Tag Archives: antisemitism

Can you imagine Marc Lamont Hill accepting the apology of a commentator, at least a non-black one, using the ‘N’ word† and claiming he didn’t understand its connotations?  That he really thought it was only a variation of ‘negro’, the Spanish word for the colour black? I think not.

Over the last year or so, far-right groups in Australia, mimicking those in the US, UK and Europe became increasingly open and virulent in expressing hatred of Jews as a group, and increasingly brazen in calling for their murder and genocide. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) Report on …

In the aftermath of the murder of eleven Jews at prayer on the Sabbath in their synagogue, there was much sturm and drang about the cause/causes. We are all aware of the well-known Jew hatred from the far right-the white supremacists, the KKK the Neo-Nazis. Bless them. They don’t hide …

Journal of a special trip by Rabbi Benjamin Jacobs Chief Rabbi of Holland, to the Ukraine. After a night’s sleep in Chernigov, a lecture, morning service and breakfast with the rabbi, his wife and some members of the Jewish community, we visit the Jewish school and then get a tour …

Trump is the creation of Obama. The divisions in American society he is accused of exacerbating are ones largely precipitated by his predecessor’s policies and prejudices.  Why does it seem to a growing number of people that an [Obama] administration professing…to understand Jewish anxieties about the consequences of antisemitism in the Middle …

The partisan advantage-taking began before the bodies had even been identified.   To opponents of the US President, the massacre of 11 Jews during a baby naming ceremony at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, was the logical endpoint of President Trump’s refusal to expressly reject an endorsement from former Grand Wizard …

Yesterday, my heart broke over the senseless, antisemitic attack in Squirrel Hill that took the lives of 11 Jews, during Shabbat, while they were in synagogue. I had prayed for healing for the mourners and for the community, and I will continue to pray. But I have scant hope that …

Pittsburgh was my home for 2 years. Although, it was very different from anything I’ve ever experienced in Moscow − from architecture, food, weather, lifestyle to the stubborn foreign language − one thing that stood out was its people. See, people are nice in Pittsburgh. And by nice I mean …

Some people are so proudly antisemitic you don’t need to guess. Neo-Nazis come to mind. Louis Farrakhan, Linda Sarsour, Britain’s one and only Jeremy Corbyn.  And far too many Imams to name. But there is another kind of antisemitism that is more covert and dangerous because it comes from main …

Yesterday evening a 70-year-old Jewish woman was attacked outside an event that set out to deny there is an antisemitism problem in the Labour Party. Eye witnesses claim she was’ kicked in the face’. Live footage shows another woman being attacked and we also see the injured woman, on the …

Antisemitism or anti-Semitism?  Which is it? Two plus years ago, I wrote an article called ‘Antisemitism or anti-Semitism’ in which I said that the incorrect spelling of antisemitism was getting to me more and more and I suspected it’s an Americanisation of the word. I might add it still is getting …

NZ Justice Minister, Andrew Little, has named a replacement to David Rutherford to lead New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission. The candidate chosen is Professor Paul Hunt, an academic at the University of Essex who is described on his Wikipedia entry as a “human rights scholar-activist“. While his CV and academic …

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party on Tuesday passed a motion strongly criticizing Israel and pledging to halt all UK weapon sales to the Jewish state if it rises to power, as a senior lawmaker warned the party must root out antisemitism amid persistent scandals dogging the party.   Delegates at …

Antisemitism is a form of racism that is directed against Jews.  However, antisemitism has its own anomalous and contradictory aspect.  While racists commonly conceptualise the groups against whom they are prejudiced to be inferior forms of humanity, Jews are depicted as both ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’. On the one hand, racists …

Seventy years after the Holocaust, Jews around the world are again facing increasing levels of racist attacks. Many Jewish communities outside Australia are effectively living under siege. Synagogues and Jewish schools need to operate under armed guard, either by private agencies or heavily armed police.  In many places Jews are …

In a Facebook post yesterday, Baroness Jenny Tonge stated “…We would all like a safe haven to run to when the going gets tough, but we stay on and ask why it is getting tough. Why have the Jewish people been persecuted over and over again throughout history. Why? I …

The Duck test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject’s habitual characteristics. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is … But what if the duck is a crow† who has convinced himself …

A largely uneventful, and small, far right rally was held in Sydney on Sunday 24 June. The rally was organised by the True Blue Crew (TBC), a far right group that was formed in Melbourne in late 2015. The “Aussie Pride Flag March” rally was made up of a group …

Various polls rank Denmark as one of the happiest countries in the world year-after-year. Commentators have sought to explain the phenomenon. They have pointed to the country’s “hygge,” which entails a feeling of community and brotherhood. They note the country’s generous welfare policies which give people a sense of being …

MEDIA STATEMENT from the ECAJ – Executive Council of Australian Jewry regarding the interview  of Rev Dr Stephen Sizer on Radio National Breakfast on Good Friday, 30 March 2018. The ABC has written to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) apologising for inaccuracies and for the omission of material context …