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Kerr racism saga a masterclass in left media’s hypocrisy Cameron Milner The Australian March 12, 2024 Sam Kerr’s slur against a serving police officer who happened to be Anglo-Celtic gave rise to a confected defence from our political class that somehow racism is OK if it’s uttered by the notionally oppressed. Kerr is a multi-millionaire soccer player and captain of the Australian women’s team. Her example is beyond appalling and speaks to a worrying double standard. That her defence is she abused only their “white” race rather than their parentage says it all. In a similar way the left-wing media, including the ABC, continues to excuse bias and turn a blind eye to anti-Semitism. There is no excuse for racism or anti-Semitism. There’s no amount of “humour” or word games that excuses denigrating someone’s characteristics of birth, religion or sexuality. But whether it’s the Lattouf case at the ABC or the fact NSW Police spent weeks of resources investigating whether pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “Gas the Jews”, the excusing and dithering about extremism has to stop. There are efforts made to excuse pro-Palestinian protesters who disrupt events such as Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. We know there are weekly meetings where Hamas is praised and Israel condemned with hate speech on camera, on voice recordings, yet no one is charged. It’s why so many of us are left questioning not only the tacit support for extremists but also the overt excusing by authorities and the political class for their actions. I recall when working to achieve state and federal approvals for the Adani coal project that the Stop Adani movement was riddled with slurs and innuendo as the Indian coal company was described as dirty, filthy and having dark motives. The left media happily promulgated such comments. The problem for the sanctimonious left is it wants to arbitrate alone on whether something is racist or anti-Semitic. Well, sorry, our standards as a society are higher than excusing one of your own because they vote Greens or teal. Hamas is a designated terrorist organisation that attacked innocent Israeli civilians. Hamas fighters killed, raped and took hostage defenceless people and continue to hold more than 100 captives as human shields to be used as bargaining chips to allow them to continue their reign of terror in Gaza. That leading Arab media is calling out the lavish lifestyle of the Hamas leadership, many of whom don’t even reside in Gaza any longer, should be given wide coverage in Australian media. The truth is Hamas has used hospitals and civilian infrastructure in Gaza from which to build an arsenal, plan its terrorist attacks and now seek to avoid the justice it so richly deserves. Everyday Gazans are equally the victims of Hamas’s tyrannical rule. Yet Foreign Minister Penny Wong couldn’t bring herself to visit the site of the October 7 massacre. Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg and others have – they should be commended. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke still has imams teaching jihad to boys in his electorate despite his condemnations, and we have a Victorian chair of a publicly funded Islamic council saying the terror attacks were essentially justified and needed context. This shouldn’t be excused or tolerated. By not acting to utterly condemn these actions, too many Labor politicians condone the appalling hate speech and incitement to violence. This is no longer the Labor Party led by Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, even if from time to time Anthony Albanese says the right thing on these matters. While Labor should be doing more and the Liberals should be congratulated for holding firm on anti-Semitism, it’s the Greens who should really be called out. Hypocrisy alongside wealth and privilege for the Greens is nothing new. A bunch of trust fund babies rallying against the injustice of living in a terrace house in Balmain while driving the latest Tesla indulging an opportunity to partake in casual anti-Semitism seems de rigueur for the comrades. The threat to our democratic values needs constant vigilance and defence. Two recent by-elections are telling. The election of the openly pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic George Galloway to the British parliament reminds us how close the threat is. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Opposition Leader Keir Starmer’s joint response to call out Galloway and redouble their commitment to Israel is commendable. Galloway hails from the hard-left, Corbynista part of his former Labour Party, adored by leftie ALP Albanistas. The other by-election is Dunkley where the Greens suffered a swing against them. The biggest swings were in the most teal-like booths around Mt Eliza and Frankston South. Greens normally would do well in a by-election if they stuck to climate change rather than being pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. I think Dunkley voters were appalled at the hard-left politics on show. Voters are seeing through the excuses in left-wing media. They see through our elected representatives who can’t call out anti-Semitism or racism directed at a police officer because of the inherent bias of saying it’s somehow OK if the perpetrator has a perceived victim status. I suspect many of these sensible voters also rejected the Albanese voice. We should have zero tolerance for all forms of discrimination and vile language. It’s the words that are spoken, the hate they convey, that are the only point of arbitration. No excuse can be made for those who spoke the words, however uncomfortable that makes people in the left and their favoured media outlets. We need to stand with Israel against the atrocities it has suffered, we need to wipe out Hamas. Equally, we need to call out Kerr’s words and not sweep under the carpet her attack, based on race, of a serving officer.