Antisemitism Report 2009
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Executive Council of Australian Jewry Antisemitism Report 2009 1 October 2008 – 30 September 2009 THIS REPORT WAS WHOLLY RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY JEREMY JONES AM, TO ASSIST UNDERSTANDING OF ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE, VANDALISM, HARASSMENT AND PREJUDICE IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA Jeremy Jones is Director of International and Community Affairs, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council and Honorary Life Member, Executive Council of Australian Jewry This document should not be reproduced or distributed, and the original work not quoted, without the express permission of the author. 140 William Street, East Sydney, NSW 2011, AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 2 9360 5415 Facsimile: +61 2 9360 5416 E-mail: [email protected] November 2009 http://www.aijac.org.au/?id=editionarticle&articleID=5660&_action=showArticleDetails The Last Word: An Intolerable Tolerance by Jeremy Jones Michael Backman, who wrote a disgusting, vile piece of anti-Jewish fiction masquerading as an opinion article in the business section of the Age newspaper, was rightly criticised by the editor of that paper, competing media outlets, politicians and others. The column, which consisted of little more than a string of caricatures, slanders and factual inaccuracies, had been approved for publication by those responsible for putting out the newspaper (in the regular editor's absence). By doing so, serious questions were raised as to why they should ever be trusted to know the differences between news and slander, or between argument and libel. Those responsible deserve to be held in disgrace and the swift and forthright condemnations of them by Michael Danby MP and Senator Michael Ronaldson were examples of moral leadership on the subject of racism. An example of immoral contributions to the debate came in the behaviour of a person who, after overcoming considerable hardship, is now a self-described "human rights" activist. In emails in late December, he wrote "you the Jews are real motherf--ker bastards"; that he is "often provoked" to "think that the Jews were not as innocent as we speak (sic) when Hitler was persecuting them"; Israel "is actually overstepping what Hitler did tothe Jews"; "Jews like you are the dirty scums... I wonder why God himself hate (sic) the Jews", and more to at least three different Jewish people who had each been active in human rights advocacy butwho didn't believe Israel had been unprovoked in attacking Hamas in Gaza. I stress this was not a single email, but a series, all of which contained hateful and vicious rhetoric supplemented by statements such as "As a human rights activist I speak with evidence rather than emotion" and that, as "a devout Catholic", he offered a prayer for Jews to have the "ability to be fair, honest and grateful at least". One of his themes, that Jews are as bad or worse than Nazis, has been a feature of many of the anti-Israel demonstrations and rallies which have taken place in Australia in December and January. Mixed with chants such as "Bomb the Jews" and children bearing placards bemoaning that Jews didn't get enough Nazi treatment, were many posters and signs claiming Israel/Jews were perpetrating a Holocaust, that the Star of David was the same as the swastika and/or that the Jewish people are involved in genocide. The Socialist Alliance was just one group which advised its supporters to campaign on the theme of Israel as the equivalent of Nazi Germany, even providing a web-site from which one could print a placard on this theme. This analogy, which is as ridiculous as it is offensive, was named by Irish diplomat and intellectual Conor Cruise O'Brien (whose recent passing, this column notes with sadness) as Anti-Jewism which he said was an ugly word which suited an ugly phenomenon. Emanuele Ottolenghi noted in a recent article in the Jewish Chronicle that "intelligent people should be able to see the difference and refrain from such comparisons", before asking whether those who make it are "stupid or malicious?". It is not a new phenomenon but, unlike the outrage it provoked in previous years, in the summer of 2008-09 in Australia, its graphic presence did not appear to worry those church officials, mainstream Muslim figures, Greens, Australian Democrats and others who have pretence to moral leadership, but who made no moves to dissociate themselves from this abominable campaign of disinformation, distortion and defamation. In many parts of the world, including our near neighbour Indonesia, synagogues have been sought out by anti-Israel demonstrators. The intensity of anti-Jewish activity led to a friend recently telling me she was afraid, for the first time in her life, as a Jewish person living in London. Antisemitism is not new and antisemites seeking to cause harm to Jews in Australia is hardly a novel phenomenon. But for antisemitic * activityIn response to not beto swiftly,an On publicly-line survey and unambiguously by The Age condemned of views ison a whetherdisturbing the indicati Anglicanon that Churchtoo many in are willing to tolerate the intolerable. 