of Australian Jewry ECAJ Public Fund 2014 REPORT on ANTISEMITISM in AUSTRALIA 1 October 2013 – 30 September 2014 This Report is produced to assist understanding of anti-Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and prejudice in contemporary Australia Researched, written and compiled by JULIE NATHAN REPORT on ANTISEMITISM in AUSTRALIA 2014 1 October 2013 – 30 September 2014 This Report was written, researched and compiled by Julie Nathan, Research Officer, Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) This document should not be reproduced or distributed, and the original work not quoted, without the express permission of the author. © Executive Council of Australian Jewry Inc. PO Box 1114, Edgecliff, NSW, 2027 Phone: 02 8353 8500 Email:
[email protected] Published by ECAJ, and funded by ECAJ Public Fund, a public fund listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30-EA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. 9 November 2014 1 “The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers - it began with words.” - Professor Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice “Through the ages, anti-Semitism has been grounded in the foundational anti-Semitic paradigm. This has five elements: Jews are fundamentally different from non-Jews. Jews are noxious. Jews are willfully malevolent. Jews are powerful. Jews are therefore dangerous. Either implicit or explicitly stated is a sixth element: that Jews must be kept in check, at bay, or somehow eliminated. In every era, specific anti-Semitic elaborations and accusations build upon this foundational paradigm by adapting themselves to the local cultural, social and political conditions of the times.” - Daniel Jonah Goldhagen 2 CONTENTS 1.