Australia anti-Semitism: Labor is missing the moral dimension on Middle East

[Social Media]

Labor's Moral Obligation in Confronting Anti-Semitism Amidst Global Unrest

 

In the current landscape of Australia, a profound ethical dilemma has emerged, highlighting the stark disparity between political rhetoric and societal reality. Against the backdrop of Nationals senator Perin Davey's inconsequential indiscretion of sipping wine in Parliament House, a tidal wave of anti-Semitic sentiment has been steadily rising, engulfing Jewish communities across the nation. This disconcerting dichotomy underscores a broader issue plaguing the nation's moral compass, where discussions of integrity and ethics appear to be disconnected from the palpable racism and prejudice prevalent in daily life.

 

Foremost among the political actors grappling with this moral crisis is the Labor Party, renowned for its purported commitment to moral rectitude. However, recent events have exposed a troubling blind spot within the party, particularly concerning the escalating global wave of anti-Semitism and its infiltration into Australian society. Despite Leader Anthony Albanese's reactive responses to instances of anti-Semitism, it appears that the party's approach is more focused on managing the electoral fallout rather than addressing the underlying social malaise with proactive and moral leadership.

 

Albanese's hollow pledge last November to prevent anti-Semitism from taking hold in Australia rings hollow in the face of the pervasive anti-Semitic infiltration that has already taken root. Labor's reluctance to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and its failure to confront the issue head-on reflects a dangerous complacency that only serves to perpetuate the problem. In contrast to its proactive stance against the threat posed by figures like Pauline Hanson in the 1990s, the party's response to the current, more insidious brand of anti-Semitism appears tepid and ineffectual.

 

The significance of October 7 cannot be overstated, as it marked a pivotal moment both for Israel and for Western democracies, unleashing a virulent strain of anti-Semitism with deep-seated roots. The subsequent surge in anti-Israel sentiment across various sectors of Australian society, including academia, unions, and the media, underscores a broader ideological shift within the progressive left, where hostility towards Israel has become a prevailing orthodoxy. This convergence of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism represents a dangerous fusion that threatens to further exacerbate tensions and deepen societal divisions.

 

Labor's failure to grasp the gravity of the situation and its reluctance to confront the ideological underpinnings of anti-Semitism only serve to embolden its proponents. While Albanese has intermittently condemned anti-Semitism, the party's overall response has been lackluster, reflecting a misguided belief that low-key statements will suffice to address the issue. Such passive indifference only serves to compound the problem, leaving the Jewish community in Australia vulnerable and exposed during a time of unprecedented crisis.

 

In the face of mounting anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions, the Labor Party must recognize its moral obligation to take decisive action. This entails more than just issuing condemnatory statements; it requires a concerted effort to combat the root causes of anti-Semitism and promote a culture of tolerance and inclusivity. Failure to do so not only undermines the party's moral credibility but also perpetuates the cycle of bigotry and hatred that threatens to tear at the fabric of Australian society.

 

As the nation grapples with the resurgence of anti-Semitism, Labor must rise to the occasion and demonstrate moral leadership in confronting this pervasive threat. The time for passive indifference is over; now is the time for decisive action and unwavering commitment to combating hatred and prejudice in all its forms. Anything less would be a betrayal of the values and principles upon which the party claims to stand.

 

26.02.24

Source

 

Anti-Semitism becoming ‘trendy’ among the left in Australia

[flyingtlger]

7 minutes ago, Social Media said:

Labor's failure to grasp the gravity of the situation and its reluctance to confront the ideological underpinnings of anti-Semitism only serve to embolden its proponents.

This is happening all over the world....

[Bkk Brian]

Historical in Aus apparently, shows with some of the posts I've read on AN

 

Australian historical antisemitism exposes need for united global campaign - opinion

There has always been a radical left in Australia that was obsessed with Jews and Israel. In the 1970s and 1980s, radical leftists turned university campuses into battlegrounds with their support for the PLO and campaigns to delegitimize Israel. From the universities, many went on to join unions and the left wing of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Others went into academia.

Their efforts to get the left-leaning ALP to endorse their views were largely unsuccessful and the party maintained a warm relationship with Israel when in government. However, there has been a steady increase in grassroots ALP support for pro-Palestine positions, and many ALP seats now contain large Muslim constituencies.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-788196

[LosLobo]

I personally take anything from Sky News with a pinch of salt, as I would with Fox News.

