REPORT on ANTISEMITISM in AUSTRALIA 2015 1 October 2014 – 30 September 2015 Researched, written 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 authors. © Executive Council of Australian Jewry 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. November 2015 1 Paul Johnson, historian, in The Anti-Semitic Disease (June 2005) wrote: “I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive. It is a disease to which both human individuals and entire human societies are prone. What strikes the historian surveying anti-Semitism worldwide over more than two millennia is its fundamental irrationality. It seems to make no sense, any more than malaria or meningitis makes sense. In the whole of history, it is hard to point to a single occasion when a wave of anti-Semitism was provoked by a real Jewish threat (as opposed to an imaginary one). Like many physical diseases, anti-Semitism is highly infectious, and can become endemic in certain localities and societies. Though a disease of the mind, it is by no means confined to weak, feeble, or commonplace intellects; as history sadly records, its carriers have included men and women of otherwise powerful and subtle thoughts.” 2 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 7 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 7 Selection Criteria for Inclusion in the Report ...................................................................... 9 What is Antisemitism? ........................................................................................................ 9 The Term ‘Antisemitism’ .................................................................................................. 11 A Brief History of Antisemitism........................................................................................ 11 EU Definition of Antisemitism .......................................................................................... 12 CST Definition of Antisemitic Incidents ........................................................................... 14 Indices of the New Antisemitism ....................................................................................... 15 Contemporary Forms of Antisemitic Discourse ................................................................ 16 Themes in anti-Jewish Rhetoric ......................................................................................... 16 Quotes on Antisemitism .................................................................................................... 17 2. INCIDENTS ............................................................................................................... 18 Incidents and Data 2014-2015 ........................................................................................... 18 Serious incidents since 1989 .............................................................................................. 36 3. ANTISEMITISM in MAINSTREAM MEDIA and SOCIETY ............................ 40 ABC ................................................................................................................................... 41 SBS ................................................................................................................................... 48 SMH ................................................................................................................................... 52 Herald Sun ......................................................................................................................... 59 Guardian ............................................................................................................................. 59 Conversation ...................................................................................................................... 61 Crikey ................................................................................................................................. 62 FM Radio 106.5 ................................................................................................................. 62 Foxtel: Open Slather .......................................................................................................... 63 On Line Opinion ................................................................................................................ 63 Amnesty International Australia ........................................................................................ 65 Greens ................................................................................................................................ 66 Lynch Affair....................................................................................................................... 68 Campus Antisemitism ........................................................................................................ 75 Eruv at St Ives .................................................................................................................... 76 Kosher Labelling ................................................................................................................ 77 Red Rattler Theatre ............................................................................................................ 77 Holocaust Minimisation ..................................................................................................... 78 Nazi Memorabilia .............................................................................................................. 78 Holocaust Denial Books – Amazon Australia ................................................................... 79 3 4. ORGANISATIONS and ONLINE ........................................................................... 80 a. Organisations ............................................................................................................... 81 Blood and Honour ................................................................................................. 81 Church of Creativity .............................................................................................. 81 Squadron 88 .......................................................................................................... 81 United Patriots Party .............................................................................................. 82 b. Websites ....................................................................................................................... 82 Isolate But Preserve .............................................................................................. 82 Expel The Parasite ................................................................................................. 84 White Racial Identity ............................................................................................. 88 Nordic Wisdom ..................................................................................................... 88 Nordic Anti Semite ................................................................................................ 89 Local Terror Exposed ............................................................................................ 90 Australian National Review .................................................................................. 92 Creativity Alliance ................................................................................................. 93 Junkee .................................................................................................................... 94 Middle East Reality Check ................................................................................... 94 New Matilda........................................................................................................... 95 c. Videos .......................................................................................................................... 99 Activist News Australia ...................................................................................... 100 Brendon O’Connell .............................................................................................. 101 Max Igan - Crowhouse......................................................................................... 102 Robert Martin ...................................................................................................... 103 Steve Pallister....................................................................................................... 104 Skull Show .......................................................................................................... 105 d. Facebook .................................................................................................................... 105 Activist News Australia ........................................................................................ 105 Aussies Against the Australian Defence League V ............................................. 107 Patriots Defence League