This is a shocking incident but also deeply revealing. The woman gave no coherent answer to why she refused service to a visibly Jewish man, what was objectionable about the Australian Jewish News or the specific article she was asked to laminate. It was simply, “I’m pro-Palestine.” Pro-Palestine has become, owing to the individuals and organisations that have come to signify that term, a pathological, irrational hatred for any Jew or any individual who does not share their view that Israel must be bombed or boycotted into nothingness. It leads people to deny or celebrate mass rape, slaughter and abduction. To jettison mantras like “believe all women.” To revel in the fire bombing of the electorate office of a Jewish MP, to don a mock Hamas headband, daub war memorials with the symbols of terrorist organisations and to feel disgust when in the company of an ordinary Jewish Australian, and still feel righteous, even superior. “It’s ok, I’m pro-Palestine, just check out my keffiyeh and watermelon.” We will have lost something as a country if this conduct is permitted.
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