Sadly, I No Longer Feel Lucky or Safe, by Shoshanna Silcove

 

     For  twenty seven years as an American ex-pat, I felt  blessed and lucky to live in what has been called the Lucky Country. Prosperous, modern, beautiful, expansive Australia. I liked the easy going, laid back, and friendly 'mateship' of the Australian culture. I felt comfortable in our Jewish niche, with its unified and highly organised community of various different strains and levels of religiosity living together in tolerance and appreciation for each other. I have enjoyed the Jewish shopping strips, it's various shules, Jewish organisations, and the myriad of Jewish functions and events. I have also revelled in our beautiful state of Victoria. While living in a lovely inner suburb with many green parks and shopping malls, I have had access to a fabulous bustling city only a few minutes drive in one direction, and a gorgeous beach within walking distance in another.  A bit further out we can quickly travel to any variety of breathtaking mountains, fields, valleys, and waterways to escape to. Not only did I feel lucky and blessed, but I also felt safe. Sadly I no longer feel lucky or safe.

    Due to the shocking economic deterioration of our city since the Covid lockdowns, my home is a shell of what it once was. Now it is littered with scores of empty stores and buildings with 'For Lease" or "For Sale" signs, a crumbling and neglected infrastructure, and scores of homeless people abound on our streets.  All this was basically foreign to us before 2020, as Melbourne was voted 'The Most Livable City in the World' many times over and Australia was the envy of the world. 

    As if this is not bad enough, there is another scourge facing us as the ugly head of anti Semitism is allowed to not only raise itself but, to flourish. Since Oct 7, our Labor government, in order to curry favour with the Muslim population that out numbers the Jews eight to one, has shown no incentive to enforce law and order when it comes to protecting one of its vulnerable minorities-- Australian Jews. Masses of protestors calling for death to Jews march each weekend unabated in the Melbourne Central Business District disrupting the city's social and economic activities, while police intimidate and arrest  law-abiding Jews. Jews are threatened with violence while going about our daily lives, Jewish businesses are sabotaged and boycotted, hateful anti Semitic graffiti is prolific, protests at synagogues are now a regular occurrence, and now the most recent horror, something we all feared but never imagined could really happen, a prominent synagogue has been firebombed with one Jew injured. 

     Australia has the most Holocaust survivors of any country in the world outside Israel. Although by now many have passed away, the Jews here have been nothing but grateful to Australia for providing an extremely welcoming and safe haven for us. That sense of security has now been shattered, along with any illusions that the government has our back except to put a knife into it.