There is something wrong with the way parts of the media are approaching antisemitism.

A recent article in Deepcut News made the problem plain in its own title: “If the Royal Commission is serious about antisemitism, it should look at the Israel lobby.” It was written by Louise Adler, a prominent figure in Australian cultural life: former CEO and Publisher in Chief of Melbourne University Publishing, former director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, former publisher at large at Hachette Australia, and a long-standing voice in Australian letters.

That background matters.

This was not an anonymous social media post. It was a serious intervention by a well-known cultural figure, published at a moment when Jewish Australians are giving evidence to a Royal Commission established after the Bondi terrorist attack. And its effect was to shift attention away from antisemitism and towards the Jewish organisations and advocates speaking about it.

It begins by assuring readers that antisemitism is wrong and that Jewish Australians should be safe. Then, almost immediately, it turns away from antisemitism itself and towards the Jews who are naming it.

The witness is no longer quite a witness. Fear becomes anxiety. Evidence becomes lobbying. The Jewish connection to Israel, which for many Jews is bound up with family, history, faith, memory, and survival, is treated as a political defect.

That is not serious scrutiny. It is part of the problem.

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was created because something in this country has gone badly wrong. Since October 7, Jewish Australians have felt the atmosphere change around them. On campuses, in schools, in workplaces, in hospitals, in the arts, on the street........

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