Tuesday 3 March 2015

March 2, 2015 Nick Dyrenfurth Why the silence of the left on anti-Semitism?


inc comments as at 12 31 pm 3/3/15

Why the silence of the left on anti-Semitism?


Nick Dyrenfurth


Illustration: Jim Pavlidis.
Illustration: Jim Pavlidis.
On  February 15, 38-year-old volunteer security guard Dan Uzan was shot and killed outside a Copenhagen synagogue during a bat mitzvah celebration. A month earlier, a gunman executed four customers at a kosher grocery store in Paris.
In May 2014, a gunman killed four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. In 2012, a gunman murdered three students and a teacher at Toulouse Jewish primary school in south-west France. Eight-year-old Miriam Monsonego was shot point-blank in the head.
You might discern a common theme to these shocking crimes. Seventy years after the Holocaust, Jews are again being murdered in Europe for being Jews.
These recent outrages are but the tip of an anti-Semitic iceberg. About 7000 French Jews made aliyah (migrated) to Israel last year. For good reason. Jews make up 1 per cent of the French population, but half of all racially-motivated crimes during 2014 targeted Jews. In recent weeks several hundred graves were defaced at a Jewish cemetery in north-east France; in Germany a synagogue in the city of Wuppertal was firebombed.
This is to say nothing of Jew-hatred besides physical violence. During last year's Gaza conflict European protesters chanted "Gas the Jews" and "Death to the Jews". In several countries, Jews are being warned not to wear religious clothing or enrol their children in schools with a high numbers of immigrant (allegedly Muslim) students.
Far-right, anti-Semitic political parties are gaining ground across Europe. In a Greek government dominated by the far-left Syriza, right-wing ally and defence minister Panos Kammenos says that his Jewish compatriots don't pay taxes. In Britain, a recent all-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism showed an alarming rise in such bigoted attitudes.
Australia has not been immune. A video produced by the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir shows the organisation's head, Ismail Al Wahwah, alleging that "where Jews thrive corruption abounds" and that the world is afflicted by the Jewish "hidden evil".
Yet, as #jesuischarlie hashtags proliferate, violence carried out by supporters of a far-right brand of totalitarianism, radical Islam, is met with thundering silence in the West. Most disturbing is the response of progressives. Recent events demonstrate that a section of what purports to be the left wing no longer stands unequivocally against all forms of fascism and racism and is prepared to ignore or, worse, excuse an ideology that rejects Enlightenment values and promotes a racist, misogynistic and homophobic death cult.
Condemnation has been non-existent or heavily qualified. What about Anders Breivik, they say? The killers have nothing to do with Islam – despite most attacks being launched with the cry of "Allahu Akbar" – but are alienated, radicalised "lone wolves", the argument goes.
Some seek to place the blame on Jews. A BBC anchor suggested that violence directed against French Jews might be understandable given Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. A left-wing Australian "anti-Zionist" tweeted that should Israel's oppression of the Palestinians continue, more attacks on Jews would follow. The normally voluminous twitter feeds of leading progressives are mostly devoid of sympathy or solidarity.
At the root of this silence is denial. A denial of the seriousness and source of the new/old anti-Semitism, whereby a classical racial/religious hostility to Jews has conjoined with a politically motivated denial of the rights of the Jewish people to a state of their own. Yet it is clear that the recent  European attacks have occurred in cities that host relatively large migrant Muslim communities, of which a small but significant minority are willing to act upon the message of jihadist militancy fostered by the likes of ISIS.
These outrages have also drawn less opprobrium from progressive sources because, as militant opponents of the policies (and often very existence) of the State of Israel, they view anti-Semitism as a term deployed by Zionists to deflect criticism.
Moreover, confronting the resurgence of anti-Semitism would mean accepting that the demonisation of Israelis and Jewish diaspora – such as the toxic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign that effectively calls for the destruction of Israel – has in part contributed to the legitimation of violent attacks against the Jews of Europe.
Instead, we have seen a bizarre reversal of victimhood. The first instinct of many, rather than sympathise with the victims of terror, has been to warn against a potential Islamophobic backlash. According to this warped and infantilising logic, Muslims, as the "new" Jews, are all innocent victims of Western (and Israeli) imperialism and racism.
No one wishes to see the peaceful majority of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims subject to discrimination because of the actions of a minority. We are not, as Roger Cohen has written in these pages, at "war with Islam". However, fear of giving offence or singling out a minority for criticism is scarcely a reason not to oppose anti-Semitism.
What then is to be done? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wrong to call for Europe's 1.4 million Jews to consider a mass aliyah to Israel. This suggestion can only embolden the thugs seeking to hunt the Jewish people off the continent.
Rather the solution is easy and begins with us. We need to talk about the threat of modern anti-Semitism not as some 1930s throwback but as a real and present danger. The next time you are privy to anti-Semitic abuse, speak up. The next time a protest calls for the destruction of Israel, or explains away terrorism with "but Israel", speak up.
Do so as a matter of principle. But we should also not forget the darkest chapter of European history: fascists come for the Jews first and never stop there.
Nick Dyrenfurth is the co-author of Boycotting Israel is Wrong: The progressive path to peace between Palestinians and Israelis (to be published in May by NewSouth).

