Australia’s Undercurrent of Anti-Semitism
One of the first lessons any beachgoer in Australia learns about is the dangers of a rip. A rip is a strong undercurrent. To the untrained eye, the water looks calm. Yet just a foot or two below the surface, currents can sweep the inexperienced swimmer off his feet and out to sea.
In Australian society today, there is a rip, a hidden undercurrent growing in strength and threatening to carry away society to ruin. That undercurrent is anti-Semitism.
Bondi is arguably Australia’s most famous beach. It has its share of undercurrents. One reality TV show depicts the near-daily rescues that occur out in the breakers. Bondi has been the site of celebrations, carnivals, festivals, riots, protests and, on Dec. 16, 2025, a fatal rip current of terror and bloodshed.
On that day, Sajeed Akram, 50, and his son, Naveed, 24, draped a black Islamist flag on their vehicle before mounting a nearby footbridge overlooking the beach and opened fire on their target: a nearby Hanukkah celebration filled with hundreds of unarmed and unsuspecting men, women and children. In the end, 15 people were murdered.
It was the worst mass shooting in Australia since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Proportionally, it would be akin to 190 Americans gunned down in a single shooting.
The victims’ ages were between 10 and 87. The oldest was a Holocaust survivor. He survived the Nazis of the 1940s, but he did not survive the rampantly anti-Semitic Australia of 2025.
Endorsing Anti-Semitism
Australia is a land historically detached from sectarian violence, from the Levant and from the plight of the Jewish people. Yet a strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism has surged in recent years. Left unchecked, and in some ways endorsed, the hatred inexorably led to the Bondi massacre.
The Australian government has been heavily criticized for its lackluster response to the steady increase in anti-Semitic activity. The strongest response came after Australian security sources discovered Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had orchestrated the firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne and a delicatessen in Bondi. Besides expelling the Iranian ambassador last August, little has been done to check the radical preachers who continue to preach violent Islam to receptive audiences across the country.
Equally condemning, the government has been silent on why the Iranians felt they could foment anti-Semitism in Australia. Rips generally occur when water flows back down off the beach, following the path of least resistance. In Australia, Iran saw little resistance, and it surged. It found an audience willing to be carried along with the tide.
Policies allowing rampant immigration have led to an influx of Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East. Over the decades, this has led to the establishment of Islamic schools and mosques where preachers spew vitriol against Jews. Entire suburbs in western Sydney and pockets throughout most of Australia’s capital cities are now actually Muslim enclaves.
Larger Muslim populations mean more votes, and Australia’s elected officials play to this increasingly important demographic. For years, they have turned blind eyes to the activities of this unassimilated population. But last year saw an important change. Despite warnings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Australia’s leaders decided to officially recognize the state of Palestine on September 21, moving from passive acquiescence to active support of anti-Semites—this with the blood of Hamas murders, tortures and rapes still in the world’s recent, vivid memory.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Sky News, “This is a positive move forward, and what it indicates is a signal that the world is getting together and saying enough is enough. We need to end the cycle of violence. I think Australians back home want to see the killing stop, whether it be Israelis or Palestinians. They don’t want conflict brought to Australia.”
On December 16, just over 12 weeks later, the conflict was brought to Australia. Australians witnessed firsthand what happens when anti-Semitism is left unchecked, even encouraged.
Blood Touches Blood
The Prophet Hosea warned that in the days before Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, blood would touch blood. The Prophet Ezekiel prophesied that the land would be “full of bloody crimes.” The Prophet Isaiah foretold the dearth of quality leadership.
The government clearly has little interest in countering the increasingly violent anti-Semitic elements of our society. Instead, it is filled with leaders who for years have worked in opposition to the State of Israel. Since the attack, decades-old videos have resurfaced of Albanese standing by a Hezbollah flag and calling for a “free Palestine.” He, and many in his cabinet, have little love for Israel or its supporters abroad, even as that nation is being terrorized and its people persecuted.
Some seem to be waking up to this reality. Albanese was booed at the memorial service. He was invited to only one of the funerals for the victims. After the attack, the prime minister initially refused calls for a royal commission into the killings, signaling a total lack of interest in any accountability.
