The famous quotation, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, was first uttered by British philosopher John Stuart Mill in an inaugural address at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 1867. The phrase has endured - and for good reason. It’s true. Always true.
We’re also familiar with another well-worn phrase these days: “How did things come to this?”, or, “How did we get here?” And the answer to these questions – a lot of the time – lies in Mill’s discerning observation. When good men (and women) do nothing in the face of evil, they give permission for it to take liberties and cross boundaries with arrogant confidence, having learned that nobody will step in. And so, evil does whatever it wants with increasing brazenness in the vacuum created by good people doing and saying nothing. This question - “How did things come to this?”- has been asked by three journalists in the last 48 hours (it is now early Sunday afternoon as I write this) in the wake of the Adass Israel Synagogue fire-bombing. How did things come to this? Deep down, I think we know.
The Adass Israel synagogue (the oldest in Australia) was firebombed in Melbourne, in the heart of the Jewish community, before dawn last Friday. A most grievous outrage – and I’ll call it for what it was: a savage act of domestic terrorism. It has taken until today (late Monday morning) for our Primer Minister, playing tennis in Perth, to finally label it as such, and for our police commissioner (mid-Monday afternoon) to agree, with our premier, Ms Allan, still not sure (it was “an evil act”). Yet, there was never any doubt in the minds of most thinking people, given the context and growing pattern of anti-Jewish sentiment this last 14 months in Melbourne. Let’s be real. This was no act of juvenile delinquency or opportunistic vandalism. This was a coldly calculated, targeted act or terror squarely aimed at intimidating, terrorising and brutalising our Jewish citizens.
It is a most serious crime against one people group.
There was another recent act of hatred and intimidation last week (Wednesday) in Sydney. A large mob of pro-Palestinian protestors sought to intimidate worshippers inside the Great Synagogue in the city. Worshippers were holed up there for several hours as a result. The police eventually attended, and one rowdy “protestor” was told to move on. Another was issued with “an infringement notice” for “disturbing the peace”. The rest kept protesting. No arrests were made even though there were many breaches of NSW vilification laws. Hundreds there protesting and chanting anti-Semitic slogans calling for the eradication of the state of Israel - no arrests. In Melbourne, police are hunting “the arsonists”, according to the ABC news service. Are you seeing a pattern here?
How did things come to this? Why has anti-Semitism “suddenly” re-emerged after all this time? Mill’s words were both prophetic as well as discerning. Good people in legitimate positions of authority have done nothing to stop it. Politics aside, our federal and state governments have done so little, so often, to unequivocally stamp out anti-Semitism. Or, when they have mouthed some feeble response to anti-Semitic behaviour, when they have, as reported, “called” out the anti-Semitism, the moral equivalency rhetoric has also been trotted out, viz., “Oh, and we’re against Islamophobia, as well.” Islamophobia is NOT the issue here. The issue is anti-Semitism. The persistent equivalence response is merely a smokescreen for failing to firmly and unambiguously deal with the one issue – we don’t want to upset anti-Semitic voters, do we?
The federal government, in my view, has persistently expressed criticism and disapproval of Israel defending itself and have, in effect, backed Hamas and Hezbollah with their faint condemnation of these terrorist groups. The criticism is now extreme. The proof (if any was needed) is their voting patterns at the United Nations, which undermine Israel’s sovereignty and its right to defend itself, as well as their approval of funding of a UN relief agency in Gaza (millions of Australian dollars) which then uses a lot of that money to fund Hamas education programs, and support several Hamas operatives to boot.
Weak “calling out” (even it if is claimed to be unequivocal) is far from uncompromising, unequivocal stamping out. Ever since the October 7th terror attack on Israel last year – and from the get-go - there has been a palpable reluctance on the part of state and federal governments to crack down hard on manifestations of racial and religious hate in our nation. Anti-Semitism began to gain momentum. Good folk doing nothing except mouthing sympathies - all whilst ensuring the right photo opportunities for themselves – but there has been no hard push back on these hate crimes. According to Victoria’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act (2001) many offences have been committed by “protestors”. One person has ended up in court convicted under other laws that prohibit the Nazi salute, another let off with a warning because he was “sorry” for using a Nazi symbol. But no one has yet been prosecuted for the vile racist hatred perpetrated on the Jewish community in Melbourne, even though we have the specific laws to do so.
For example, under the R&RT Act (2001), it is a crime to “incite hatred, contempt, revulsion, or ridicule against a person or group of people because of their race or religion”, whether this takes place in public, such as in the street, at a community event, or in the media. In Victoria, speaking about a person's race or religion in a way that could make others hate or ridicule them, is a crime – and for more than a year we have witnessed this race hatred on our streets every week, in what some woke media outlets call “peaceful demonstrations”. Police have taken very little action.
Everyone in legitimate authority seems so very reluctant to act and do what is right – mostly for domestic political reasons in Melbourne and Sydney. The result is that anti-Semitism, virtually extinct in Australia, has been raised to life again.
Good men and women have done nothing, and evil now sets the political agenda seeking to have its way and triumph over good. Our precious social cohesion is being damaged. It is not sufficient for good men and women to just peacefully go about their daily lives, keeping to themselves. With the right to peaceful coexistence with others (who may not necessarily share our views), comes the equal responsibility to preserve it. We elect governments to ensure our peaceful, social harmony is protected and enhanced. Peaceful coexistence is no spontaneous or inevitable thing, especially with human nature being what it is.
In the absence of shouldering this responsibility – or any perception of reluctance or weakness in doing so – evil will always seek to raise its ugly head. And the more often any good person appears this reluctant or this weak, the more evil escapes its confines. The worst bit about all of this is that we are then so shocked when evil finally “all of a sudden” does what evil has always wanted to do; and we lament, “How have things come to this?” And John Mill would say, “Good people did nothing when they had the opportunity - that’s how.”
It is time for good people to write to their elected MPs – even visit them in their offices - and demand that the laws we have be implemented without fear or favour. These laws are more than sufficient, contrary to what our premier asserts. She has promised to “strengthen them”, and by that she means to include vilification against LGBTI persons as well – a good thing, yes. But by promising the addition of other classes of people needing protection under the existing Act, she confirms the Act has plenty of clout to deal with the current race hate behaviours. The law is not the issue here. It is good people doing nothing with it.
Pray for our Jewish Australians. Write to your parliamentarians. We don’t need anymore “calling out”- we need “stamping out”. Think on these things, meditate, and pray and, when necessary, confront evil so that it cannot do whatever it wants. When we take such a responsibility seriously, prayerfully, The Restrainer – Holy Spirit - goes to work doing what we cannot. The apostle Paul revealed this to us …
2 Thessalonians 2:7 (NIV)
“For the secret power of evil is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.”
Holy Spirit is waiting for good men and women to take a stand. He will restrain.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 5th, 2024; ABC News website; The Australian, Dec. 8th 2024; Wikipedia; Spectator Magazine, Rowan Dean, Dec. 6th, 2024]