There is an Old Testament Proverb that says, ‘Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent.’ It is a maxim we should all learn before stepping into the infernal abyss of political commentary on the Middle East.

It is certainly wisdom some Australian politicians should take to heart before they provocatively reveal their shallow understanding of the subject by declaring solidarity for one side or the other by the clumsiest and laziest act of all – raising a flag or lighting up public buildings with the colours of one or other of the protagonists.

The NSW State government’s lighting of the Sydney Opera House in Israeli colours followed by equally ham-fisted actions by local councils in Canterbury-Bankstown and Melbourne city to fly Palestinian flags can only achieve one thing – the importation of this awful unwanted conflict to our own shores, to the detriment of all of us, especially to our own already hurting Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities.

Lighting up buildings and trooping flags of foreign powers, who have been involved in a century of protracted conflict, is just about the dumbest thing any government, especially local and state governments, can do to upset the social cohesion of their own people in a multicultural environment. It lacks any nuance. It communicates an indelicate solidarity with one side that appears to ignore the deep hurt and pain of the other. 

It is tricky enough for our national leaders to craft appropriately weighted verbal responses to human rights violations within a century-old conflict. It takes utmost care. It takes a deep understanding of history (which most people, including politicians, don’t have), and an objectivity and empathy that requires looking into the eyes of Jewish and Palestinian children…and seeing your own children looking back at you.

We don’t need ideological hacks in local and state governments fueling the troubles here, delegitimising the pain of one side or the other with their clumsy virtue-signalling gestures. Their job is to try to help bring these communities together in a country largely free of ancient hatreds. We need a political leadership that listens to the pain of our hurting ethnic communities and allows their peaceful protest, but at the same time points to a greater vision of life for them in a new country of peace, tolerance and inclusion.

I don’t know about you, but my guess is most of us want our state government and local councils to use our rates and taxes to fix our roads and sort out the recycling of soft plastics? We are not looking to them to shape our opinions on Middle-Eastern affairs.

If our local and state government politicians are looking for a difficult issue to solve, they need to look no further than our own backyard. Both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ voters at the recent referendum claimed to largely agree that we have to close the gap between our First Peoples and the rest of Australia. Let them make good on that promise before they presume to be able to heal the wounds of the Middle East by lazily waving their colours.