Tag Archives: antisemitism

Keir Starmer, the post-Jeremy Corbyn leader of Britain’s Labour Party, acted swiftly to demote a member of Parliament who tweeted an article containing a paragraph linking Israel to the killing of George Floyd. In truth, when Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey tweeted the interview with the actress Maxine Peake in which she …

As bad as I feel for the family of George Floyd, I have a question for you. Where were you when millions of Jews were murdered? Where were you when an Israeli student was beaten unconscious on the subway for allegedly speaking Hebrew on his phone in Berlin? Where were …

The Covid-19 virus has produced sickness and death, turmoil and disruption, around the world. It is a silent stalker of human fragility. But it has brought with it another virus, an older but virile plague, one with no known cure, and no limits to the amount of dead bodies it …

Ironically, BDS activists play a salutary role: They unite the rest of society, from Left to Right, in contempt for them. Two recent initiatives by mostly Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement activists and BDS sympathizers shine an intense light on how warped and detached they have become, and how …

My father-in-law recently died alone in a hospital room.  His body remained in the hospital until it could be removed by a special Coronavirus team.  His funeral was a lonely one and my wife was unable to travel to say her goodbyes.  It was his failing heart that certainly killed …

Today we mark a momentous historical event that is not sufficiently recognized: Following WWI, the victorious Allied powers met to determine the allocation of territory that had been captured from a defeated Ottoman Empire. The first meeting, held in London in February 1920, established, among other matters, that Palestine would …

Antisemitism is at its core a conspiracy theory.  It is based in the irrational belief that “the Jews”, a numerically tiny and historically marginalised ethnic and religious group, have been conspiring to cause harm to others, undermining and manipulating, for their own nefarious purposes.  It is not what Jews do …

Extremists of all stripes look to times of economic uncertainty, social unrest, and political turmoil as opportunities for them to take power.  Whether it is the fascists and communists fighting it out in Weimar Germany or during the Great Depression, or in dozens of other countries at other times, extremists …

After the Norman Conquest of 1066, a number of Jews came to England from Rouen in France.  The early Norman kings needed to borrow money to build castles and secure their kingdom, but money-lending was forbidden to Christians.  It was, however, permitted to Jews.  These French-speaking Jews were protected by …

Proponents of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel typically react with indignation when their views are denounced as antisemitic. They tell us it’s not racist to criticise the policies of any government, or to speak up for human rights; that some Jews (albeit a tiny minority) support BDS, so …

The Times ran an exclusive in May 2018 about a young child, an aspiring footballer in Gaza being shot whilst playing football with his friends. A few months later the World Health Organisation (WHO) published an embellished version on their website -having the Israeli soldier deliberately shoot the child after …

It is worrying when terrible people appreciate you and the things you say. It forces a moment to pause and reflect on your language and message, but, it is possible that the vile audience may be outliers who misinterpret you. President Donald Trump disavowed the endorsement of antisemite David Duke …

As a very public Free Speech advocate (I am a Spokesperson for the Free Speech Coalition) I took claims that people would be silenced by Wellington City Council’s proposed adoption of the IHRA’s (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of antisemitism extremely seriously. After pressure from a variety of groups, …

The contemporary far-right in Australia is best described as a conglomerate of different ideas and ideologies, held with varying intensity and activity, but connected by certain political positions.  These positions, in general, include ultra-nationalism and racism, and opposition to multiculturalism, homosexual rights, equality for females, “the Left” and, in many …

Executive Council ofAustralian Jewry. MEDIA STATEMENT: ASIO chief sounds warning on neo-Nazi threat 25 February 2020. The Director-General of ASIO – Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Mike Burgess has warned about the rapid increase in neo-Nazi activity in Australia. “The Director General is correct to sound the alarm about the emergence …

Although Australia remains a relatively safe and free environment for its small Jewish population, there have been some disturbing trends in anti-Jewish incidents over the past year. There were major spikes in some categories of serious incidents – especially in incidents of verbal abuse, harassment and intimidation of Jews, and …

It is HMD, Holocaust Memorial Day. 27 January marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. As we pause to remember this year – we do so in the shadow of a rise of antisemitism around the world. The central sewer upon which today’s antisemitism feeds is Holocaust Denial. For …

The world of politics: It would be wrong to say that there is never clarity of purpose inspired by high ideals. But it is rare. Much of the time there are shifting scenarios, and complex, conflicting motivating factors at play. Rivalries, certainly. We find pretence (allegedly, for good reason). And …

  After completion of the reading of each of the five books of the Torah in synagogue, the congregation calls out, “Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek!”  It might be translated: Be strong!  Be strong!  And let us be strengthened! I thought this a good way to begin. In my last posting I …

Antisemitism kills. We survived the Holocaust. What did we learn? During Roman times Jews made up 10% of the population of the Roman Empire.  Today, there should be 200 million Jews. Today, there are only 14 million Jews because of thousands of years of prosecutions, persecutions, pogroms, ghettos and shtetls, …