On June 9, the Never Again is Now (NAIN) event was held in Brisbane, QLD in the Roma Street Parklands on a glorious sunny winter’s day. This event was organised with local Christian and Jewish leaders in conjunction with the NAIN co-founder, Rev. Mark Leach, who flew up from Sydney to MC the event. Mark and other concerned pro-Israel believers began this grassroots movement after the shocking slaughter that took place in Israel on 7 October last year.
Immediately following that terrorist massacre, a wave of both celebration of the carnage, and rabidly vile antisemitism erupted around the world, and Mark was horrified to see that same hatred on display outside the cathedral he works at in Sydney on 10 October. While the hatred and violence were celebrated, Mark stood alone on the cathedral steps holding a single Israeli flag and was promptly threatened and chased by the rioters.
It was from this experience that a determination grew inside him to rally Christians, Jews, and other honest, fair-minded people to gather together to show solidarity with Israel, but in particular, to stand for the right of Jewish people in our country to be safe and protected from vilification, violence, calls for genocide, and targeted attacks because of antisemitic hatred.
The first NAIN event took place in Sydney several months ago when around 12,000 people rallied together in the Domain. This was followed by subsequent rallies in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, and as mentioned above, most recently in Brisbane.
The Brisbane event saw between 1,500 and 2,000 people in attendance with many Jewish, Christian, and secular speakers all beating the same drum—“Say no to hate, mate!” There’s no room in our Australian society for vile, genocidal antisemitism, and it was encouraging to hear voices from Christian, Jewish, political, and civic leaders joining their voices to collectively say no to the hatred and violence being perpetrated against our Jewish Australian brothers and sisters.
All the speakers spoke of their revulsion of the antisemitism rising within our societies, at their disgust of it being championed as free speech in our universities, and the lack of political leadership, both federal and state, in doing nothing to stem the tide, but they gave their commitment to consistently push back against it.
There was a police presence of course, but the rally was very peaceful, as they always are, and no protesters showed up to cause a disturbance. Australian flags were waved proudly, and Israeli flags were waved with great enthusiasm and support. The feeling among those in attendance was warm, friendly, and very enthusiastic.
Israel is our closest ally and friend in the Middle East, and we have a strong and very emotional historical connection to her, as our armed forces played a pivotal role in liberating the Holy Land from 400 years of Ottoman occupation, which paved the way for the rebirth of the State of Israel, just as Isaiah 66 said would happen. That’s a history we should be proud of, one we must protect.
Australia has been the recipient of God’s blessing because of our relationship with Israel; we don’t want that to end by betraying God’s people. The consequences would be devastating. Read Genesis 12:3.
Christians for Israel Australia has been supporting these events and we’ve been able to attend several of them. We’re also excited that there are more rallies being organised for Sydney and Melbourne, the details for which you can find at
www.neveragainisnow.com.au
0 Comments