 

These news services, both owned by Rupert Murdoch, operate under the mottos ‘Real News: Honest Views’ and ‘Real News. Real Honest Opinion,’ respectively.

 

Their reassurances of ‘real’ news and ‘honest’ opinions ad nauseum raise obvious questions about their credibility.

 

This has been emphasized, by Sky being suspended from social media for COVID misinformation and Fox paying out more a AUD1 Billion for false statements about Dominion.

 

Sky News, in particular, regularly echoes GOP views onto the Australian electorate and seems to desire an Australian PM like Trump.

 

Murdoch has attempted to divide Australia with Sky News, much like he has done with Fox News in the US, but with less success.

[Bkk Brian]

9 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

I personally take anything from Sky News with a pinch of salt, as I would with Fox News.

 

These news services, both owned by Rupert Murdoch, operate under the mottos ‘Real News: Honest Views’ and ‘Real News. Real Honest Opinion,’ respectively.

 

Their reassurances of ‘real’ news and ‘honest’ opinions ad nauseum raise obvious questions about their credibility.

 

This has been emphasized, by Sky being suspended from social media for COVID misinformation and Fox paying out more a AUD1 Billion for false statements about Dominion.

 

Sky News, in particular, regularly echoes GOP views onto the Australian electorate and seems to desire an Australian PM like Trump.

 

Murdoch has attempted to divide Australia with Sky News, much like he has done with Fox News in the US, but with less success.

The source is https://www.theaustralian.com.au

[ozimoron]

Quote

This convergence of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism represents a dangerous fusion that threatens to further exacerbate tensions and deepen societal divisions.

 

This is the far right wing desperate to conflate antizionism with antisemitism. We see not one word of how their favourite whipping boys (academia, unions, and the media) are actually antisemitic. This is pure anti-intellectualism. The Murdoch press whipping up ignorance among the yobbo class to protect the rich as usual. The headline gives the game away as purely political.

 

I hope the oz parliament don't go the way of the extreme right wing US House in passing a resolution conflating a nationalist movement with religion. Personally, I can't see it happening in the far more centrist society that is Australia.

 

This is nothing more than islamophobia trying to shut down legitimate criticism of a nation credibly accused of genocide and trying to shut down any debate about it.

Edited February 26 by ozimoron

[placeholder]

30 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

The source is https://www.theaustralian.com.au

In this case, a distinction without a significant difference:

 

"The Australian is published by News Corp Australia, an asset of News Corp, which also owns the sole daily newspapers in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, and Darwin, and the most circulated metropolitan daily newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne. News Corp's Chairman and Founder is Rupert Murdoch."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Australian#:~:text=The Australian is published by,and Founder is Rupert Murdoch.

[Bkk Brian]

5 minutes ago, placeholder said:

In this case, a distinction without a significant difference:

 

"The Australian is published by News Corp Australia, an asset of News Corp, which also owns the sole daily newspapers in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, and Darwin, and the most circulated metropolitan daily newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne. News Corp's Chairman and Founder is Rupert Murdoch."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Australian#:~:text=The Australian is published by,and Founder is Rupert Murdoch.

The messenger does not carry facts?

 

Antisemitism Down Under Is Turning Vicious | Opinion

Under attack, these Jewish creatives formed a Whatsapp group where they shared their feelings of alienation with fellow Jewish artists. The group was breached, and chats were stolen and circulated online. Now pro-Hamas keyboard warriors are doxxing and threatening the creatives who used the chat to share their despair as work dried up and friends and colleagues abandoned them.

Saxophonist Joshua Moshe was doxxed and threatened by pro-Hamas supporters simply for being a member of the chat group. The harassment got so bad that his band mates fired him from their neo-soul jazz band via Instagram.

https://www.newsweek.com/antisemitism-down-under-turning-vicious-opinion-1867358

 

The long, dark history of antisemitism in Australia

Antisemitic incidents have spiked in Australia since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israeli communities outside Gaza and the subsequent Israeli war against Hamas inside the coastal strip.

