Rabbi Says Absence of God in World Order Fuelling CCP’s ‘Cold’ Warfare

Rabbi and researcher Shimon Cowen shared his views on the recent bomb threat targeting Shen Yun and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Members of the People's Armed Police March in Tiananmen Square in front of a snow covered Tiananmen Gate after providing security for the opening session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on March 5, 2026. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

News Analysis

A bomb threat against the Australian prime minister, and “surreptitious” warfare from Beijing and Tehran are not just political issues, but deeply spiritual and moral ones, according to a Jewish leader.

Melbourne-based Rabbi Shimon Cowen says even issues like foreign interference are a manifestation of a world that has unmoored itself from the Creator and universal ethics that once bound countries together.

“In today’s age, perhaps more than ever, conflict is carried out by countries through ever more diverse agencies and operations working in other countries—espionage is perhaps the oldest form of this,” Cowen told The Epoch Times, in response to last month’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked intimidation campaign against performing arts group Shen Yun.

That threat also targeted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with violence and destruction of his official residence.

“Now there are many more forms of ‘cold’ and surreptitious and not-so-surreptitious warfare. Once such agencies are detected, measures are taken to counter them, and so the conflict continues and mutates.”

Cowen, who is a researcher and director at the Institute for Judaism and Civilization, says this state of affairs can only be addressed if all peoples aimed for something higher.

Melbourne-based Rabbi Shimon Cowen, a director of the Institute for Judaism and Civilization and advocate of the Noahide Laws. Courtesy of Shimon Cowen

“The only thing which can bring nations out of the state of nature—mutual deception, distrust and rivalry—is to find that higher sovereignty to which all nations can, eventually, draw near,” he said.

“This is the name of the Creator, and the universal ethics given by the Creator, with which the human spirit ... naturally resonates. The great failure of the United Nations and modern international law is that it does not mention the name of the Creator.”

The rabbi said that only if key questions like: “What does our Creator want of us? What laws has He given humanity? And in what can we join together?” were asked “nationally and in international forums” would there be an end to conflict.

Cowen is an advocate of the seven Noahide laws handed to Noah by God that ban the act of worshipping idols, blaspheming God, murder, sexual immorality, stealing, animal cruelty, and call for courts of justice.

They have been endorsed by the U.S. Congress, an Australian governor-general, the King of Morocco, a president of the European Union and the president of Argentina.

“This should be our focal discourse,” Cowen says.

What do China, Iran, Australia Have in Common?

On Feb. 24, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was evacuated from his official residence, The Lodge, after a Chinese-language bomb threat was handed to the Australian Federal Police.

The threats targeted the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts group, and threatened to harm Albanese and blow The Lodge “into ruins” if the tour was allowed to continue.

Shen Yun was formed by Falun Gong practitioners and showcases 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture—primarily through the medium of classical Chinese dance—much of which was lost under the communist regime.

Shen Yun Global Performing Arts’ 13th performance at the Capitol Theater in Sydney, Australia, on March 9, 2025. Lu Ming/The Epoch Times

“Let us look at communist Chinese society, Australian society and Iranian society,” Cowen said.

“Chinese civilisation has a spiritual heritage, and the Chinese soul in its desire to express that spirituality cannot and will not remain in a state of repression.

“Australian society, though it allows religious expression, has washed it away with a hedonistic materialism, along with much of the West, leaving its young generation in a state of spiritual illiteracy.

“Iranian society [previously under the Ayatollah], which is avowedly and fiercely religious, yet displays a perverted religiosity which replaces the humble service of the Creator with a self-intoxicated cult of violence. None of them have had to face up to real spirituality.”

Incidentally, the Australian federal government has directly blamed the Iranian regime, which is now being heavily targeted by the U.S.-Israeli forces, for local incidents aimed at inflaming anti-Semitism.

Foreign Interference and Attacks on Social Cohesion

Last year, the Albanese Labor government expelled the Iranian ambassador, declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. (IRGC) a terror organisation, and blamed it for directing two arson 2024 attacks against the Jewish-owned Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.

These incidents fed into a string of anti-Semitic attacks that escalated into the Bondi Beach terrorist mass shootings that killed 15 people and injured 40 others.

Regarding the bomb threat against Shen Yun and Albanese, Robert Gregory of the right-leaning Australian Jewish Association warned of the danger the CCP posed to Australia’s social cohesion.

“Any threat against an Australian political leader, including the prime minister, is deeply alarming and must be treated with the utmost seriousness,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Australia cannot tolerate interference from the CCP, particularly where it seeks to intimidate minority communities or undermine our social cohesion.

“The CCP’s involvement in influence operations, community intimidation and damaging social cohesion has been well documented across a number of Western democracies—we must respond firmly and decisively to protect Australia’s sovereignty and social harmony.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Albanese called on those in Australia to respect the “Australian covenant.”

“Well, I’ve said consistently the Australian covenant is that if people have any prejudice or hatred, it’s left at the customs hall when they arrive in Australia,” he told Sky News in February.

Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese addresses the media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 28, 2025. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

“And overwhelmingly, Australians show respect to each other.

“Overwhelmingly Australians, regardless of what their faith is, who they are, what their background is, we overwhelmingly live in harmony in this country.”

Why is Falun Gong and Shen Yun Being Targeted?

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

In 1999, the CCP began a nationwide persecution against practitioners, which has seen millions arbitrarily detained, tortured, subjected to forced labor, and even killed for their organs to fuel the regime’s lucrative transplantation industry.

This persecution has extended overseas targeting Falun Gong outside China and organisations set up to expose the truth of the systemic human rights abuses.

One of these targets is Shen Yun, which was founded by practitioners.

Since 2022, Shen Yun has received 134 death and bomb threats from March 2024 to November 2025. Despite the violent nature of these threats, no actual harm has occurred.

Shen Yun is currently touring Australia and will play in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney. The Epoch Times is a media partner of the show.