47 comments so far

  • Nick's article above makes a disturbing mistake - equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. I'm both an anti-Zionist and also passionately opposed to anti-Semitism.
    The recent worrying emergence of anti-Semitic murders in Europe hasn't come out of the blue, because we've evidence recently of a rising tide of anti-Semitism in many countries. There are many contributing factors, some of which feed off each other:
    (a) The spread of jihadi ideology amongst a small minority of Muslims around the world;
    (b) The descent of the Palestinian struggle into despair and futility, leading to some of their supporters succumbing to fantasies grounded in the Czar's lies from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion;
    (c) The insistence of Israel's government that it acts in the name of all Jews, even when waging its unequal wars on Gaza; and
    (d) The resurgence in Europe of Fascism which, though mostly orienting as pro-Israel and anti-Muslim, contains strong strains of old-style anti-Semitic politics.
    It should be clear from the above that, though the Israeli government's actions are a factor, they are secondary and the "but Israel" response Nick decries is inadequate. The Left needs, once again, to take up the fight against anti-Semitism, which was once accurately described as "the socialism of fools" - and has now also become the anti-Zionism of fools.
    Anti-Semitism is wrong on its own grounds - it is an ancient evil that has haunted Europe since Constantine. It is also, however, a futile blind ally for supporters of the Palestinians, an emotional response that locks them into cycles of defeat. It is the Left alone, by consistent opposition to all nationalism and racism, that can advance a vision of a world both where anti-Semitism will be a thing of the past and where the Palestinians are free from Zionist oppression.
    Commenter
    Greg Platt
     
    Location
    Brunswick
     
    Date and time
    March 02, 2015, 1:55AM
    • Greg P - well put; thank you.
      Public reflection on this matter has often been less than adequate - in my view.
      A recent article did raise this issue - specifically regarding demonisation and its foil ‘political correctness’ being a trap for journalists and the commentariate.
      As they attempt to avoid offending one minority group (Muslims, for example) journalists risk offending another (Jews, as one example).
      Yet, the hierarchy of victimhood is a quagmire – and a particularly difficult matter.
      Why do intelligent journalists and commentators do this?
      Commenter
      Howe Synnott
       
      Location
      Sydney
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 7:21AM
    • No Greg, it is you that is wrong. It is not a Jew's fault what is going on in Israel. Every time a racist attack occurs elsewhere a country doesn't get blamed. But it does in the case of Jews. The left is the one that mixes Zionism with Jews. Not Nick. It has absolutely 100% nothing to do with Israel. And the quicker everyone realises that the safer we will all be.
      Commenter
      Brodsky
       
      Location
      Melbourne
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 9:42AM
    • not so long ago greens and labor controlled marrickville city council wanted to Boycott Israel
      It made news internationally, and then premier of nsw threatened to dismantle the council if went further with it.. there are sections in australian politics who prefer to look the other way when it comes to anti Semitic issues.
      Commenter
      roy
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 11:14AM
    • Actually Greg, you also make a disturbing mistake too. It is a well accepted fact that Anti Zionist and Pro Palestinian individuals use this as a way to vent their anti-Semitism. You only have to look at the bias reporting in the conflict and the vitriol that comes from the mouths of many of those that purport to support the Palestinian cause. Few, very few have anything but the most basic understanding of the conflict. You may be anti, anti-Semitism and anti Zionism, but you are in the minority.
      Commenter
      JOHN
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 11:24AM
    • @Brodsky: "It is not a Jew's fault what is going on in Israel."
      Brodsky doesn't seem to have read my comment properly. What I said was:
      "(c) The insistence of Israel's government that it acts in the name of all Jews, even when waging its unequal wars on Gaza"
      A significant, though secondary, aspect of the problem is that some people believe the Israeli government when it claims to be acting on behalf of all Jews. As an anti-Zionist, I understand quite clearly that this claim is wrong. If Brodsky would like to join me in advocating that the public disregards the Israeli government when it makes such claims, I would be very happy.
      @John: "Actually Greg, you also make a disturbing mistake too. It is a well accepted fact that Anti Zionist and Pro Palestinian individuals use this as a way to vent their anti-Semitism. "
      This is not how I would express it, since it assumes that anti-Zionism is merely a mask for anti-Semitism. In reality, I see four different types of critics of Israel:
      1. The Left, who have maintained a principled opposition to Zionism for decades;
      2. Zionists who believe that Israel's policies of recent decades have been excessive and counter-productive;
      3. Hard core anti-Semites who use anti-Zionism as a mask; and
      4. People of goodwill but no clear understanding, who do not comprehend the absolute necessity of refusing to identify a people with their political leadership, even when that leadership is democratically elected.
      It is the people in Category 4 who can be drawn into a soft anti-Semitism and thus provide the sea in which the hard anti-Semites of Category 3 can swim. In my political work, I try to draw them away from Category 4 and into Category 1.
      Commenter
      Greg Platt
       