 

The Labor Party figure Frank Anstey, for instance, republished his anti-Jewish newspaper articles as a pamphlet in 1915 entitled The Kingdom of Shylock. John Norton, a nationalist publisher and NSW parliamentarian, expressed similar prejudices in his Truth newspaper. This undercurrent of antisemitism led to the exclusion of Jews from sporting and social clubs and some businesses. Yet, very few eastern European Jews actually settled in Australia during this time.

https://theconversation.com/the-long-dark-history-of-antisemitism-in-australia-217908

[LosLobo]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

The source is https://www.theaustralian.com.au

Apologies, TBH, I only noticed the Sky News logo on the OP video and the video inside the source which seemed to be also from Sky News and did not verify the rest.

As an Australian, possibly, my personal opinion of Murdoch, the owner of the majority of Australian news media, clouded my usual attention to detail.
 

Nevertheless, the Australian is also owned by Murdoch, as @placeholder pointed out.

Edited February 26 by LosLobo

[Bkk Brian]

Just now, LosLobo said:

Apologies, TBH, I only noticed the Sky News logo on the OP and did not verify the rest.

As an Australian, possibly, my personal opinion of Murdoch, the owner of the majority of Australian news media, clouded my usual attention to detail.
 

Nevertheless, the Australian is also owned by Murdoch, as @placeholder pointed out.

Yes no problem but its also widely reported elsewhere as in the other links I provided.

[ozimoron]

Islamophobia is just as rife in Australia as is antisemitism. Neither is restricted to one party as claimed in the article. The problem with the Murdoch press is to push only one side of the story, as always.

 

Ballooning Islamophobic and antisemitic sentiment is a global trend, the director of policy at the Community Security Trust in the UK, Dr Dave Rich, said.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/10/islamophobic-and-antisemitic-incidents-rise-in-australia-advocates-say

[placeholder]

6 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

The messenger does not carry facts?

 

Antisemitism Down Under Is Turning Vicious | Opinion

Under attack, these Jewish creatives formed a Whatsapp group where they shared their feelings of alienation with fellow Jewish artists. The group was breached, and chats were stolen and circulated online. Now pro-Hamas keyboard warriors are doxxing and threatening the creatives who used the chat to share their despair as work dried up and friends and colleagues abandoned them.

Saxophonist Joshua Moshe was doxxed and threatened by pro-Hamas supporters simply for being a member of the chat group. The harassment got so bad that his band mates fired him from their neo-soul jazz band via Instagram.

https://www.newsweek.com/antisemitism-down-under-turning-vicious-opinion-1867358

 

The long, dark history of antisemitism in Australia

Antisemitic incidents have spiked in Australia since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israeli communities outside Gaza and the subsequent Israeli war against Hamas inside the coastal strip.

 

The Labor Party figure Frank Anstey, for instance, republished his anti-Jewish newspaper articles as a pamphlet in 1915 entitled The Kingdom of Shylock. John Norton, a nationalist publisher and NSW parliamentarian, expressed similar prejudices in his Truth newspaper. This undercurrent of antisemitism led to the exclusion of Jews from sporting and social clubs and some businesses. Yet, very few eastern European Jews actually settled in Australia during this time.

https://theconversation.com/the-long-dark-history-of-antisemitism-in-australia-217908

Except that the interview wasn't about the existence or rise of anti-Semitism in Australia. It opened with a question about Australian ties to UNRWA and then later about anti-Semites being the recipients of government grants. The person being interviews claimed that the government was rewarding people for having anti-Semitic views. Which was an obvious distortion. And of course, the person being interviews is a right wing Australian politician. 

[LosLobo]

12 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Yes no problem but its also widely reported elsewhere as in the other links I provided.

My OP was not a response to your OP, or the notion of antisemitism in Australia being true or not.

It was a response to the credibility of the OP from a Murdoch source.

 

[Bkk Brian]

5 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Except that the interview wasn't about the existence or rise of anti-Semitism in Australia. It opened with a question about Australian ties to UNRWA and then later about anti-Semites being the recipients of government grants. The person being interviews claimed that the government was rewarding people for having anti-Semitic views. Which was an obvious distortion. And of course, the person being interviews is a right wing Australian politician. 

What interview are you talking about? If your talking about the Youtube, I never watched it, I hardly ever watch vids unless they are for portraying needed visuals in.

