By Robert Inlakesh
Robert Inlakesh in conversation with Yaakov Aharon. (Thumbnail: Palestine Chronicle)
In an exclusive interview with the Palestine Chronicle, Yaakov Aharon, a journalist and anti-Zionist Jewish activist, commented that “it is the perfect disaster that they (Israel’s government) would never let go to waste”.
In the immediate aftermath of last Sunday’s Bondi Beach terrorist attack, targeting attendees of a Hanukkah party, it became clear that the focus had quickly shifted from the 15 victims who lost their lives and onto a wider political point-scoring blame game.
The identities of the terrorists quickly became the central theme of the attack across social media platforms, as fearmongering about Muslims and Islam in the West swept across the internet. In the case of the Israeli government and its online activists, their message was uniform; the attack was to be portrayed as having been encouraged by pro-Palestine protesters and Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian State.
In an exclusive interview with the Palestine Chronicle, Yaakov Aharon, a journalist and anti-Zionist Jewish activist, commented that “it is the perfect disaster that they (Israel’s government) would never let go to waste”.
As a member of Sydney’s Jewish community, Aharon said that there were friends and members of his own family “who were on the beach that day and who were affected”, he also added that he was raised in the Ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch sect of Judaism.
When asked about the Israeli government weaponizing the mass shooting, he noted that while this may be true, the victims themselves were from a sect “that believe in things that would make Itamar Ben-Gvir blush” and would perhaps make the current Israeli Security Minister appear “like a moderate”.
“So is it being politicized? Yes. Is it being weaponized and exploited by Chabad Lubavitch in a way that maybe does not align with what the victims would have wanted, I don’t think so frankly”, he continued.
Aharon offered this context before explaining how difficult it had been for him, as someone who has been isolated from his own community for his views, to find a way to mourn the tragedy alongside them appropriately. “Their flag is not my flag”, he stated, while maintaining that despite this fact and his being an atheist, it is still meaningful to him to stand with the community in prayer during such a time.
One point that has arisen as a topic of debate, surrounding the events of last Sunday, is the Israeli government’s role in encouraging antisemitic attacks and sentiments in general. In this particular case, which appears to have been committed by ISIS-aligned terrorists, there is currently no indication of a specific motive. Yet, a general noted rise in antisemitism has more broadly been connected to Israel.
“The Israeli government does not want antisemitism around the world to decrease”, says Aharon, noting, however, that many of the reports documenting alleged antisemitism are in fact tracking pro-Palestine sentiments more than anything else.
He also pointed out that since October 7, 2023, a suspicious string of antisemitic incidents has been taking place in Australia and that the Mossad has been tipping off the Australian government about what it claims is Iranian State involvement.
Commenting that “if you believe what Mossad has to say”, then the plot to target Sydney’s Jewish community involves “Iran coordinating local bike gangs, PKK, Hamas, Nazis, apparently now ISIS as well, which is responsible for this attack, and Hezbollah, and also the local social-alternative University clubs”.
“It may seem bizarre, but our intelligence agencies believe it”, Aharon says, arguing that this is despite the Australian government failing to present the public with any such evidence of this alleged conspiracy. It is of note that the Israeli media quickly began pointing the finger at Tehran’s alleged involvement in the Bondi Beach shooting, a totally unsubstantiated allegation.
But it isn’t just Iran that has been subjected to the blame of Israeli propagandists; it has also been demonstrators who took to the streets to condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which translates to accusing anti-Zionist Jewish activists like Yaakov Aharon by extension.
The real twist in this story was the heroic actions of a man by the name of Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Muslim who bravely wrestled a weapon off of one of the attackers, risking his life and suffering gunshot wounds in the process, to save those around him.
After the news of his identity initially broke, online Islamophobic activists scrambled to cover their tracks. Some even jumped to pretend that Ahmed al-Ahmed was a Lebanese Maronite Christian, and others shared AI-generated footage/images to claim a media cover-up of the fact that he was a white man.
Aharon told the Palestine Chronicle the following about the 44-year-old father of two:
“People like Ahmed al-Ahmed, people from Syria, know a lot more about ISIS terrorism than Jewish people. I mean, the primary victims of ISIS’s terrorism have been, of Al-Qaeda and other Takfiri extremist groups, the primary victims are other Muslims.”
On the topic of al-Ahmed being nominated for Australian of the Year, Aharon expressed that if anyone should get it, it should be him, while positing that “groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda are almost like Islamophobic hate groups, in a sense, it’s not the same religion as the Muslims I know practice.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
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