Executive Council of Australian Jewry REPORT ON ANTISEMITISM IN AUSTRALIA 1 October 2007 – 30 September 2008 Researched and written by Jeremy Jones AM 2 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 146 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 2 9360 5415 Facsimile: +61 2 9360 5416 E-mail: [email protected] November 2008 3 CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 The Year in Review 5 1.2 Racism in Australia and Antisemitism 6 1.3 Forms of Antisemitism 7 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 12 2.7 Jews as “Un-Christian” and Judaism as “Anti-Christian” 13 2.8 Jewish Stereotypes 14 2.9 “Street” Antisemitism 14 2.10 The Effect of Vilification 14 3.0 INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE, VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION 17 3.1 Introduction 17 3.2 Reports for Year 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008 17 3.3 Serious/Violent Incidents 18 3.4 Telephone Intimidation and Hate Mail 22 3.5 Graffiti 23 3.6 Hate Email 25 3.7 Leaflets, Posters and other Miscellaneous Harassment 27 4.0 ANTISEMITISM IN THE MEDIA AND THE COMMUNITY 29 4.1 Introduction 29 4.2 Political Parties 30 4.3 Mainstream Media 31 4.4 Middle East Politics 34 4.5 Academia 35 4.6 Arabic-Speaking and Islamic Communities 36 4.7 The Left 40 4.8 Churches 45 5.0 ON-LINE MEDIA 48 5.1 General Issues 48 5.2 Adelaide Institute 48 5.3 Bible Believers 63 5.4 Downunder Newslinks 68 5.5 Other Websites Based in Australia 70 5.6 Electronic E-Mail, Newsgroups, Lists and Clubs 72 4 6.0 ANTISEMITIC ORGANISATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS 75 6.1 Introduction 75 6.2 The Australian League of Rights 77 6.3 The LaRouche Cult 80 6.4 Extremist “Churches” 82 6.5 The Australian Civil Liberties Union 85 6.6 Far-right splinter groups 85 6.7 Miscellaneous Activists 88 6.8 “New Age” Groups 90 7.0 RESPONSES TO ANTISEMITISM 95 7.1 Introduction 95 7.2 Political Leadership 95 7.3 Moral Leadership 96 7.4 Education 96 7.5 The Racial Hatred Act, 1995 98 7.6 State and Territory Anti-Racism Laws and Criminal Law 98 7.7 Media 99 7.7.1 The Australian Press Council 99 7.7.2 The Australian Broadcast Authority 99 7.7.3 Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations 99 7.7.4 Right of Reply 100 7.8 Other Sanctions 100 APPENDIX 1 Antisemitism and the Holocaust in public discourse 101 APPENDIX 2 Seriously, some of my best friends are anti-Semites 105 APPENDIX 3 Report on Antisemitism in Australia 2007 107 5 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Year in Review In Australia in 2008, to accuse any person or organisation of antisemitism is to allege that their behaviour is antisocial and unacceptable. No one with aspirations to public credibility admits to holding antisemitic views or to associating with openly antisemitic organisations. While individuals and organisations associated with the political left who promote extreme anti-Israeli racism, which sometimes included offensive and gratuitous anti-Jewish imagery, are keen to assert that they are not antisemitic, even some far-right and neo-Nazi groups publicly profess to be "anti-Zionist" rather than anti-Jewish, although the material they distribute can give the lie to any such distinction. Further, Holocaust deniers, including those who allege that the Holocaust is a Jewish confidence trick played on gullible Christians as one part of a raft of anti-Jewish slurs, generally claim they are only "researching" historical subjects. In the mass media, during the year in review, commentators and contributors of letters (and in other forms of public commentary) occasionally, but rarely, crossed the line between political commentary and anti-Jewish slander in discussions of the alleged strength of “Jewish lobbies” in both the USA and Australia, as well as in some discussions of Israel. Notably, this took place less often in the period in review than in any of the previous eight reporting periods. Anti-Jewish rhetoric was also invoked in other discussions such as Australia’s anti-terrorism laws and on Australian Jewish support for victims of racism. Antisemitism emanating from Islamic sources in Australia has been a topic of public discussion for a number of years. Particular concern, in the period in review, has been expressed at the negative impact of material from a variety of overseas sources which has as its thesis an eternal enmity of Muslims towards Jews. The period in review included the 2007 Federal Election, which passed without any notable change in the prevalence of antisemitic acts. Despite efforts by anti-Jewish groups and individuals, matters of specific concern to Australian Jewry, such as community security and funding support for Jewish education, were discussed publicly in a manner which was generally free of prejudice. Similarly, public discussion on the extradition request by Hungary to Australia for alleged Nazi War Criminal Charles Zentai, the Federal Court contempt hearing process under the Racial Hatred Act concerning Fredrick Toben and the Australian Parliament’s motion congratulating Israel on its 60th anniversary, was essentially reasoned and reasonable, despite efforts by some organised political and other anti-Israel groups, as well as a small number of media commentators. There was a concern expressed by some members of the Jewish community and others sympathetic to it, that the staging of a re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross, during the Papal visit to Sydney, would reinforce or encourage anti-Jewish stereotypes and prejudice, but there were efforts made by the Catholic Church and the Jewish community to minimise this potential harm, apparently successfully. 