Jewish Political Briefing: Saturday evening, Dec. 27, 2025
By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
Garry Fabian, OAM, as a German Jewish child was imprisoned by the Nazis in the “model ghetto” of Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia. After liberation, he immigrated to Australia where he lived an active, productive life. When presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2023, his resume as a volunteer in Melbourne was cited.
Highlights of that resume included his service as the former chairman of B’nai B’rith International in the state of Victoria; board member of the Victorian Association of Jewish Ex and Servicemen and Women Australia (VAJEX); volunteer at the Jewish Holocaust Center and at the Shrine of Remembrance; and former President of the Rotary Club of Glen Eira.
He also is the author of the memoir A Look Back Over My Shoulder; a member of the Child Holocaust Survivors group; a member of the St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation; and an Australian Navy veteran.
All of which is to say that Fabian, who turns 92 on Jan. 11, is a man with Jewish communal connections. His opinions about Australia’s leadership should be given due weight in the wake of the Dec. 14 massacre of 15 celebrants at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on the first night of Chanukah and the Dec. 25 bombing in Melbourne of an unoccupied car toting a mobile billboard that said, “Happy Chanukah.”
“There is a lot of criticism that (Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony) Albanese has not done enough to be proactive in measures to curb antisemitism and he has been booed at several meetings he attended,” Fabian stated in an email to San Diego Jewish World, for which he previously served as a correspondent. “The whole issue is being politicized between the Government and the Opposition rather than cooperation.”
“The mood of the Jewish community is somber, and security at all places is increased,” he added. “All institutions added armed guards since October 2023. Of course, the Bondi Massacre has triggered more concern.”
He said the growth in antisemitism in Australia had been exacerbated by the “Gaza situation with weekly pro-Palestinian protests in the streets (which have) brought a lot of crazies out of the woodwork.”
Asked about Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan’s relationship with the Jewish community of Melbourne, he responded that it’s “a bit strained in some quarters. She, also, has been booed when attending Jewish functions, but she has condemned the rising antisemitism widely.”
He asked skeptically, “Is it genuine or just politic speak?”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.