Burning Israeli flags, violent protests, discrimination and other forms of anti-Semitism are common in the Arabic world and shockingly common in Europe. Yet the worldwide scope of this attitude is understood by so few! Take the example of one nation far-removed from the turmoil in the Middle East and Europe: Australia.

The Land Down Under is a prime example of the rise of anti-Semitism and the hatred of Israel in a nation that historically has been a close ally of the Israeli people.

Following are just a few of the incidents that show the magnitude of anti-Israeli sentiment now boiling in Australian society.

Not all acts involve a raging, chanting crowd. For instance, on July 10 a man wearing an Israel Defense Forces T-shirt was ambushed in Melbourne. The man was jumped on a suburban side street by attackers yelling, “Allahu akbar!” They then proceeded to punch and drag the man on the curbside. His assailants fled only after the man fought back.

On July 23, pro-Palestinian students stormed a government office, stole an Australian and Israeli flag, and then burned them on the steps of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Melbourne. The brazen flag-burning was condemned but received barely a mention in local news.

On July 25, a Jewish school in Perth was defaced with the words “Zionist scum,” leaving students and parents fearful of more attacks on Jewish targets.

Only 12 days later, August 6, eight male teenagers boarded a bus in Sydney carrying Jewish students ages 5-to-12. Terrified parents received panicked calls from their children as the young men screamed, “Free Palestine!” and “Heil Hitler!” The teenagers threatened to cut the children’s throats, reminiscent of the horrific attack in the West Bank city of Itamar on March 11, 2011, when the Jewish Fogel family members were murdered in their beds.

While nobody was hurt in the bus incident, it has prompted heightened security for Jewish children. Heavily armed guards patrolling the school grounds and an armed escort driving behind the bus on its daily route are testimony to just how insecure the Jewish community feels in Australia.

On August 4, a visiting rabbi from Jerusalem was threatened and abused in a shopping mall by a group of youths. The rabbi and his assistant fled the mall parking lot in their car after the group started hitting and spitting on the vehicle.

But these events aren’t just random incidents by uneducated graffiti artists or mindless thugs. Anti-Semitism surges ahead in the academic community as well. At La Trobe University, photos and personal information on three Jewish students was posted around campus alongside a claim that they were supporters of genocide. As one commentator said, “All that was missing was the word ‘Wanted.’” An anti-Israel rally at the campus also called on students to seek out those three students and “undertake verbal abuse.”

At Monash University, Jewish students were barred from entering debates because their viewpoint was too radical and they were not “progressive-thinking people.” Yet anyone who supported Hamas in Gaza—which kidnaps, murders and terrorizes Israeli citizens—was given a free pass.

Rallies such as those held on college campuses are becoming increasingly violent. Jewish lobby groups warn that the political protests are constantly being hijacked and turned into displays of racial hatred.

The problem snowballs when left-wing media churns out anti-Semitic material left, right and center. The Sydney Morning Herald was forced to apologize after it displayed a cartoon of a big-nosed Jew reclining in a lounge chair as he detonates a bomb in Gaza via his tv remote. The chair is adorned with the Israeli Star of David, and he displays a prominent kippah on his head. While the paper apologized for the cartoon, allowing it in the first place shows that nobody thought twice about portraying the Israeli people that way.

While these attacks on the street and on college campuses are premeditated, there are signs that hatred of Israel doesn’t have to wait for a group of thugs to get together or a rally to be held. Ladies exiting a kosher grocery store were abused by passersby simply for shopping in such an establishment. The general public is more and more frequently expressing an aggressive anti-Israel opinion.

Across Australia, anti-Semitism is growing. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ecaj) publishes an annual Report on Anti-Semitism in Australia. From 2011 to 2012, there were 543 recorded anti-Semitic incidents in Australia. That grew by 21 percent over the 2012-2013 time period, rising to 657 incidents. Such incidents included assault, face-to-face abuse, property vandalism, graffiti, hate mail and other forms of anti-Semitic harassment.

Israel may be more than 7,500 miles from Australia, but Jews in Australia are frequently finding themselves in the firing line as anti-Semitism and a hatred of the Jews expands into every layer of Australian society.

You only have to listen to the jeering crowds and watch the ongoing attacks to understand where this is leading.

As former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler stated, “The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers—it began with words.”

Today those words are being sounded loudly in Australia and around the world. In a recent Trumpet Daily program, Stephen Flurry asked, “Could it be just a matter of people who are riled up against the recent bloodshed in Gaza? Could it be just a matter of people who hate the State of Israel, but who love non-Israeli Jews?” His resounding answer: “No.”

We need to understand the danger of letting anti-Semitism go unchecked. Is anti-Semitism around the world—including in Australia—paving the way for another holocaust? To answer these questions for yourself, go back and watch the Trumpet Daily titled “Why So Much Hatred for Jews?”