Mike Burgess, the Director General of ASIO, has been reported as telling the ABC Insider program that there was “far more anti-Semitism than Islamophobia in Australia” before the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. (“ASIO boss urges restraint in political rhetoric”, The Australian, 11 August 2024).

However, he presents no evidence for this assertion. I suspect that he has no evidence and is lying because he thinks that this view lines up with that of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Or if Burgess really believes what he says, I suspect that his claim is based almost entirely on what very vocal – and PR savvy – Australian Jewish groups claim. These people appear to have much greater loyalty to Israel than Australia and are prepared to sow discord in Australia in order to advance the interests of Israel. 

Burgess also, no doubt, reads The Australian newspaper which has team of journalists and commentators who stand out for their lack of work experience in the non-English speaking part of the world and adherence to almost any American idea of being superior humans. Almost to a person they exhibit Islamophobia in the fashion of the clear views of one of Australia’s High Court Judges.

Contrary to what Burgess argues, the willingness of Australians – and the Government — to see Palestinians slaughtered en-masse by Israel suggest that Islamophobia is far greater than anti-Semitism in Australia.

I lived and worked in Russia for many years until October 2022 — that is eight months after the February invasion of Ukraine — and Burgess reminds me of the internal propaganda of Russian security agencies.

Don’t be a coward Mike! Tell us about the evidence that you have about the relative strengths of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia!