Howard Slams Attacks on Jews

Former prime minister John Howard has told a Sydney synagogue he is “ashamed” of the way the Jewish community has been treated in recent weeks and that “all decent Australians” feel the same.

In a powerful address to the congregation of Central Synagogue in Bondi, Mr Howard said he had been angered at the behaviour he had witnessed in Australia since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

“I am as an Australian, I am ashamed at what your community has been subjected to over the past few weeks, and could I tell you that all decent Australians, that is the great majority of Australians, are equally ashamed of what has happened,” he said.

“When I read stories of discrimination against Jewish people, where I hear stories of schools telling their students not to wear their uniforms outside the school grounds, I think to myself this cannot be the Australia I grew up in, it cannot be the Australia that was so magnificently led on the battlefields of World War I by arguably Australia’s greatest Jewish son, General John Monash.”

The former PM then quoted Psalm 133, which says behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

“What we want now more than anything else is for all of us to dwell together in unity,” he said.

Mr Howard was at pains to stress that he respected the concerns of the Jewish community at the attacks they have endured in recent weeks saying they were “properly based” but said they reflected a minority.

The Jewish community should be assured that “the great majority of your fellow Australians … are as appalled as you are at these manifestations of bigotry and they believe in the unity of this country and they believe in the contribution that the Jewish people have made, not only to Australia but to mankind through all the ages.”