      Location
      Brunswick
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 1:57PM
  • Most would accept your point about Jews being a higher than acceptable target of racial crimes, and condemn violence for racial reasons both on the left and right.
    It seems then that your argument is about how loudly a particular political group expresses this condemnation. I would counter by suggesting when is the last time a nationalist group has spoke up against discrimination against Muslims. Take the case of Austria and its recent banning of foreign funding for mosques. Did Netanyahu stand up and condemn the Austrian government for limiting a certain racial group's civil liberties?
    The truth is there are those who would target a certain racial group regardless of politics AND those who would take interest in protecting said group. Are you criticising the left because they chose to take interest in one minority more than the other? Perhaps you could criticise those who donate to UNICEF more than those who donate to Médecins Sans Frontières. In the end at least they donate.
    Just like some NGOs, perhaps the Jewish brand no longer has resonance with the left. A segment of the global population that are hard to sick up for. It would be interesting to find out why.
    Commenter
    Jerry
     
    Date and time
    March 02, 2015, 2:10AM
    • Again, someone else who blames Netanyahu as a reason why people don't step up against anti-Semitism. This is typical. You must separate Israel from Jews. They are two different entities. One can be a Jew and be critical of Israel. Yet they always get combined.
      Commenter
      Brodsky
       
      Location
      Melbourne
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 9:43AM
    • It is notable that Charlie Hebdo sacked an 82 year old cartoonist in 2009 for a cartoon suggesting that the daughter of Nicholas Sarkozy was marrying a Jew for his money.
      This was considered anti-semitic, and dismissal necessary.
      Jews are not the only people with money, and it would not be the first marriage of convenience, if the suggestion were true.
      Where was the outrage about speech freedom then?
      Why is freedom of religion "sacred" for both Christians and Jews, but open to derision for Muslims?
      Will my post pass the moderator, or is fair and balanced discourse available on any subject other than this?
      I am not antisemitic, I am anti double standards, and certainly anti zionist. I do not support the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza - this does not make me anti-semitic, any more than criticising Tony Abbott's actions on climate action makes me anti Catholic.
      It is possible to criticise actions, without criticising the sexual, racial, or religious affiliation of the person performing those actions. In other words, we can play the ball, not the man, woman, race or religion.
      Using the charge of "antisemitism" is now becoming a means of closing down rational considered discourse, and needs to be seen for what it is.
      Commenter
      Discuss the issue please
       
      Location
      WA
       
      Date and time
      March 02, 2015, 10:53AM
    • 47 comments so far

      • Nick's article above makes a disturbing mistake - equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. I'm both an anti-Zionist and also passionately opposed to anti-Semitism.
        The recent worrying emergence of anti-Semitic murders in Europe hasn't come out of the blue, because we've evidence recently of a rising tide of anti-Semitism in many countries. There are many contributing factors, some of which feed off each other:
        (a) The spread of jihadi ideology amongst a small minority of Muslims around the world;
        (b) The descent of the Palestinian struggle into despair and futility, leading to some of their supporters succumbing to fantasies grounded in the Czar's lies from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion;
        (c) The insistence of Israel's government that it acts in the name of all Jews, even when waging its unequal wars on Gaza; and
        (d) The resurgence in Europe of Fascism which, though mostly orienting as pro-Israel and anti-Muslim, contains strong strains of old-style anti-Semitic politics.
        It should be clear from the above that, though the Israeli government's actions are a factor, they are secondary and the "but Israel" response Nick decries is inadequate. The Left needs, once again, to take up the fight against anti-Semitism, which was once accurately described as "the socialism of fools" - and has now also become the anti-Zionism of fools.
        Anti-Semitism is wrong on its own grounds - it is an ancient evil that has haunted Europe since Constantine. It is also, however, a futile blind ally for supporters of the Palestinians, an emotional response that locks them into cycles of defeat. It is the Left alone, by consistent opposition to all nationalism and racism, that can advance a vision of a world both where anti-Semitism will be a thing of the past and where the Palestinians are free from Zionist oppression.
        Commenter
        Greg Platt
         
        Location
        Brunswick
         
        Date and time
        March 02, 2015, 1:55AM
        • Greg P - well put; thank you.
          Public reflection on this matter has often been less than adequate - in my view.
          A recent article did raise this issue - specifically regarding demonisation and its foil ‘political correctness’ being a trap for journalists and the commentariate.
          As they attempt to avoid offending one minority group (Muslims, for example) journalists risk offending another (Jews, as one example).
          Yet, the hierarchy of victimhood is a quagmire – and a particularly difficult matter.
          Why do intelligent journalists and commentators do this?
          Commenter
          Howe Synnott
           
          Location
          Sydney
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 7:21AM
        • No Greg, it is you that is wrong. It is not a Jew's fault what is going on in Israel. Every time a racist attack occurs elsewhere a country doesn't get blamed. But it does in the case of Jews. The left is the one that mixes Zionism with Jews. Not Nick. It has absolutely 100% nothing to do with Israel. And the quicker everyone realises that the safer we will all be.
          Commenter
          Brodsky
           
          Location
          Melbourne
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 9:42AM
        • not so long ago greens and labor controlled marrickville city council wanted to Boycott Israel
          It made news internationally, and then premier of nsw threatened to dismantle the council if went further with it.. there are sections in australian politics who prefer to look the other way when it comes to anti Semitic issues.
          Commenter
          roy
           
