The reaction to the fire bombing on a Jewish establishment in Melbourne has been sadly predictable.

While people in positions of authority in Australia cannot condone acts of violence, the readiness with which they condemned the attack shows a disturbing lack of perspective.

Zionists have deliberately made all Jews into targets. Readers of objective and fearless analysis such as that available on Pearls & Irritations know that many Jewish people oppose the actions of the government and armed forces in Palestine. The Zionists ignore what might be described as internal opposition because acknowledging this different Jewish perspective would show that the genocide in Gaza does not have its roots in religion. This is not a holy war.

By all means, Australian authorities must punish property crimes but let us keep degrees of violence in proportion. An Australian Government which allows components of armaments made here to be exported to Israel is condoning genocide and infanticide. Neither politicians nor most media outlets show any enthusiasm for prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators of war crimes. If they did, then they could claim the moral authority to prosecute some forms of violence here.

Right-wing politicians and journalists have shown no desire to provide balanced commentary on protest. They mouth platitudes about the freedom to protest, but by taking a cynical attitude to this right, they seek to position protesters as extremists. This self-fulfilling prophesy succeeds if we allow it to. They demand governments ignore and perhaps even ban protests, thus forcing activists to use ever creative methods to attract attention to their cause, and to focus their campaigns directly at those responsible for the intolerable situation in Gaza.

Australia is following the deplorable examples of the US and UK in suppressing dissent. Government spokespeople imply that we belong to the AUKUS alliance because of shared values, but they repeatedly fail to recognise that both of these Anglophone societies have deep-seated flaws which we should shun. Not only do both the US and UK spend huge amounts on armaments to the impoverishment of their people, but both exhibit anti-democratic tendencies.

Unless you are white and male, neither country offers you much. The US has a firearms massacre every week and just as regularly a fresh scandal erupts in the UK over government agencies in areas as vital as health, education, police and environment services failing to respect their clientele.

Increasingly, one qualification for government in Australia is a highly developed acting ability. You need to be able to express outrage when you do not feel it. You have to be able to satisfy our rabid right-wing media that you agree with their agenda and that you will not rock any boats.

No-one wants an escalation in violence around the issue of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. There is only one way to ensure that protests remain peaceful and that is certainly not by banning them or vilifying activists. The only way is to show that Australia cares about the killing of Palestinian children.

We elect people to take risks on our behalf. During past conflicts, Labor parliamentarians, such as Jim Cairns and Tom Uren, marched with the people to help end conflicts. Today’s MPs lack the courage to take actions they know are needed. While they remain quiet, protesters must take up the megaphones to express outrage.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.