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Yet there is also a large body of Islamic teaching that points in a different direction. The Koran refers to Jews and Christians as ahl al-kitab – “people of the book” – who are close to Muslims and may not need to convert to Islam to ascend to heaven. Mohammad himself married a Jewish woman, and the Koran speaks at length of Bani Isra’el, the children of Israel (known similarly as Bnei Yisra’el in Hebrew), retelling many stories from the Torah including those of the prophets Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon.

Deradicalisation programs overseas have shown that Islam itself can be an effective tool to steer radicals away from extremism when a credible religious counter-argument is presented. Alongside policing and intelligence work, there is value in supporting approaches that strengthen contextual religious literacy, including teaching about the Jewish roots and references within Islamic scripture and history, and in expanding meaningful contact between Muslim and Jewish Australians.

Politically speaking, cracking down on neo-Nazis would be a much simpler affair, particularly for Labor-led federal and state governments, which rely on large Muslim constituencies in a number of crucial seats.

Neo-Nazi antisemitism has its roots in the blood libels of medieval Europe, witness to centuries of state and church-sanctioned pogroms against Jews justified by Christian scripture, papal edicts, hateful conspiracies and old-fashioned economic opportunism. It is from this Eurocentric ideology that many familiar antisemitic tropes have sprung, including white supremacist ideas about Jews sullying European racial and cultural purity.

The Islamist threat may be predominant, but the dangers posed by neo-Nazi ideology should not be underestimated. We can’t forget what happened when the antecedents of the current neo-Nazi movement held power in Europe. Neo-Nazi groups have brazenly asserted their presence in recent years in a series of violent protests including on the steps of both the Victorian and NSW parliaments. There is talk of a neo-Nazi political party running at the next election. Allowing neo-Nazi ideology to spread poses not only a danger to Australia’s Jewish community but also to our migrant communities and other groups including Indigenous and queer Australians.

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A third grouping also exists that is far more ideologically nebulous and tricky to delineate. These are individuals whose extreme anti-Israel views have crossed the line into anti-Jewish sentiment, and for whom any distinction between diaspora Jews living in countries such as Australia and the actions of the Israeli government has long since disappeared.

The vast majority of pro-Palestine protesters do not fall into this camp. Most are rightly horrified at the deplorable situation in Gaza, including the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent women and children. There is nothing antisemitic about opposing Israel’s conduct of the war or Israeli government policy.