          Location
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 11:14AM
        • Actually Greg, you also make a disturbing mistake too. It is a well accepted fact that Anti Zionist and Pro Palestinian individuals use this as a way to vent their anti-Semitism. You only have to look at the bias reporting in the conflict and the vitriol that comes from the mouths of many of those that purport to support the Palestinian cause. Few, very few have anything but the most basic understanding of the conflict. You may be anti, anti-Semitism and anti Zionism, but you are in the minority.
          Commenter
          JOHN
           
          Location
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 11:24AM
        • @Brodsky: "It is not a Jew's fault what is going on in Israel."
          Brodsky doesn't seem to have read my comment properly. What I said was:
          "(c) The insistence of Israel's government that it acts in the name of all Jews, even when waging its unequal wars on Gaza"
          A significant, though secondary, aspect of the problem is that some people believe the Israeli government when it claims to be acting on behalf of all Jews. As an anti-Zionist, I understand quite clearly that this claim is wrong. If Brodsky would like to join me in advocating that the public disregards the Israeli government when it makes such claims, I would be very happy.
          @John: "Actually Greg, you also make a disturbing mistake too. It is a well accepted fact that Anti Zionist and Pro Palestinian individuals use this as a way to vent their anti-Semitism. "
          This is not how I would express it, since it assumes that anti-Zionism is merely a mask for anti-Semitism. In reality, I see four different types of critics of Israel:
          1. The Left, who have maintained a principled opposition to Zionism for decades;
          2. Zionists who believe that Israel's policies of recent decades have been excessive and counter-productive;
          3. Hard core anti-Semites who use anti-Zionism as a mask; and
          4. People of goodwill but no clear understanding, who do not comprehend the absolute necessity of refusing to identify a people with their political leadership, even when that leadership is democratically elected.
          It is the people in Category 4 who can be drawn into a soft anti-Semitism and thus provide the sea in which the hard anti-Semites of Category 3 can swim. In my political work, I try to draw them away from Category 4 and into Category 1.
          Commenter
          Greg Platt
           
          Location
          Brunswick
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 1:57PM
      • Most would accept your point about Jews being a higher than acceptable target of racial crimes, and condemn violence for racial reasons both on the left and right.
        It seems then that your argument is about how loudly a particular political group expresses this condemnation. I would counter by suggesting when is the last time a nationalist group has spoke up against discrimination against Muslims. Take the case of Austria and its recent banning of foreign funding for mosques. Did Netanyahu stand up and condemn the Austrian government for limiting a certain racial group's civil liberties?
        The truth is there are those who would target a certain racial group regardless of politics AND those who would take interest in protecting said group. Are you criticising the left because they chose to take interest in one minority more than the other? Perhaps you could criticise those who donate to UNICEF more than those who donate to Médecins Sans Frontières. In the end at least they donate.
        Just like some NGOs, perhaps the Jewish brand no longer has resonance with the left. A segment of the global population that are hard to sick up for. It would be interesting to find out why.
        Commenter
        Jerry
         
        Location
        Date and time
        March 02, 2015, 2:10AM
        • Again, someone else who blames Netanyahu as a reason why people don't step up against anti-Semitism. This is typical. You must separate Israel from Jews. They are two different entities. One can be a Jew and be critical of Israel. Yet they always get combined.
          Commenter
          Brodsky
           
          Location
          Melbourne
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 9:43AM
        • It is notable that Charlie Hebdo sacked an 82 year old cartoonist in 2009 for a cartoon suggesting that the daughter of Nicholas Sarkozy was marrying a Jew for his money.
          This was considered anti-semitic, and dismissal necessary.
          Jews are not the only people with money, and it would not be the first marriage of convenience, if the suggestion were true.
          Where was the outrage about speech freedom then?
          Why is freedom of religion "sacred" for both Christians and Jews, but open to derision for Muslims?
          Will my post pass the moderator, or is fair and balanced discourse available on any subject other than this?
          I am not antisemitic, I am anti double standards, and certainly anti zionist. I do not support the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza - this does not make me anti-semitic, any more than criticising Tony Abbott's actions on climate action makes me anti Catholic.
          It is possible to criticise actions, without criticising the sexual, racial, or religious affiliation of the person performing those actions. In other words, we can play the ball, not the man, woman, race or religion.
          Using the charge of "antisemitism" is now becoming a means of closing down rational considered discourse, and needs to be seen for what it is.
          Commenter
          Discuss the issue please
           
          Location
          WA
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 10:53AM
        • The question could also be asked - where are the Jewish voices standing up for freedom of religion for Muslims?
          Commenter
          Discuss the issue please
           
          Location
          WA
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 11:05AM
        • dear "discuss the issue please" - don't let the facts get in the way of a good story!
          http://www.jewsagainstislamophobia.org/
          http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/against-muslims-surveillance
          And i can send you 100s more examples. Jews are the first to stand up against racism of any kind because we know what it is like
          Commenter
          Brodsky
           
          Location
          Melbourne
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 12:05PM
      • Its my understanding that the boycott Israel campaign is a peaceful economic measure aimed at telling a particular state that its actions are unacceptable. When you say it demonises Israel and Jews around the world, you tie the religious to the political, as many do, and then complain that any criticism is anti-semitism. The claim that a peaceful boycott campaign legitimises violent actions is simply ridiculous
        Commenter
        Dave
         