2 CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 The Year in Review 6 1.2 Racism in Australia and Antisemitism 7 1.3 Forms of Antisemitism 8 2.0 COMMON THEMES IN ANTI-JEWISH RHETORIC 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 ―Jewish Power‖ 10 2.3 ―International Jewish Conspiracy‖ 10 2.4 Holocaust Denial 11 2.5 Jewish/Nazi Analogy 12 2.6 Holocaust Denigration 13 2.7 Jews as ―Un-Christian‖ and Judaism as ―Anti-Christian‖ 15 2.8 Jewish Stereotypes 16 2.9 ―Street‖ Antisemitism 16 2.10 The Effect of Vilification 16 3.0 INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE, VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION 19 3.1 Introduction 19 3.2 Reports for Year 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009 20 3.3 Serious/Violent Incidents 21 3.4 Telephone Intimidation and Hate Mail 23 3.5 Graffiti 26 3.6 Hate Email 27 3.7 Leaflets, Posters and other Miscellaneous Harassment 29 4.0 ANTISEMITISM IN THE MEDIA AND THE COMMUNITY 31 4.1 Introduction 31 4.2 Political Parties 33 4.3 Mainstream Media 33 4.4 Middle East Politics 40 4.5 Arabic-Speaking and Islamic Communities 45 4.6 The Left 54 4.7 Churches 64 5.0 ON-LINE MEDIA 67 5.1 General Issues 67 5.2 Websites Based in Australia 69 5.3 Indymedia 71 5.4 Electronic E-Mail, Newsgroups, Lists and Clubs 73 6.0 ANTISEMITIC ORGANISATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS 77 6.1 Introduction 77 6.2 One Nation 79 3 6.3 The Australian League of Rights 81 6.4 Neo-Nazis/White Supremacists 84 6.5 The Adelaide Institute 93 6.6 The Australian Civil Liberties Union 105 6.7 The LaRouche Cult 106 6.8 Bible Believers 108 6.9 Extremist ―Churches‖ 115 6.10 Miscellaneous Activists 118 6.11 ―New Age‖ Groups 121 7.0 RESPONSES TO ANTISEMITISM 123 7.1 Introduction 123 7.2 Political Leadership 123 7.3 Moral Leadership 124 7.4 Education 124 7.5 The Racial Hatred Act, 1995 126 7.6 State and Territory Anti-Racism Laws and Criminal Law 127 7.7 Media 127 7.7.1 The Australian Press Council 127 7.7.2 The Australian Broadcast Authority 127 7.7.3 Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations 128 7.7.4 Right of Reply 128 7.8 Other Sanctions 128 APPENDIX 1 Report on Antisemitism in Australia 2008 129 APPENDIX 2 Muslim/Jewish Relations in Australia 135 4 1.0 INTRODUCTION This report marks the 20th year in which the author has compiled, analysed and reported on the many phenomena which together constitute antisemitism in Australia. The Jewish community‘s elected representative organisation, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), has recognised the importance of having an annual, national assessment which pooled the research conducted at a local level and provided year to year and region to region comparisons and requested the author report on this subject to its Annual Meeting in 1990 and all years subsequent. As a professional employed by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) with expertise in research and analysis of this subject, the author has enjoyed strong cooperation in compiling material from the ECAJ‘s affiliates, Jewish organisations and other groups and individuals concerned with racism and antisemitism. The report has been issued as a stand-alone written document for more than a decade, distributed to Councillors of the ECAJ to inform and guide their deliberations, to opinion leaders within and outside the Jewish community and to a diverse range of other agencies. The most significant developments over the past 20 years have been the crossing of a variety of ―red lines‖ in anti-Jewish rhetoric, particularly from sections of the political Left relating to false and offensive comparisons of Israel/Jews with Nazis/Nazism and unashamed association with fascist and antisemitic groups such as HAMAS; the growth of a diverse, dynamic Muslim community which has segments which are actively anti-Jewish (as well as those who are actively opposed to antisemitism); the continued failure of far-right groups to gain traction, despite outbursts of xenophobia beyond the far right extremes; the diminution in significance of Eastern and Central European post-war migrants as a base of antisemitism; a number of positive developments from Churches in attitudes to Jews and Judaism; the introduction of Federal, and development of State and Territory, legislation designed to give recourse to victims of racism and religious discrimination/harassment; the internationalisation of a number of strands of antisemitic activity, through improved communication technology and also movements of individuals and populations; the enlistment of persons who identify as Jewish in support of a variety of anti-Jewish slurs; and the exponential growth and now pervasiveness of on-line technology, which has changed the modes and ease by which antisemites can abuse, harass and intimidate, reshaped and improved the relationships between local, regional, national and international antisemitic groups, resulted in the dissolution of the concept of common information, provided isolated and alienated individuals with the ability to broadcast their views widely and forced those concerned with racism and antisemitism to re-evaluate strategies for containment of, and response to, these negative and destructive concepts.