic extremism is antisemitic. Issue-motivated extremists can be antisemitic, particularly when they subscribe to conspiracy theories and stereotypes about the Jewish community.

“Nation states can be antisemitic, as we saw with the arson attacks against the Jewish communities in Melbourne and Sydney perpetrated by criminals directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Anarchists and revolutionary groups can be antisemitic.

“This gets surprisingly little media coverage, but Australian companies with perceived links to Israel are being subjected to repeated acts of vandalism and arson by far-left activists.

“I recognise [that] criticism of the government of Israel is not of itself antisemitic, but some of the threatening statements made by the perpetrators go well beyond political protest or commentary.

“All these groups have very different ideologies. They do not associate with each other – indeed, for the most part, they despise each other. The way they operate, their tactics and techniques........

© The Sydney Morning Herald