        Location
        Melbourne
         
        Date and time
        March 02, 2015, 3:55AM
        • +1 to that.
          There is a difference between being anti-Israeli and anti-Semetic. It seems Israeli politicians do not differentiate as it suits their narrative, (us, {Jews} v them, {Muslims}). It seems the media do not differentiate because it suits their narrative too, (bad news sells better than good news).
          Commenter
          Peter
           
          Location
          Southbank
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 10:32AM
        • Thanks Dave. When people equate Israel's actions with Jewishness and Jews, they make it very difficult for anyone to criticise the action of Israel.
          Why would anyone want to conflate two separate things? The people of a religion, and the actions of some governments?
          The same problem arises with Islamic terrorism. We need to separate the Islam, and Muslims, from the actions of some, in their name.
          I am a fifth generation Australian Christian - my views and actions are not those of Tony Abbott and his government. Criticism of Abbott has nothing to do with me. Why can't the Jewish community throughout the world look at the actions of the Israeli government in the same way?
          Commenter
          Discuss the issue please
           
          Location
          WA
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 11:04AM
        • Fortunately, very few take the boycott Israel campaign seriously.
          Commenter
          Joel
           
          Location
          Canberra
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 11:37AM
      • While the rise of Anti-Semitism is truly disturbing it cannot be considered out of context of a world where those on the extreme left and right and not coping with the world shifting to the centre and they are lashing out.
        I think it would probably be just as easy and more sense to write an article that bemoans the blindness/deafess of the right in hearing the left's denunciation of all types of extremist violence, regardeless of the perpertrators.
        Of perhaps why there are not more prominent Australian Jewish commentators questioning the slavic devotion to all things Israel over and above the interests of their home country by the likes of the AIJAC.
        Or how Israels own policies have the very unfortunate side effect of opening up Jewish people around the world, regardless of their own views on Zionism, to be proxies for vengeance ot misguided idelogists. Anthony Lowenstein is one of the few that dares to speak up.
        Or people on the right including the Zionists discussing how due to it's radicalisation effects Islamophobia is as big, if not bigger emerging problem in the West as anti-Semitism .
        Commenter
        Samb
         
        Location
        Date and time
        March 02, 2015, 8:57AM
        • Antisemitism is rife and needs to acknowledged without qualifications. It is more difficult for the lay person to draw the lines between many Anti Zionist platforms, the BDS movements and the over intense and one dimensional reporting of the Gaza conflict as being thinly veiled Antisemitism. In 1920 The Treaty of San Remo gave territory held by Britain to the Jewish people, subsequently formally granted by the League of Nations in 1922, ( This area included the West Bank & Gaza) There has never been a sovereign Arab state in Palestine. This has never been legally overturned. Israel has every right to exist and defend itself as does every other nation. Jews have a right to self determination, as do every other religious and ethnic group. In Israel, Mosques, Churches & Synagogues co- exist, as do their congregants - Why should Netanyahu have to advocate for Muslims in Austria? His country is home to many Muslims who live in the only democracy in the Middle East. Why do you not ask where are the Jews and synagogues in Iraq, Iran, Libya. Yemen, Jordan, Morocco etc? Why is there not worldwide condemnation of groups such as Isis, Hamas, The Palestinian Authority... with public stated platforms to eliminate Jews and other infidels?.There is a false narrative around the plight of the Palestinians who because of their rejection of having their own state ( because its acceptance was dependent upon there also being the existence of a Jewish State) played no role in their circumstances. Promoting this revisionist and one dimensional history, a lack of honesty about the double standard that exists for Israel compared to the rest of the world and lack of outrage at the real human rights violations taking place in the non-progressive Islamic movements need to be challenged.
          Commenter
          J Lee
           
          Location
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 9:09AM
          • I am against anti-Semitism. I support spiritual Zionism. I am an admirer of Yitzhak Rabin, and Meacham Begin. However, I oppose the militant Zionism as practiced by the likes of Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel's legitimacy was clearly established in 1948 by the UN's partition solution. However, irrespective of whether the Palestinians accepted this solution or not, it does not give Israel the right to conquer the rest of Palestine. This solution was far from just when you consider that some non-Middle Eastern powers gave the majority of the land of Palestine to some non-Middle Eastern people who were a minority at the time, only about 40% of the population and were only 5% at the beginning of the 20th century. Also, there were over 600 Palestinian villages, and majority Palestinian populations in places like Haifa and Jaffa. I would hardly call what happened to the Palestinians as anywhere near being just. Also, when you considering that there wasn't a Middle Eastern born Israeli Prime Minister before the late 1990s, then you might have a greater understanding of the Palestinians angst. The Palestinians have not only been conquered but dispossessed. Good luck developing your house if you are one of the few remaining Palestinian-Israelis. At least the Kurds, while being ruled by others, still live in their own villages and towns. Palestinians traumatised by Israel are wanted by no-one, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Only Israel offers the solution to this injustice. It is a tragedy that the apologists for Israel do not realise, that while Ancient Israel will always be the Jew's spiritual home, that their true home is within the Western Liberal Democracies that Jewish values and philosophies helped to found. It is a tragedy that now all this is under threat.
            Commenter
            mancan18
             
