I was afraid to make a submission to the antisemitism royal commission. But silence has consequences too | George Newhouse

I work in a sector that speaks out on racism and human rights, yet on this issue I have felt the boundaries of acceptable speech narrow around me

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I did not make a submission to the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion.

That is not because I have nothing to say. It is because I was afraid.

I work in a sector that speaks often, and rightly, about racism, discrimination and human rights. Yet on this issue I have felt the boundaries of acceptable speech narrow around me. To some, I am not progressive enough. To others, I am not supportive enough. Between those demands sits a quieter position that should not be controversial: that Jews are human beings, that Palestinians are human beings and any position that requires us to forget either truth has already begun to fail. We have to recover the capacity to hold two truths at the same time.