Scott Morrison says he will continue praying for a miracle in the Middle East as the former prime minister joined fellow Christians and Sydney's Jewish community to rally against anti-Semitism.
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Religious songs and hymns at the Never Again is Now event on Sunday bookended speeches referencing the horrors of Nazi Germany and highlighting a rapid rise in anti-Semitism since October.
Beginning his speech by saying the date of Hamas's October 7 attack five times, Mr Morrison said peace was impossible while the Palestinian cause was championed by terrorists and those prepared to excuse acts of terrorism and anti-Semitism.
"But I've always believed in miracles," he told the crowd of a few thousand people in The Domain.
"And I will continue to always pray for a great miracle in the Middle East."
Anti-Semites came in many forms including by denying the Jewish people their right of self-determination by claiming the existence of Israel is a racist endeavour, Mr Morrison said.
Those living under the freedom of Australia's democracy had also called for the extinction of the state of Israel "from the river to the sea".
"That's anti-Semitism," he said.
The dean of Sydney's St Andrews Cathedral said Jewish Australians must be comfortable to enjoy life without disruption or hesitation.
"It's utterly unacceptable that Jewish people are subjected to attacks because of their Jewishness," Reverend Sandy Grant said.
"We don't accept it, we won't accept it."
Drawing supportive booing, federal MP Julian Leeser attacked the far left for a perceived ideological hostility towards people of all faiths and pointed to worsening anti-Semitism on university campuses.
"This isn't a faraway land, this isn't the 1930s, this is Australia in 2024 and it's not the Australia that gives me hope."
Inspired by the UK's Christian Action Against Antisemitism, the organisers of Never Again is Now include Anglican pastor Mark Leach, who has Jewish heritage.
Reports of anti-Semitism in Australia jumped eight-fold in the months after the October 7 attacks, when Hamas-backed militants burst into southern Israel from Gaza, killing more than 1200 people according to Israeli authorities.
More than 28,000 Palestinians have died in Israel's subsequent military action in the densely populated Gaza strip, according to the local health ministry.
It's the latest escalation of intergenerational conflicts in the Middle East region involving Palestinians and Israelis.
Sydneysiders also rallied on Saturday in a desperate effort to halt the Israeli bombing of Rafah, a small city in southern Gaza that has swelled to a population exceeding one million.
"We will not sit by while a genocide plays out in front of our eyes, a genocide disgracefully aided and abetted by the Australian and US governments," Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees said.
"We must fight to save Rafah. All people of conscience must stand with us.
"History will judge what people did in this crucial, desperate moment."
Australian Associated Press
