janeKormanART

Demonstrations affiliated with ‘Boycott Apartheid Israel week’ are regularly held in Melbourne town. The streets are full of University students and others, chanting  vitriolic messages such as:  

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            ‘Is-ra-el and the USA, 

             How many kids did you kill today?’ 

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I often attended these protests carrying two flags – the Palestinian and the Israeli one. My message is as naïve as the character I define – namely, to convey a hope that these two conflicting groups might be able to talk and listen to each other, with the ultimate goal, one day, of ‘peace’. 

Unfortunately, it was impossible to talk with anyone. The Israeli flag I was holding was ripped up by one of the protesters. 

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Fast forward 10 years - 9.5.2024. 

 

Since Hamas’s vicious attack on Israeli citizens on 7.10.23, the world has spewed hatred towards Israel and Jews. University campuses throughout the West - the USA, Europe and Australia - have morphed into pro Hamas hot spots riddled with poisonous rhetoric. Jewish students have to hide their identity and no longer feel safe. Signs like ‘Zionists don’t deserve to live’ and ‘You are Hamas’s next targets’ are commonplace. 

Jew hate is becoming normalised. It is no longer a bad memory - a nightmare from the past.

 

Today levels of anti Semitism are off the charts. I've never felt less safe here in Australia.

 I am scared to attend these anti Israel/Zionist/Jew rallies held every Sunday in Melbourne city. 10 years ago I used to attend as many as I could as Miss World Peace.

Yes they were scary then too, and I prayed I wouldn’t get a knife in my back.

But what was (and still is the most confronting) is seeing people’s faces distorted with hatred towards me - calling me a ‘f…Zionist’ because I also carried the Israeli flag. There was no-one to talk with, no chance for dialogue, only slogans, chanting and screaming rhetoric.

 

Today the rallies are way bigger and way scarier - the hatred is palpable. They are h

 

What do we do with all this? 

I think that now, more than ever, we need to try and pursue peace -  somehow, someway. 

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Maybe it’s still possible to repair the fractures for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike? And a better future for the rest of us.

Because, while it might start with the Jews, it never ends with the Jews