80% of Australians Are Not Antisemitic

A NSW Supreme Court judge has demolished the politically convenient lie that criticism of Israel is hatred of Jewish people.

Almost four in every five Australians view Israel unfavourably. Are we all antisemites? Of course not. And now a NSW Supreme Court judge has said so with a clarity that many Australian politicians, officials and media commentators conspicuously lack.

In State of NSW vs Farhat, Justice Desmond Fagan rejected the dangerous conflation of criticism of Israel with hatred of Jewish people. He also delivered a devastating critique of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism championed by Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal.

The judge bascially found officially what most of us already know. Israel is a state. Zionism is a political ideology. Jewish people are a diverse people with widely differing political views - including many who strongly oppose Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Criticising Israel is not automatically antisemitic. Nor is criticising Zionism. As Justice Fagan recognised, a political issue doesn't cease to be political merely because some people closely associate it with their religious or cultural identity.

“Detached from reality”

Justice Fagan was scathing about the IHRA definition, describing its core wording as “verbose” and “imprecise”. He said it departed from the established meaning of antisemitism - hostility towards Jewish people because they are Jewish. Even more powerfully, he said the definition’s apparent purpose was to attach a “parasitic rejection of protest against Israel” to the community’s legitimate abhorrence of antisemitism.

He concluded that the IHRA formulation was “detached from reality”. This matters well beyond one criminal case. The Commonwealth Government has adopted the IHRA core wording as policy applicable in Australian Public Service workplaces. It's promoted by Jillian Segal and has been embraced by the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and for so-called Social Cohesion.

Justice Fagan cited June 2026 Pew Research polling showing that 79% of Australians held an unfavourable view of Israel. He said it would be “preposterous” to suggest that those Australians were antisemitic because they disapproved of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. He also described Israel’s treatment of Gazans as "genocide".

Australians must be free to express our concerns, attend protests and condemn the actions of Israel without being smeared as racists. Antisemitism is real. It's vile and must be confronted unequivocally. But weaponising antisemitism to protect Israel from criticism doesn't protect Jewish Aussies. It cheapens the accusation, undermines public confidence and weakens the struggle against genuine antisemitism.

Anthony Albanese, Jillian Segal and other defenders of the IHRA definition also need to answer a simple question: Do they genuinely believe that nearly 80% of Australians are antisemites? If not, they must stop weaponising antisemitism to silence us.

Israel is a state. Zionism is a political ideology. Jewish people are people. Conflating them is intellectually dishonest, politically dangerous and, as this case shows, capable of producing real injustice.