6 Between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008, the database assembled and maintained by the author of this report since 1989 included over 650 reports of anti- Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation, the highest tally ever recorded and close to twice the average of the previous 18 years. Anti-Jewish propaganda in fringe publications and from extremist organisations remained an ongoing concern. Conspiracy theories abounded on the internet and these included a disturbing proportion which were overtly or implicitly antisemitic. In a matter litigated by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry under the Federal Racial Hatred Act, the Federal Court upheld an appeal against the decision cited in last year’s report concerning the Bible Believers’ web-site’s breach of Australia’s Racial Hatred laws, although there was no dispute regarding the fact of unlawful behaviour. 1.2 Racism in Australia and Antisemitism The Australian Jewish community has been an integral part of Australia's population since the first days of European settlement. While there have been incidents of anti- Jewish activity occurring throughout the different periods of the development of modern Australia, opposition to antisemitism has also been present and, perhaps more importantly, the question of the place of Jews within Australian society has generally not been an issue which has excited the Australian population. Although Jewish Australians have twice been appointed Governors-General, our military forces have included Jewish Australians in their senior leadership ranks and the community has been able to build an impressive network of institutions to serve its needs, an unacceptably high number of Australian Jews can provide evidence of instances of discrimination, harassment and racial defamation. The Adelaide Club, in July 2008, granted membership to a prominent member of the Jewish community in South Australia, after having had a reputation over many years of refusing to admit Jews. This brought some public attention to the behaviour of exclusivist quasi-elitist institutions. Although the barring of Jews from such institutions was relatively commonplace until the mid-period of the Twentieth Century, it has generally not been an issue of particular concern or prominence in recent decades. Some anti-Jewish behaviour has found apologists who portray it as culturally innate, simple ignorance, a legitimate reaction to the behaviour of Jews themselves or as the poor expression of otherwise legitimate views. In recent years, with increasing antisemitism emanating from left-wing sources there has been an additional issue of figures close to the political and social mainstream rationalising or justifying antisemitism by misrepresenting it as legitimate political expression. In a recurring pattern, the false charge that all, or most, critics of any Israeli policy or action is called antisemitic, is levelled. The reaction of opinion makers and leaders to actions and ideologies which are, objectively, antisemitic, is extremely important. While the writer of this paper believes there is strong anecdotal evidence that there exists in Australia an under-current of racism, it is difficult to objectively assess the place of antisemitism in Australian racism. No comprehensive statistics exist on the subject of general racist violence, vilification, harassment and intimidation, which 7 would supplement or give context to the data-collection and analysis of the Jewish community. It is disappointing that, despite considerable public funding aimed at redressing anti-Muslim and/or anti-Arab discrimination and prejudice, there has been no comprehensive documentation of incidents of harassment or intimidation which would assist in both analysis and formulation of policy response. While some clues as to the level of concern at racism can be discerned from indicators such as the volume of complaints to bodies such as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Australian Press Council, the Australian Broadcasting Authority and State-based anti- discrimination boards, the voluntary nature of the complaints system, the confidentiality of material they receive and many other factors result in the need to treat many such statistics with caution.