Ban Candace Owens but tackle the real threat to Jews - opinion

Countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK face criticism for their responses to rising antisemitism and related violence

By ROMY LEIBLER/THE MEDIA LINE NOVEMBER 11, 2024 14:27 Updated: NOVEMBER 11, 2024 14:29

Candace Owens, conservative political commentator, speaks on stage during "Turning Point's The Peoples Convention" on June 14, 2024 at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan. (photo credit: JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/JTA)

Jews living in the Diaspora are grappling with a surge of antisemitism unleashed last October. Protests against the war in the Middle East have morphed into calls for the eradication of Zionism and the State of Israel, and by extension, the removal of Zionists from society. Jews have been targeted by the extreme left, the extreme right, and radical Islamists. 

The Australian government's decision to deny Candace Owens a visa is noteworthy and instructive.

We just witnessed on Thursday evening the pogrom in Amsterdam. Recently, a Jewish girls' school in Montreal was targeted by gunfire. In London, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked entry to a Jewish community center hosting an Israeli media event. In the UK, some pro-Palestinian authors are pushing to boycott Israeli and Jewish authors who do not publicly denounce Israel.

In Melbourne, a Jewish liquor store owner faced such severe harassment by pro-Palestinian agitators that he can no longer run his business.

Governments in Australia, Canada, and the UK have failed to adequately address rising antisemitism. Police often appear to allow such groups to intimidate Jewish communities, fostering feelings of insecurity. Despite its mandate to combat racism, Australia's Human Rights Commission has remained largely silent over the past year.

PEOPLE TAKE part in a ‘United With Israel – Bring Them Home’ protest in November in Sydney. (credit: LISA MAREE WILLIANS/GETTY IMAGES)

Owens denied visa

Given this context, it was a welcome surprise when the Australian government refused Owens a visa, preventing her from delivering speeches that could spread hate against Jews.

Her litany of antisemitic remarks includes claims that Jews are the all-powerful puppeteers of public life. She has indulged in medieval blood libel, accusing Jews of sacrificing Christian children and draining their blood. The latest addition to her repertoire is engaging in Holocaust denial, including questioning whether 6 million Jews died and denying that Josef Mengele conducted medical experiments on Jewish inmates at Auschwitz.

Owens is young, Black, attractive, eloquent, conservative, pro-family, promotes Christian values, and is anti-woke. This catapulted her to becoming a darling of the right. She was even part of the team at the Daily Wire, founded by Ben Shapiro.

Her shift to the far-right lunatic fringe began two years ago with her defense of Kanye West, who also went on an antisemitic binge. She has since been dismissed by the Daily Wire. Yet, she has accumulated 18 million followers, making her a dangerous exponent of antisemitic conspiracies emblematic of the extreme right.

The denial of her visa followed the expulsion of American Muslim speaker Khaled Beydoun, who addressed a large audience at a mosque on the anniversary of October 7, where he celebrated the massacre of 1,200 Jews by Hamas. He was invited by several Muslim organizations, including Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist group advocating the establishment of a global caliphate. Inexplicably, they have not been banned in Australia, unlike in the UK and Germany. Their messaging even calls for the downfall of Australia itself.

---

---

Before Australian Jews start popping the champagne corks in the belief that their government has at last decided to tackle the evils of antisemitism, it’s worth considering the following:

Three weeks ago at Melbourne University, the office of Professor Stephen Prawer was invaded by masked pro-Palestinian protesters. He manages exchange programs between Melbourne University and Hebrew University. Police were called, and the protesters were forced to leave, but no arrests or disciplinary actions have been taken against them.

Two weeks ago, the Executive Council of Australian Jews launched legal proceedings against Islamic preacher Wissam Haddad for speeches made at his mosque in Sydney. In his speeches, he described Jews as vile and treacherous and the descendants of apes and pigs.

He is not alone among extreme Islamic preachers who have engaged in such libel and slander. That the leadership of the Jewish community felt compelled to take such action is a result of the failure of the government and the police to do so.

This reveals that targeting a far-right antisemite is a soft option. The messaging of antisemites like Owens is abhorrent. Holocaust denial is rightly seen as a red line for most civil societies and is a punishable crime in Germany.

They provide fodder to neo-Nazi youth who spread their message of hate. Yet their numbers are minuscule, and their messaging is rightly rejected by the overwhelming majority. Their racist message of white supremacy and hatred of all minorities cannot impact a country like Australia, where the fabric of society is based on multiculturalism.

Some conservative commentators like Andrew Bolt and Brendan Neill have condemned Owens' views but have opposed her visa rejection on the grounds of censoring free speech. They feel that banning her will backfire and make her a martyr of the extreme right. They would rather attack her by mocking and exposing her views. Moreover, they reject the idea that there is a mob waiting to hear her views and then attack Jews the next day.

While I agree with the latter, I nonetheless support the visa ban. If Australia's message is that promoting antisemitic conspiracies should have zero tolerance, what better way than to deny their advocates a platform, especially when they have major followings?

In juxtaposition, there is a total lack of willingness to confront the alliance of the far left and Islamic extremists who have engaged in nonstop campaigning to denigrate and cancel Jews, not to mention their open support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Their calls for intifada and to free Palestine from the river to the sea do not emanate from the likes of Owens.

Preaching in mosques is just the beginning. It leads to Muslim youth being radicalized. Australia had a problem with disaffected Muslims supporting ISIS not too long ago. Some were jailed for planning terror operations, and others traveled to join ISIS. So when we hear demonstrators scream "intifada by any means," connect the dots. You get incidents like the shooter in Montreal and the pogrom in Amsterdam. The fear for Jewish communities around the world is that a mass casualty event is just around the corner.

Sadly, the playbook of left-leaning governments is to issue condescending condemnations of antisemitism, often coupled with condemnations of Islamophobia. They are unwilling to tackle the message of hate emanating from the alliance of radical Islamists and the extreme left on the grounds of political expediency, fearing it will risk electorates with large Muslim populations.

Acknowledge the issue of antisemitism 

The time is nigh for governments to acknowledge that the scourge of antisemitism has gotten out of control.

A wish list that includes mandatory adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism by the public sector, particularly tertiary institutions, would be a start. The insidious Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement needs to be outlawed.

Finally, effective legislation needs to be enacted, and the police need to be empowered to take action against those who engage in racial incitement. This needs to cover imams who denigrate Jews, those who call for intifada, and those who wave the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed as terrorist organizations.

Alas, it is probably wishful thinking.

Romy Leibler is a former prominent business and communal leader in Australia now residing in Jerusalem, Israel.