Ben Kepes on the Bondi Beach attack
An excellent column by Ben Kepes:
As details emerged, the familiar and uncomfortable script played out. While there will be inquiries and investigations to come, my immediate thoughts were of how such attackers must believe they are doing something righteous. Perhaps they thought that by targeting Jews in Australia, they were somehow striking a blow for Palestine, or avenging the very real trauma suffered by their kinfolk in Gaza.
Maybe they considered this was solidarity, resistance, justice. It is hard to write that without feeling a surge of anger and disbelief, but it is important to name it plainly.
Such are the typical hallmarks of attacks targeting Jews. And what leaves me incredulous is the leap of logic required to get there. The assumption that Jews everywhere are collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government and military is not just wrong, it is absurd. It would be laughable if it were not so dangerous.
Jews are not a hive mind. We do not vote in bloc, think in unison, or take marching orders from Jerusalem. Many of us have never even been to Israel. Some actively oppose its current government. Others hold complicated, conflicted views that do not fit neatly into slogans or social media posts.
The majority of Jews I know are deeply saddened by what has happened in Gaza over the past years. They grieve for Palestinian civilians caught in cycles of violence they did not choose. They grieve in much the same way they grieve for civilians killed in Ukraine, in Sudan, in Syria, in places that rarely trend on X for more than a day.
Some activists seem to only care about one conflict. In 2025, the estimated dead in other conflicts are:
- Ukraine 75,000
- Sudan 50,000
- Islamist insurgencies in Africa 20,000
- Myanmar 15,000
- Somalia 10,000
- Mexico 10.000
- Congo 9.000
- Ethiopia 6,000
And yet, somehow, Jews are expected to answer for a war fought by a state many do not live in, and a government many did not vote for. It is a standard applied to no other group. We do not hold random Russians responsible for Putin, or random Americans for every drone strike. We understand, intuitively, that states and people are not the same thing. Except, apparently, when Jews are involved.
Exactly.