The government response has been to avoid talking about immigration, avoid talking about Islam and about domestic terrorists—a stunning decision particularly in the aftermath of mass murder of Jews at Bondi. Instead, the government has used that bloodbath to undermine the very freedoms that protect people from being targeted for their beliefs.
Disarmament
There is one way that the government has responded with strength: by making already draconian gun control laws even harsher. Strict laws were first passed after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Within 48 hours of the Bondi bloodbath, the government capitalized on the feverish emotions and public outcry and made new proposals that reduce the number of guns Australians can own and how or if they can modify them. There will also be more “criminal intelligence” review in the firearms purchasing process.
Mass casualty event? The government solution is to take guns away from law-abiding Australians. The reality is that if one or two citizens at the Hanukkah event had been armed, the tragedy could have been mitigated, if not deterred. But Australians are disarmed, lacking any constitutional right to bear arms and defend themselves.
One of Adolf Hitler’s earliest actions upon becoming the führer in 1933 was to disarm Jewish citizens. By 1936, it was illegal to give a Jew a gun permit. By 1938, Jews were banned from even owning knives. (Sidenote: The state of Victoria is currently banning machetes.)
Hate Speech
The other government response has been to implement new “hate speech” laws.
Prime Minister Albanese himself has called the measures “complex.” Some are rightfully concerned that any broad efforts to clamp down on generic “hate speech” could inevitably be turned against anyone the government deems to be offensive in any way.
An example of such abuse is Hitler’s claim in January 1939 that the teachings of the Jews were harmful to society. His propagandist newspaper, Der Sturmer, wrote, “The Holy Scripture is a horrible criminal romance abounding with murder, incest, fraud and indecency.” It also stated: “The Talmud is the great Jewish book of crimes that the Jew practices in his daily life.” The Nazis deemed Judaism to be hate speech. And we know what came thereafter.
Disarming the Jews and demonizing their faith paved the way for terrible atrocities. That isn’t to say Australia is on track to become a Nazi regime. But the Australian government’s avid support of anti-Israel views, and its clear ambivalence toward the plight of the Jews—even at precisely the time when such a hated, afflicted and vilified people ought to receive the most sympathy—highlight the deadly undercurrent in Australia.
Australia has become a hotbed of anti-Semitism, and government officials will not solve the problem. They too are carried away on the hidden riptides, along with many everyday Australians.
God has a direct warning for Australians and all modern descendants of ancient Israel who allow themselves to be swept away in such waters.
God’s Warning
“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isaiah 1:4). The government certainly has a large part to play in the rapidly deteriorating state of affairs. However, the Bible clearly indicates we all have a responsibility for the state of the world.
God has never been so forsaken in Australia as He is today. Great material blessings have fostered a spirit of materialism and selfishness, and rampant immigration has further weakened Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage.
This is the reality Australians must awaken to! “Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:10-11).
Following a similar attack in the United States in 2016, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote, “Sin kills! When we suffer, God suffers. But the suffering won’t stop until people heed the warning. … ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children’ (Hosea 4:6). Will you turn to God? It is our responsibility to know the Bible. If we forget God’s law, He will forget our children!” (Trumpet, August 2016).
Even as the riptide of anti-Semitism drags so many out into the depths, there is hope! John and many other biblical writers prophesied what would occur when we do draw close to our Maker. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).
Many tears are being shed in Australia today. God promises to wipe away those tears. Israel might have been God’s chosen nation, but God wants all peoples to be in His Family. A bright future is ahead, beyond the sin and suffering of today.
But here the analogy breaks down. To break free of a rip, you don’t fight it—you go with it. Swim parallel to the beach, not toward it. Eventually you could hopefully cycle out and be washed back to shore, or find the rip’s edge and come loose. But defeating anti-Semitism means taking a stand. Planting your feet. Resisting the undercurrent.
Perhaps you are not caught up in anti-Semitism. But perhaps another rip has caught you. God calls our nations a people laden with iniquity. You need to stand on solid ground! God is calling on you to do your part and stand up to the sinful ways of our people and resist the undercurrents of the devil. Do this, take action, and be freed from the undercurrents of this world.