Mr Murray’s letter (Echo, 13/5/26) is a deeply offensive attempt to cast suspicion on an entire community of Australians because they are Israeli/Jewish.
To compare Israeli-Australian dual citizens who have undertaken compulsory military service in Israel, with ISIS brides linked to a genocidal terrorist organisation in whose name 15 Australians were murdered at Bondi Beach, is morally grotesque.
ISIS carried out mass murder, rape, slavery and terrorism across the world, including against Australians. These so-called ‘brides’ enslaved Yazidi girls for daily rape by any man who decided to violently have his way. Israel, by contrast, is a democratic nation defending itself against such monsters – Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed terrorist groups responsible for massacres, sodomy, rapes, kidnappings and attacks targeting civilians.
No Israeli-Australian dual citizens have committed terrorist attacks, murders or extremist violence in Australia. None.
Instead, Israeli Australians have contributed enormously to this country especially here in the Byron Shire, through business, medicine, education, environmental work, farming, the arts, philanthropy and community service.
The suggestion that Jewish Australians should be treated with suspicion because some fulfilled compulsory military service overseas is precisely the kind of racism that fuels antisemitism.
Australians are free to criticise governments. But publicly implying that Israeli Australians are comparable to ISIS affiliates is repugnant.
At a time of rising antisemitism, when Jewish schools, synagogues and community organisations are under attack, rhetoric like this does not advance peace or justice. It normalises hostility toward Jewish and Israeli Australians and undermines the values of fairness, decency and social cohesion that Australia should stand for.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
