Australia recently experienced two controversies involving anti-Semitism and free speech. In the first, a cartoon, published in a major newspaper, implied that Benjamin Netanyahu has somehow manipulated the entire Australian government into launching a committee of inquiry into the Bondi Beach massacre. In the second, Randa Abdel-Fattah, a writer known for a bloodthirsty obsession with Israel—who has worked to drive Zionists out of public life—was disinvited from a literary festival. (The festival then apologized to her and decided to cancel itself for 2026.) Julie Szego examines the situation:Â
