Why Jews must speak up when Muslims are targeted

When Muslims praying peacefully are confronted by police force — that should unsettle all of us, writes Michael Cohen.

I WANT to say something plainly.

As a Jew who’s generally perceived as being of the Left, watching police confront a peaceful Muslim prayer group in Sydney made my stomach drop.

Not because it’s complicated — but because it isn’t.

People praying. People gathering. People protesting peacefully. And suddenly they’re treated as a security problem.

That should unsettle anyone who cares about civil liberties. But it carries a particular weight for Jews.

The irony here is brutal.

A Jewish Hanukkah event was attacked. A horrifying act. That trauma became part of the justification for Isaac Herzog’s visit. Security was ramped up. Tensions rose. Understandably.

Bondi under fire: How Australia responded to terror and fear

What has changed after the Bondi terrorist attack on Sunday 14 December?

But then, in some grotesque turn of events, Muslims quietly praying and protesting ended up facing police force. People playing soccer. Families standing around. Ordinary human beings exercising basic democratic rights.

So let me get this straight.

A Jewish community attack becomes the backdrop — and Muslims become the ones physically confronted by the state.

That’s not safety. That’s displacement.

And historically, that pattern never ends well.

I’m not interested in tribal accounting. I don’t believe suffering is a competition. But Jewish history gives us a particular sensitivity to what happens when minorities are framed as risks, when public order is prioritised over human dignity, when fear becomes policy.

We know this story.

It starts with “heightened tensions.” It moves to “necessary security measures.” It ends with entire communities treated as suspicious by default.

That’s why I find the silence from large parts of the Jewish community so disturbing.

Not everyone, obviously. There are Jews speaking out. But institutionally? Publicly? Loudly?

Too many are missing.

And I get it. People are scared. Antisemitism is real. The Hanukkah attack was real. There’s a desire to circle the wagons.

But here’s the thing: Jewish safety has never come from aligning ourselves with state power while other minorities are crushed beneath it.

It has always come from insisting on universal rights.

From saying, if Muslims can be treated this way today, Jews can be treated that way tomorrow.

I’m tired of hearing that speaking up for Palestinians or Muslims somehow endangers Jews. What endangers Jews is allowing injustice to be carried out in our shadow. What endangers Jews is appearing comfortable while another community is publicly humiliated by the police.

Solidarity isn’t branding. It’s not a social media posture. It’s what you do when it’s uncomfortable.

Bondi terrorism delivers dive in journalism standards

The Bondi attack has been cynically repurposed to advance an immigration narrative that collapses under even basic factual scrutiny.

Right now, Muslims in Australia are watching closely. They’re seeing how quickly peaceful assembly can be reframed as extremism. They’re seeing how easily prayer becomes a threat. They’re noticing who speaks — and who doesn’t.

If Jews stay quiet, we become part of that story. And I don’t want that.

I want Jewish Australians to say clearly: police targeting Muslim prayer groups is unacceptable. Protest is not terrorism. Islamophobia has no place in this country.

Not because we’re morally superior — but because we understand, in our bones, what happens when societies decide some people deserve fewer rights.

This country is at a crossroads. It can slide further into suspicion, repression, and collective blame.

Or it can recommit to pluralism, civil liberties, and the simple idea that everyone deserves dignity in public space.

Jews don’t need to dominate that conversation. But we absolutely shouldn’t be absent from it. Because once minorities are sorted into “acceptable” and “problematic,” history tells us the list never stops growing.

If not now — when?

Michael Cohen is a Sydney-based Jewish Australian writer who previously contributed extensively to international newspapers, offering both articles and conceptual material. He now focuses on human rights issues.