            Location
            Central Coast
             
            Date and time
            March 02, 2015, 3:20PM
          • Whether Palestine is entitled to nationhood would depend on how far back you want to go - the Psalmists perhaps?
            Psalm 80:8 "You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it."
            There are other Psalms that speak of the Lord (Yahveh) giving to the Israelites vines "planted by others" that I can't put my hand on at the moment.
            There were people referred to as the Cananites, throughout the land of Canaan. A proposition of "terra nullius" is amply discredited by the Torah itself.
            Commenter
            Considered view
             
            Location
            WA
             
            Date and time
            March 02, 2015, 3:24PM
          • So what? There is no credible evidence that the Palestinians were Canaanites.
            Commenter
            Josephus
             
            Location
            Date and time
            March 02, 2015, 4:29PM
        • Where is the "left" on the issue of anti-semitism?
          Thank you for your recent concerns about the rise of oppressive forces against your worthy cause. Unfortunately Comrade Gary the Green Voting Commie is away on leave to have his dreadlocks reforged, and Comrade Natalie - the Hairy-Arm-Pitted Vegan is away Woofing in Nimbin. As we value your cause and share a hatred for the capitalist pigs who are oppressing you, we promise to get back to you as soon as possible when our outrage has been revived by our union mandated time off. If you would wish to speak to someone who pretends to care. then press 2 to be transferred to a Chardonnay Socialist. otherwise press 1 to leave a message
          Yours sincerely - The Left
          Commenter
          Gordon Rouse
           
          Location
          Yinnar South
           
          Date and time
          March 02, 2015, 9:19AM
          • I submitted the following post in response to Julia Baird's article "Hate speech should be shouted down" SMH January 30th 2015 but it was not accepted but then it was not rejected either. To date only 3 comments were published. And given the content of my post, one wonders why. I wouldn't be surprised if this post is rejected or held in limbo again.
            I submitted "It is impossible to debate things Jewish in a frank manner because anything negative is automatically construed as anti-Semitism".
            Really if there is no dialogue, how can this be resolved ? If the only acceptable discussions revolved around what is done to Jews but not what is done to non-Jews, how can this be ever resolved ?
            Commenter
            Bodhidharma
             
            Location
            Mascot
             
            Date and time
            March 02, 2015, 9:47AM
            • Hi Bodhidharma. No, your comment was not held in limbo. We were simply too busy to moderate them all on the day, and new priorities faced us the next day. However, I have jumped in and moderated all of the comments, including yours of course, for the Julia Baird article you mention. It now has 45 published comments. Regards, Rob Ashton.
              Commenter
              Mod
               
              Location
              Date and time
              March 02, 2015, 1:00PM
            • Thank you Rob for your explanation. I thought my post fell foul of the Israel Lobby as per John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt.
              Commenter
              Bodhidharma
               
              Location
              Mascot
               
              Date and time
              March 02, 2015, 1:12PM
          • I will start to pay attention to these sorts of matters when the barbaric atrocities being perpetrated upon
            the Palestinians are addressed..
            Commenter
            nkelly
             
            Location
            Date and time
            March 02, 2015, 10:03AM
            • They attack American, Australian, British and Canadian targets because of their actions in the Middle East. They attack Jewish people in Europe because of the actions of Israel in the Middle East.
              The Aliyah of a lot of French Jews only reinforces the misguided belief of the terrorists that all Jews are Zionists. Just like the growing misguided belief in the west that all Muslims are terrorists.
              There have been more anti-muslim attacks than anti-Semitic attacks in the West, but you didn't seem to mention that in your article?
              It is true that there would be less attacks on Western targets if the west stayed out of Middle Eastern affairs, just like there would be less attacks on Jewish targets if Israel weren't acting so poorly in the Middle East.
              Anti-Semitism, Anti-Islamism, Anti-Westernism are all wrong and perpetrated all over the globe, we shouldn't single any of these out as any worse than any other.
              Commenter
              Dean
               
              Location
              Qld
               
              Date and time
              March 02, 2015, 10:31AM
              • Belgium has not sent troops to the middle east. Yet it was targeted by terrorists. Conclusion it is not actions by the west causing terrorism it is extreme off shoots of Islam taking the Koran' words and implementing them. We in the west are infidels so we are targets whether we do anything or not.
                Commenter
                Bev
                 
                Location
                Date and time
                March 02, 2015, 1:15PM
            • "We need to talk about the threat of modern anti-Semitism not as some 1930s throwback but as a real and present danger."
              I cannot agree with this statement. The Arabs are Semites too and this "you are either with us or against us" attitude does nothing to parse and progress the complex situation in the Middle East.
              The sooner you can work out that the none of the Assyrians, Arameans, Jews and Arabs (all Semites), Kurds, Yazidis, Persians and lthe many other communities who have to share that land are not going anywhere, the sooner we can get stared on that peace thing.
              By the way, one can support the state of Israel and yet be critical of the actions of the Israeli government.
              Commenter
              Dumped
               
