On a predictable lash-out and Bondi Beach– Isaac Chotiner interviewing in The New Yorker ‘Michael Visontay, the commissioning editor of the Jewish Independent, which is based in Australia’:

‘I’ve read some of your past work, and I know you’re someone who believes that criticism of Israel, which you have lodged yourself, is not in itself antisemitic, even if sometimes criticism of Israel does take an antisemitic form. And I know the Israeli government has said that the Australian government’s recognition of a Palestinian state is part of what caused these incidents. What did you make of the Israeli government’s criticism? Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks were just sort of a predictable lash-out, trying to, I guess, denigrate the Australian government because it had recognized Palestinian statehood. And my personal view is that the Australian government had done that as a result of the reports of starvation in Gaza earlier this year, and a number of other countries were doing the same at the time. I think the recognition was probably premature and not necessarily helpful, but I think that was the reason it occurred when it did. That is what triggered Netanyahu to lash out at the Australian government and accuse it of fostering antisemitism—a connection that was tenuous at best.
In terms of criticizing the Israeli government, there’s still a place for it, and it needs to be done when it is appropriate, but it has become very difficult for people, certainly for Jewish people, to receive and digest legitimate criticism on its merit, because there’s been so much toxic bile levelled at Jews and Israelis. It’s become almost impossible to separate the arguments of legitimate criticism from the toxic messaging. And so many Jews have not seen the criticism as legitimate because they’ve got this view of, “Well, they just hate us, and this criticism is indistinguishable from hatred.” That is really one of the biggest casualties of what’s happened. The Israeli government needs to be called out for its bad behavior and policy and the things it says and does, but that criticism needs to be expressed in very precise terms.’

(…)

‘Do you think the Australian government has done enough to protect Jews in the past couple of years? Jewish people in Australia have been speaking out about feeling unsafe. It’s clear that they were right to feel unsafe, as today proved, but you never know when people are criticizing the government for not doing enough if that is actually valid. What has been your opinion? Look, I think generally their response has been adequate. They could possibly have done more and sent stronger messaging earlier. But I think part of the issue in Australia is not just what they’ve done in terms of legislation and political leadership to protect Jews but the messaging on the other side, so to speak. There’s a considerable Muslim community who’ve been very concerned by what’s happened in Gaza and by what the Israeli government and I.D.F. have done in Gaza. And so the government has been very concerned with acknowledging the pain and distress felt by Muslim and Palestinian communities whilst acknowledging the insecurity and attacks that have been visited on the Jewish community. And that has been interpreted by a lot of people, of Jews, as being not sufficiently protective of the Jewish community.
And part of that from the Jewish community is the fact that wrapped up within the Palestinian cause is Hamas. And so while many Jews support Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution and feel for the terrible loss of life of Palestinians, the lack of disavowing Hamas in some rallies has led Jews to see support for Palestinians as being somehow tacitly turning a blind eye to Hamas and what Hamas did on October 7th. And sometimes it just felt like the support for the Jewish community was not wholehearted, and that the government could have responded faster and more strongly. But I don’t think it makes the government culpable.’

Read the interview here.

Legitimate criticism can also feel toxic.
Perhaps we should try to take our feelings a little bit less serious.

The problems starts when criticism of Israel becomes criticism of all Jews. Netanyahu and his zealots very much want this to happen. That’s why some (Bibi for example, rightwing politicians and their mouthpieces elsewhere) eagerly exploit the terrorist attack in Sydney.