The anti-Israel sentiments and protests cropping up on university campuses all over the US are also present in Australia, Australian influencer and pro-Israel advocate Marnie Pearlstein told Tamar Uriel-Beeri and Zvika Klein on The Jerusalem Post Podcast.
Pearlstein has been involved in advocacy for several years, but never wanted to take a front-stage role in speaking out. But that all changed after the October 7 massacre, when she started posting on her Substack and on social media.
Since then, she started making waves in the Sydney Jewish community and beyond.
"I get messages every single day from non-Jewish people from all over the world with very, very positive remarks, feedback, and messages of solidarity," she said.
When asked about the pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on US campuses, Pearlstein noted that this is something Australia is also dealing with.
"Australia, in many ways, is a mini-US, and we are facing a lot of the same problems," she explained. We have problems on most of our university campuses. We all like to think that maybe these problems started post-October 7, but I know from organizations I've been working with in Australia that there's been a deep-rooted issue within the Australian education system for many, many years. It's not new, it's just that the Band-Aid has been ripped off since October 7, and the students seem to have just jumped on the bandwagon."
The encampments in Australia only recently sprung up, after they had already made headlines in the US.
"As soon as we saw the encampment at Columbia, we braced ourselves in Australia. We knew it was just a matter of days," Pearlstein said.
Antisemitism spikes in Australia
However, antisemitism and anti-Israel rallies were much quicker, coming just days after the October 7 massacre, and she criticized the perceived lack of support for what seemed to be a huge spike in antisemitism in the country.
"In Sydney, we were going to have the Israeli flag lit up on the Opera House on the night of October 9, but the police in Sydney ended up telling the entire Jewish community to stay home that night, that it wouldn't be safe for us to come anywhere near the steps at the Opera House," she recounted. "And there was a massive Palestinian rally with chants of 'Kill the Jews' and Israeli flags were being burnt."
Pearlstein criticized Australia's progressive left-wing government for not doing enough to crack down on antisemitism.
"Israel and Australia are allies. And in terms of diplomacy, Australia would always want to create the perception that they... are allied with Israel," she said. "And I think the country and the government would also like to say that they take a lot of pride in protecting the Jewish population. But of late, I don't believe that we feel that's the case. So even after that October 9 incident at the Opera House, there were no arrests made, there was no real action taken. There have been daily antisemtic incidents happening since, and there's been very little legal action taken."
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