              Location
              Stewed writers are yummy
               
              Date and time
              March 02, 2015, 11:33AM
              • Fortunately other commentators have articulated my point before me, far better than I can.
                Antisemitism is abhorrent and even after centuries of mindless discrimination, it can certainly infest any society. It seems France may be a particularly troublesome environment at the moment for people of the Jewish faith. That is tragic, especially the senseless acts of violence and murder.
                But please do not conflate mindless and violent antisemitism with legitimate and considered criticism of the state of Israel. They are not one and the same, no matter how strenuously they insist that they are.
                If I meet and speak to a Jewish person who opposes the actions of Israel that I find objectionable, then I can relate to that individual and will treat them with the respect I feel they deserve.
                If I meet and speak to a Jewish person who defends those same actions and refuses to consider any action of the state of Israel to be wrong, then I personally judge that person and consider them less deserving of my respect. Their faith is irrelevant. It is their words, their actions, it is "the content of their character" that determines how I will treat that person.
                Commenter
                Shane
                 
                Location
                Date and time
                March 02, 2015, 11:43AM
                • Perhaps the anti- Zionists, can explain in 200 words or less, how the desecration of the graves of dead Jews is an anti Zionist act as opposed to an anit-Semitic one.Why, if the killing of Jews is not anti-Semitic but anti-Zionistic do the murderers so often conduct the killings near synagogues when there are plenty of Jews available for slaughter in commercial centres? Why, if the killings are anti Zionistic and not anti Semitic are children of 8 years and under so often targeted? Killing the Zionists would make more sense. I am not a committed Zionist but I am Jewish. Does that make me less of a target? Wake up and smell the cordite.
                  Commenter
                  Keith O
                   
                  Location
                  Hong Kong
                   
                  Date and time
                  March 02, 2015, 11:50AM
                  • It is an excellent piece and very right. Too many so called ant Zionists harbor deep anti Semitic anti Jewish views. In fact, why is Zionism an issue in itself. It is a national aspiration and view not dissimilar to Hellenism, Pan Arabism or Pan Turkic views. In fact Zionism isboth left and right. Well done.
                    Commenter
                    Fotis
                     
                    Location
                    Melbourne
                     
                    Date and time
                    March 02, 2015, 12:01PM
                    • like most prejudices, the misdeeds of the few tend to be seen as the responsibility of the many perfectly honest, harmless citizens of that minority. So I wonder, why is it that so many people have such a poor view of the behaviour of jews within their non jewish society?
                      the old adage applies "it takes just one nasty person to undo the pleasant interactions with 99 others
                      Commenter
                      costa parki mik
                       
                      Location
                      melbourne
                       
                      Date and time
                      March 02, 2015, 12:11PM
                      • Anti-Zionism is NOT anti-semitism.
                        The author would better serve the Jewish people by pointing out that 50% of the World's Jews don't support Israel's settlement policy.
                        He appeals to the Left for support of Israel while implying that the Palestinians are terrorists.
                        The Jewish State needs to understand the treatment of the people in Gaza and the West Bank is unacceptable for a civilized society. The boycott is one way of delivering this message.
                        Commenter
                        NormVan
                         
                        Location
                        Wynyard
                         
                        Date and time
                        March 02, 2015, 12:11PM
                        • Nick appears to be fighting against a straw man again. It's always easy to say 'a section' of the Left, Right, Centre or whatever has repulsive ideas, and then condemn the whole for the beliefs of a minority.
                          Ironically, Nick appears to be guilty of the same kind of generalisation and moral inconsistency he accuses unnamed others of.
                          Any decent person condemns antisemitism. Any decent person can also distinguish between antisemitism from anti-Zionism.
                          And any decent person is right to be wary of a politician who muddies the waters while being part of a government that is turns the instruments of the state against a specific religious or ethnic group - Muslims or Jews.
                          Commenter
                          Leigh
                           
                          Location
                          Date and time
                          March 02, 2015, 12:28PM
                          • Continuing from my last post.......You then have the Anti-Zionist, which I feel has some validation. Anyone who dares to speak against the Jews or a Jew, can be sued, accused of being anti-semitic. No one is allowed an opinion lest they be accused and taken to court! The Jewish occupation of Palestinian territories, gained through provoking reactions from the Palestinians and then using those reactions as an excuse to use "security" reasons for taking over land, demolishing villages and agriculture.....and lets not forget, the minority population of the region had a land created for them at the expense of those who have lived there for thousands of year, who lost their homes, businesses and were essentially thrown into a massive refugee camp now known as Palestine. there a lot of reasons why there are attacks on Jews.....but as a few commentators have noted, how many Jews, or anyone for that matter, standing up for attacks, verbal or otherwise, on Muslims? People also need to understand that it was Jewish Terrorists, mixed with the WWII guilt , that led to the creation of Israel. Terrorism worked for them, so why not for the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern fanatics? Whilst sometimes people are just bad, there are also more often than not, reasons why they think and act as they do. We, the West, need to carefully look at this if there is ever to be a reasonable degree of peace in the ME
                            Commenter
                            Romstar
                             
                            Location
                            QLD
                             
                            Date and time
                            March 02, 2015, 12:30PM
                            • If the Charlie Hebdo victims were all Jewish there wouldn't have been a world wide Je Suis Charlie movement. I don't understand all the Jew hating!
                              Commenter
                              Shaz
                               
                              Location
                              Date and time
                              March 02, 2015, 12:37PM
                              • Why is it the left's fault. Does that mean that the right is automatically a bunch of racists?
                                Commenter
                                Jase
                                 
