From the Babylonian Exile to the founding of modern Israel, Jews have wandered the world as second-class citizens. The Jewish experience is a one-sided ledger of dispossession, exile, and murder – perpetrated by their neighbours, with the permission or indifference of their state. During the late 19th Century, Zionism offered a solution, but it took the holocaust for the world to recognise the necessity of a Jewish state.

My grandfather Woolf Morris’s grandparents escaped the Russian Pogroms in 1890 and arrived in Portsmouth, England. Fifty years later, Woolf joined the RAF, flying Hawker Hurricanes over the English Channel. My grandfather always considered himself English before he was Jewish. When shot down over occupied Dubrovnik – I wondered whether he was confident of the Germans seeing it the same way – for his part, he put it down to luck when he was picked up by the Yugoslav Partisans and smuggled back to England.

In 1939, at the outbreak of war, the Dutch government declared their neutrality. Greta and Abraham Levi lived in Utrecht; they were newly married and expecting their first child. After the German occupation in 1940, their status changed from Dutch citizens to Jews. While fugitives in their own country the Levi’s were fortunate to find passage to England. Two brave members of the Dutch underground, Addy van der Craats and my grandfather Jan Bastiaan, skippered a boat in a daring night crossing of the English Channel. The Levi’s and five other refugees arrived in England and survived the war. Jan joined the Dutch Navy and ended up in Australia.

For Woolf, Greta and Abraham occupation or capture meant murder. It didn’t matter if your country joined the war or stayed neutral. There was no place for Jews in continental Europe, and few places willing to accept Jewish refugees.

Antisemitism was in vogue during the first half of the 20th Century. Politicians and mass media platformed the Jewish Question, and fascism offered an answer. The world knew of German Jewish persecution through the 1930s, and the Allies knew of concentration camps during the war. Yet it took until the summer of 1944 for the Soviet forces to liberate the first camp, Majdanek, in Poland, and almost another year to liberate other killing centres: Auschwitz, Dachau, and Bergen-Belsen.

My grandfather Woolf’s commitment as an English Jew to the defence of Britain was unwavering. However, England and her ally’s commitment to preventing the murder of his Ukraine and Polish relations was less resolute. There are few polite explanations as to why England, America, and the Allies ignored the killing. While historians debate the level of knowledge and practicality of bombing camps, the likely explanation is that the preservation of Jewish life was not a priority.

Modern Israel was born of necessity. She is both a safe harbour and a resilient defender. Over 70 years, the world’s most rejected people have transformed a slither of arid land into a cosmopolitan powerhouse, while enduring terrorism daily and the promise of imminent destruction from their neighbours.

As global order shifts from West to East and the democratic standard is tested, Israel is right to solidify her destiny. Antisemitism is never dead. Today, the trade union movement marches arm in arm with those calling for the destruction of Israel and the boycotting of Jewish businesses. In times of stability, it might fade to the aggrieved corners of the internet, but it doesn’t take much for it to come rushing back onto our streets.

Israel’s war of survival has inflicted a shocking toll on the civilians within nations harbouring terrorism. Israel did not start this war, but Israel will finish it on her terms. When the dust settles, the Arab world must recognise Israel’s legitimacy and forcibly isolate belligerents – too many have died to risk repeating the same in decades to come.

Australia cannot afford to abandon its democratic allies. Autocrats are weighing our resolve. Australia’s political leaders must summon the courage of my grandparents and millions of others who defend democracy and the rules-based order. Israel is not just a country; she is a moral commitment to end Jewish persecution and our standard bearer in the Middle East.

My grandfather Woolf Morris’s grandparents escaped the Russian Pogroms in 1890 and arrived in Portsmouth, England.

Two brave members of the Dutch underground Addy van der Craats and my grandfather Jan Bastiaan skippered a boat in a daring night crossing of the English Channel.