Australian Author Claims Criticism of Israel is “the new McCarthyism”

Australian writer, Richard Flanagan, is a celebrated novelist and historian, notably receiving the Booker Prize for one of his works of fiction.  As a journalist, he has written for various Australian and international publications, including Le Monde, The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.  Yet, in spite of the fact he is clearly a gifted writer, his latest non-fiction work should in fact be filed under the category “nonsense”.

From the 20^th to the 30^th of August, 2026 Sydney (Australia) played host to The Festival of Dangerous Ideas.  According to the official website, the Festival is: “Driven by ideas, not shock value. Unrestricted by form, language or perspective. The Festival exists to give the conversations most people avoid a stage they deserve, and to bring Australian audiences the sharpest, most credentialed, most provocative thinkers from around the world.”  Richard Flanagan was one of the guest speakers at the Festival, delivering a speech entitled “The new McCarthyism: Gaza and Australia”. 

For the benefit of those without a knowledge of America’s modern history, the American Heritage Dictionary gives the definition of McCarthyism as: 1. The political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence; and 2. The use of methods of investigation and accusation regarded as unfair, in order to suppress opposition.  So, in claiming that it is the Israeli government’s intention to actively work to suppress every criticism levelled against it (legitimate or not), Flanagan claims: All Australians would quickly understand that there is now a sphere of human life about which they must be silent—or tempt being blacklisted. That’s the new McCarthyism.

Flanagan made a number of startling statements in his speech, beginning with an outlandish claim that lacks any evidence whatsoever.  After referring to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists which claimed that “Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings in both 2025 and 2024” Flanagan rhetorically asked why Israel deliberately kills journalists.  His claim was as follows: And the answer is very simple: it has to kill every journalist, it has to silence every voice that seeks to bear witness to truth, so that it can keep its own citizens and the world ignorant of the orgy of evil it has visited on the Palestinian people over the last three years in Gaza, and now in the West Bank and in Lebanon. In those countries where a bullet can’t be used, the deadliest slur to throw is that of antisemitism. And Israel is now seeking to silence us here in Australia with just that slur.

Bizarrely, Flanagan then claimed that prior to October 7, Jewish Australians experienced “little antisemitism” and went so far as to say that antisemitism was essentially non-existent on the day of the Bondi Beach massacre: But other than the murderous evil of the two gunmen, where was the antisemitism to be found at Bondi on that terrible day? Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere.  So, if antisemitism was virtually non-existent, who was to blame for antisemitism in Australia, particularly after October 7?  According to Flanagan the villains—guess who—are the Jews themselves, specifically the organisations and individuals that comprise the “Israel lobby”.  He said: A question needs to be asked: to what extent has the Israel lobby itself contributed to antisemitism in Australia by consistently advocating for Israel’s war in Gaza in a highly aggressive fashion, always seeking to identify all Australian Jewish people with Israel’s actions and with the lobby’s own heavy-handed attempts to silence Australians? As anger around the genocide grew could it have been the lobby’s own acts fueling antisemitism?

Predictably, Flanagan then turned his attention to Zionsim, saying: Zionism arose out of the same fetid ethno-nationalist ferment of the late nineteenth, early twentieth century Europe that also gave the world Nazism, fascism, and extreme nationalism and authoritarianism. Its model of society building was that of nineteenth century imperialism: conquest and violence to create ethnically pure countries.

Flanagan’s speech takes contested allegations and tries to present them as verifiable facts.  Sadly, those who are ignorant of the past, present and future of Israel according to God’s Word will naively accept Flanagan’s claims without further investigation.  The reality is that without a proper understanding of the Bible, Flanagan (and others like him) are only able to offer an opinion which is based on faulty and incomplete data, deceiving themselves and others.

Flanagan ends his speech by saying: It’s time each of us began to walk towards our most fundamental freedom—to name, to point, to bear witness to the truth.  How ironic.  Flanagan presents himself as some type of standard-bearer for the truth while at the same time delivering a speech containing lies.  Well, Mr Flanagan, since you seem so eager for the truth, here’s some for you.  You will never understand Israel unless you understand God’s plan for the Jews as revealed in the Bible.  Until then, perhaps it is best for you to return to writing fiction.  It is obviously where your gift lies.