Hello World, I have known you for 80 years. I have adored your beauty, been overwhelmed with awe by your majesty, and fascinated by the variety of peoples and their cultures who live in you.
I have almost circumnavigated you, driving my car from India to London via Moscow, and then across the USA, coast to coast, from sea to shining sea. I have lived for years in five of your countries, made countless trips, each one a lesson in the value of other cultures.
I have embraced you, World, with empathy and admiration, only to find that most of your peoples have now banded together to reject me as if I was a cancerous growth.
Your peoples of the West – Europeans and the English-speaking countries – are the unkindest cut of all. They have been sucked back into their ancient prejudices and hatred of me, orchestrated by a huge militant movement which has cleverly infiltrated itself into their cultures and joined forces with those who are filled with self-hatred, guilt, envy and a sense of powerlessness.
Born in Australia, raised in a modest home lacking luxuries but rich in love, decency, and respect for others, I remember no antisemitism, or perhaps I didn’t notice. The worst was being referred to as ‘the little dark one’. The best was acknowledgement and praise for my contributions. Yes, Australia gave me a fair go – I would say a generous fair go. I received free education all the way through to a university degree. I could make my own choices and live accordingly. I somehow understood intrinsically what behaviour was required to maintain a democratic, tolerant, harmonious social compact. It was easy.
Sunday, back then, was the day of rest. Few buses, closed shops, quiet… Groups of worshippers, ladies in their Sunday hats and gloves, attended church services. I saw them and knew that my Sabbath day was Saturday. I felt different, but not rejected or reviled. Christmas and Easter were not my holy days, but I nevertheless sang Christian oratorios with love and closely studied the artistic masterpieces that took their inspiration from Christianity.
Those were the years following the end of the second world war. Knowledge of the Holocaust slowly began to drip into my consciousness. My family had come to Sydney in the 1920s and lived thousands of kilometres from the abattoirs of murder. They avoided discussing the horrors that had just taken place, in order to protect me from such evil and anguish. Zionism, love of the new State of Israel, which had just been established, was the focus of my parents’ passion and was duly absorbed by me.
Yes, the miracle of the establishment of Israel was the focus. Why wouldn’t it be after 2,000 years of persecution, prayers and exile? But this commitment never overrode a deep loyalty to Australia. If called to, I would fight for Australia from a natural sense of gratitude and patriotism, as had thousands of Jewish Australians in all wars.
The Australia I knew has gone. Baying mobs of hate-filled anti-Jewish ignoramuses are now permitted to rule the city streets and the university campuses where I studied. The arts community, academia, and the trade unions. Most perniciously, the media have become one voice intent on defaming me, my religion, and country of cultural origin by issuing a torrent of lies and unsubstantiated accusations. This blood libel relentlessly fills the minds of anyone who has an iPhone, a TV, or a radio. It is the Spanish Inquisition on steroids. Presiding over this moral and social collapse is the current political leadership which, having betrayed its historical values and although safe in its large electoral victory, chooses compromise and hypocrisy.
So, World, what to do? You are still beautiful, but your peoples are deeply flawed. I know that we must not give up hope that good will prevail, but the battle will be long and hard.
And Australia, what are you now, and where are you going?