                                Location
                                Melbourne
                                 
                                Date and time
                                March 02, 2015, 12:46PM
                                • The right supports the US and Israel, unconditionally, and does not criticise Israel's actions, no matter how many civilians are killed in Gaza.
                                  That's the difference.
                                  Commenter
                                  Discuss the issue please
                                   
                                  Location
                                  WA
                                   
                                  Date and time
                                  March 02, 2015, 1:06PM
                                • The difference is that one side supports Israel unconditional right to exist, while the other supports Israel's enemies, specifically the people who want to drive the Jews into the sea.
                                  Commenter
                                  Josephus
                                   
                                  Location
                                  Date and time
                                  March 02, 2015, 4:30PM
                              • The behaviour of some Jews is not the reason for antisemitism. It is the excuse!
                                Commenter
                                Alia Innes
                                 
                                Location
                                Date and time
                                March 02, 2015, 1:29PM
                                • Why do people shout at bank tellers when the fault that made them angry belongs to the bank's ? The angry customers do know that it is not the teller's fault but nevertheless scold them. This happens with telcos, credit card companies, energy providers, ISPs, etc. You have done that, I have done that, everyone has done that. Why ? Because we cannot scold the massive abstract entity.
                                  The ordinary Jew in the street cops it because of the same logic. He's tangible whereas the State of Israel is an intangible, abstract and not to mention, too large an entity to be reprimanded.
                                  Commenter
                                  Bodhidharma
                                   
                                  Location
                                  Mascot
                                   
                                  Date and time
                                  March 02, 2015, 1:36PM
                                  • NormVan - tell me - did you speak out to condemn killing Christians by ISIS or in Egypt, or killing gays in Saudi Arabia or multiple other Arab states, or persecution of women where they are executed for being raped in Iran and Pakistan ? Just asking if you only speak out to condemn Israel or do you condemn other countries also like those above for their actions ? The lack of outcry, demonstrations and BDS movements against those countries speaks volumes.
                                    Commenter
                                    Just sayin ...
                                     
                                    Location
                                    Date and time
                                    March 02, 2015, 1:47PM
                                    • Since when did anti Zionism become an acceptable thing to call yourself? To me bring "anti Zionism" is no different to anti Semitism. How can denying the Jewish people a right to their own state be anything else? By all means be anti the policies of the current Israeli government, but if you are anti Zionist you are are Anti Semitic.
                                      Commenter
                                      KC
                                       
                                      Location
                                      Date and time
                                      March 02, 2015, 2:05PM
                                      • Zionism is to Judeism as Terrorism is to Islam.
                                        Not every Muslim is a terrorist, and one hopes that not every Jew is an adherent of Israeli militancy that tramples on the right to survive of others, particularly Palestinian children.
                                        But you have accurately described the way in which Israel conflates two issues, and makes criticism of ever more injustice LOOK like anti-semitism, to those who wish to see it that way, and thereby make Israel immune from any kind of rational scrutiny or debate.
                                        This is NOT in the interests of Israel in the long term. The conflict needs to end by compromise, not "winner take all".
                                        Commenter
                                        Considered view
                                         
                                        Location
                                        WA
                                         
                                        Date and time
                                        March 02, 2015, 3:29PM
                                      • Well said KC. Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish homeland. Hate directed against Israel, especially in regards to the right of Israel to exist, often crosses the line into antisemitism. Once again hate directed towards Jews is being legitimized.
                                        Commenter
                                        Rathenn
                                         
                                        Location
                                        Date and time
                                        March 02, 2015, 3:45PM
                                    • OK lefties, hypothetical question. Say you don't subscribe to any religion and you can move into a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood or you can move into a predominantly Muslim one, you also have a wife and young daughters. Which would you pick?
                                      Surely the easiest question ever asked for any sensible person, but lefties aren't sensible and I'm keen to hear your twisted reasoning on picking the Muslim one
                                      Commenter
                                      Tony H
                                       
                                      Location
                                      Sydney
                                       
                                      Date and time
                                      March 02, 2015, 3:54PM
                                      • Since 2012, 13 Jews murdered and this is supposed to upset the world, to indicate that Jews are under attack.
                                        Israeli military in attacks against the all but defenceless Gazanias slaughtered:
                                        Gaza War (2008–09), also known as Operation Cast Lead 1,417 Palestinians.
                                        2012 conflict, also known as Operation Pillar of Defence 150 odd Palestinians.
                                        2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, also known as Operation Protective Edge 2200 Palestinians.
                                        Jews have never come out against Israel, never condemned these murderous attacks and yet they demand that the world take note of an average 3 Jews a year murdered.
                                        Note that the above figures do not include the unceasing killing of Palestinians that goes on on a regular basis. Regular as in not a week goes by that the Israelis do not kill some Palestinians.
                                        Sympathy ought to be really difficult to come by.
                                        Commenter
                                        Peter Hindrup
                                         
                                        Location
                                        sydney
                                         
                                        Date and time
                                        March 02, 2015, 5:01PM

                                    • The question could also be asked - where are the Jewish voices standing up for freedom of religion for Muslims?
                                      Commenter
                                      Discuss the issue please
                                       
                                      Location
                                      WA
                                       
                                      Date and time
                                      March 02, 2015, 11:05AM

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