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Confronting an Explosive Increase in Online and Offline Antisemitism

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AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL REVIEW VOLUME 46 No. 8 AUGUST 2021 AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL & JEWISH AFFAIRS COUNCIL HATE WAVE Confronting an explosive increase in online and offline antisemitism PRESIDENTS WITHOUT DEATH OF A NATION FEEDING THE “PALESTINIAN PRECEDENT Lebanon’s slow FUTURE SPRING?” demise and what Australia, Israel and the The West Bank’s Herzog succeeds Rivlin as Israel’s head of caused it ........PAGE 22 potential of the AgTech mass protests state ..................................................... PAGE 20 revolution ......PAGE 30 against Mahmoud Abbas ............ PAGE 23 NAME OF SECTION 311 HEALESVILLE – YARRA GLEN ROAD, YARRA GLEN, VIC 3775 +61 3 5962 3311 WWW.TARRAWARRA.COM.AU WITH COMPLIMENTS 2 AIR – August 2021 AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL VOLUME 46 No. 8 REVIEW AUGUST 2021 EDITOR’S NOTE NAME OF SECTION his AIR edition looks at the explosion of online antisemitism over recent months, and ON THE COVER Tits apparent spillover into unprecedented anti-Jewish violence and harassment around A collage of antisemitic social the world. media posts (Credit: Twitter/ Naomi Levin details this wave of online and offline Jew hatred and what is being done Arek Dybel) to fight back against it, while social media entrepreneur Emily Schrader gives a personal account of what it is like to be a woman caught in the crosshairs of an army of antisemitic “trolls”. Furthermore, Israeli academic Gerald Steinberg explains how what is happening now can be traced back in part to the antisemitic Durban conference of 2001, while US academic Peter Herman exposes how efforts to fight back against antisemitism are being delegitimised. Also featured this month is Amotz Asa-El on the extraordinary stories of the incoming and outgoing Israeli presidents, Isaac Her- zog and Reuven Rivlin, while Jonathan Spyer discusses the demise of Lebanon as a state and how it came about. Finally, don’t miss Zachary Milewicz on an extraordinary opportunity for Australia-Israel cooperation to take advantage of the coming “AgTech revolution”, Dr Ran Porat on evidence that efforts to stop an Iranian nuclear bomb may already be too late, and Amelia Navins on the Hamas summer camps turning kids into terrorists. Please give us your feedback on any aspect of this edition at [email protected]. Tzvi Fleischer CONTENTS FEATURE STORIES REGULAR COLUMNS HATE WAVE FROM THE EDITORIAL CHAIRMAN NAOMI LEVIN COLIN RUBENSTEIN ....................................................................... PAGE 4 For the world’s Jews, the past 18 months have WORD FOR WORD ................................................. PAGE 5 served up a double-whammy of online anti- SCRIBBLINGS semitism... Action clearly needs to be taken, but what can be TZVI FLEISCHER ............................................................................ PAGE 6 done to combat antisemitism online? ............................PAGE 12 DECONSTRUCTION ZONE BEING A ZIONIST WOMAN ON TWITTER BEN DROR YEMINI ......................................................................... PAGE 7 EMILY SCHRADER ........................................................................ PAGE 15 ASIA WATCH FROM DURBAN TO TODAY MICHAEL SHANNON ...................................................................... PAGE 8 GERALD STEINBERG .................................................................... PAGE 16 EUROPA EUROPA CONDEMNING ANTISEMITISM FORBIDDEN OLGA DEUTSCH ............................................................................. PAGE 9 PETER C. HERMAN ....................................................................... PAGE 17 PRESIDENTS WITHOUT PRECEDENT BEHIND THE NEWS .............................................. PAGE 10 From Rivlin to Herzog in Israel ........................ PAGE 11 AMOTZ ASA-EL ............................................................................ PAGE 20 STRANGER THAN FICTION THE SLOW DEATH OF LEBANON NOTED AND QUOTED ..................................... PAGE 35 JONATHAN SPYER ....................................................................... PAGE 22 IN PARLIAMENT ...................................................... PAGE 36 PERILS OF A “PALESTINIAN SPRING” MEDIA MICROSCOPE MARK LAVIE ................................................................................ PAGE 23 ALLON LEE ................................................................................... PAGE 39 GAZA’S TERROR CAMPS FOR KIDS AMELIA NAVINS .......................................................................... PAGE 25 THE LAST WORD JEREMY JONES ........................................................................... PAGE 40 ISRAEL’S HOPES FOR INDONESIA GIORA ELIRAZ ............................................................................... PAGE 26 HOW TO USE OUR INTERACTIVE EDITION BIBLIO FILE: TOO LATE ON IRAN NUKES? RAN PORAT .................................................................................. PAGE 28 • Tap/click to return to the Contents page • All listed articles link to their page. ESSAY: FEEDING THE FUTURE • Best viewed in your desktop browser or the Books (iOS) or Australia, Israel and the AgTech revolution equivalent e-book reader app in portrait mode. ZACHARY MILEWICZ ................................................................... PAGE 30 3 AIR – August 2021 Australia/Israel Review Published by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Editorial Chairman Dr COLIN RUBENSTEIN AM EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Dr TZVI FLEISCHER Senior Contributing Editor JEREMY JONES AM ANOTHER TOXIC EPIDEMIC Staff Writers ALLON LEE, JAMIE HYAMS, AHRON SHAPIRO, SHARYN MITTELMAN, NAOMI ike the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the globe for the past 18 months, anti- LEVIN, OVED LOBEL, JUDY MAYNARD, ZACHARY MILEWICZ Lsemitism has been experiencing a resurgence in virtually every part of the world. Publishing Manager Organisations that monitor antisemitic incidents in many countries, including Austra- MICHAEL SHANNON Correspondents lia, have found a steady and sometimes dramatic rise in assaults, harassment, intimidation ISRAEL: AMOTZ ASA-EL and bullying over recent years – reaching a dramatic crescendo during and in the after- EUROPE: DOUGLAS DAVIS NEW ZEALAND: MIRIAM BELL math of the conflict launched by Gaza’s Hamas rulers against Israel in May 2021. National Editorial Board KEITH BEVILLE, RABBI RALPH In both the US and Britain over recent months, monitoring bodies have recorded the GENENDE OAM, GARY HERZ, MIRIAM highest levels of antisemitic incidents ever experienced. LASKY, STEVE LIEBLICH, RABBI JOHN LEVI AC, Hon. HOWARD NATHAN AM, Social media is clearly a key part of this explosion of hate. IAN WALLER SC A European Commission study showed a seven-fold increase in antisemitic content on Twitter, Facebook and Telegram in French, and a more than 13-fold increase in antisemitic AIJAC content in German between the beginning of 2020 and early 2021. National Chairman Antisemites have apparently found social media to be the perfect medium for anti-Jew- MARK LEIBLER AC NSW Chairman ish bullying, abuse and libel, and for organising and inciting hatred on a global scale. PAUL RUBENSTEIN State sponsorship by antisemitic regimes is an important element of this ugly trend. Executive Director Dr COLIN RUBENSTEIN AM A recent US study revealed that Iranian regime-linked Twitter accounts began spreading Director of International & Community Affairs messages like “Hitler was right” and “Kill all Jews” at a rate of 175 times per minute during JEREMY JONES AM the recent Israel-Hamas conflict. Policy and Research Coordinator Dr TZVI FLEISCHER Moreover, in Malaysia, government-linked organisations with hundreds of thousands of Associate Director of Public Affairs members not only flooded the internet with virulently anti-Israel and antisemitic propa- & Operations JOEL BURNIE ganda, but made concerted efforts to hack or shut down the accounts of Jews and other Senior Policy Analysts AHRON SHAPIRO, JAMIE HYAMS, supporters of Israel. ALLON LEE, NAOMI LEVIN, SHARYN MITTELMAN Many commentators seem to be in denial about the current unprecedented wave of Policy Analysts antisemitism, insisting it is either a response to Israeli policies, or even a concoction of OVED LOBEL, JUDY MAYNARD Zionists who want to smear all criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Multimedia Designer AREK DYBEL Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, put himself in the former Events Coordinator HELEN BRUSTMAN OAM category in a recent tweet, when he wrote: “Antisemitism is always wrong, and it long Administration preceded the creation of Israel, but the surge in UK antisemitic incidents during the re- MELBOURNE: ROSEMARY SANDLER, RENA LANGBERG cent Gaza conflict gives the lie to those who pretend that the Israeli government’s conduct SYDNEY: LOUISE DE MESQUITA doesn’t affect antisemitism.” (Roth subsequently removed it without retracting it.) Israel Liaison PETER ADLER Meanwhile, antisemites often use the excuse that they are “only criticising Israel” as a Founding Chairmen ISADOR MAGID AM (OBM) cloak to clothe their hatred in a veneer of self-righteous social virtue. ROBERT ZABLUD (OBM) Yet, in addition to its own dubious morality, obsessive, over-the-top and dispropor- HEAD OFFICE tionate criticism of Israel unquestionably helps create the environment in which antise- Level 1, 22 Albert Road, South Melbourne, VIC 3205, Australia mitic activity has flourished. Telephone: (03) 9681 6660 Fax: (03) 9681 6650 As we’ve witnessed time and time again at pro-Palestinian rallies in Australia, groups Email: [email protected] that organise
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