Edited February 26 by Bkk Brian

[spidermike007]

It is of extreme importance to differentiate between people protesting against Israel's approach to this war in Gaza, and antisemitism. They are two completely different things, however Israel is an extremely thin skinned nation, and very intolerant of any sort of criticism. As a Jew I know that many Jews are thin-skinned when it comes to any sort of criticism of Israel, and it's often interpreted as being anti-semitic. I've been called a Jew hater for criticizing Israeli policy so I know how sensitive the issue can be, and it's very important to interpret it correctly. Jews and all people have the right to be critical of Israeli policy, especially now that the extremists have taken over gotten the support of a hateful PM, and are engaging in what could be called a ridiculously disproportionate campaign against the Gazans. 

 

Israel must be very careful at this point as they are losing support around the world, by the day it's gotten to the point where there are very few nations who are still supportive of Israel, and the IDF, and even the US is considering withdrawing some support. That would put them in dire straits, and very isolated. But, they deserve that, in my opinion. 

[Bkk Brian]

Investigation - Libs and Labor should put the Greens last over antisemitism

“It doesn’t appear to be an accident that the epicentres of antisemitic rhetoric and action appears to be in areas where there is political jostling between Labor and the Greens. The inner suburbs of our major cities.

We have seen from October 7 that the Greens are treating the horrors of the war on Israel as an opportunity to whip up antisemitic hate. The Greens behaviour online and in parliament since 7 October on these matters has been nothing less than disgraceful. In doing so, they join a long list of opportunists who have targeted Jewish people since time began.”

No sooner had Leeser said that than Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi circulated on social media a photo of her at a “student protest for Palestine” in front of a placard with the words “Keep the world clean” with a drawing of an Israeli flag in a rubbish bin. Faruqi subsequently deleted the photo.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/libs-and-labor-should-put-the-greens-last-over-antisemitism-20231129-p5enm0

[ryandb]

As a jew, Israel is an apartheid state and to criticise a state is not antisemitic in any way and people are tired of the be quiet word being used for any criticism of Israel or Bibi's actions. Just like Nazi, homophobic, sexist, fascist have all been overused and no one actually cares if you are called one anymore.

 

 

[Aussie999]

Why do we even have antisemitic laws, why are Jews a "protected" species, compared to the rest on us mortals. We often see anti Christian, anti Muslim protests, slogans etc, why aren't we all equal.

[Thingamabob]

What Palestinian Hamas, operating out of Gaza and backed by Iran and Russia, inflicted on Israel on October 7 was utterly disgusting. Sad but understandable that Israel will, as a result, go to any lengths to eliminate Hamas. Worth noting that not a single Arab country is accepting Palestinian refugees from the current conflict.

[ozimoron]

23 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

What Palestinian Hamas, operating out of Gaza and backed by Iran and Russia, inflicted on Israel on October 7 was utterly disgusting. Sad but understandable that Israel will, as a result, go to any lengths to eliminate Hamas. Worth noting that not a single Arab country is accepting Palestinian refugees from the current conflict.

 

For about the 9th time this is NOT about not wanting Palestinians. It is about not wanting Israel to succeed in expelling the entire Palestinian population to another country as it did to 2 million refugees who now live in Leabanon.

[BusyB]

8 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

The messenger does not carry facts?

 

Antisemitism Down Under Is Turning Vicious | Opinion

Under attack, these Jewish creatives formed a Whatsapp group where they shared their feelings of alienation with fellow Jewish artists. The group was breached, and chats were stolen and circulated online. Now pro-Hamas keyboard warriors are doxxing and threatening the creatives who used the chat to share their despair as work dried up and friends and colleagues abandoned them.

Saxophonist Joshua Moshe was doxxed and threatened by pro-Hamas supporters simply for being a member of the chat group. The harassment got so bad that his band mates fired him from their neo-soul jazz band via Instagram.

https://www.newsweek.com/antisemitism-down-under-turning-vicious-opinion-1867358

 

The long, dark history of antisemitism in Australia

Antisemitic incidents have spiked in Australia since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israeli communities outside Gaza and the subsequent Israeli war against Hamas inside the coastal strip.

 

The Labor Party figure Frank Anstey, for instance, republished his anti-Jewish newspaper articles as a pamphlet in 1915 entitled The Kingdom of Shylock. John Norton, a nationalist publisher and NSW parliamentarian, expressed similar prejudices in his Truth newspaper. This undercurrent of antisemitism led to the exclusion of Jews from sporting and social clubs and some businesses. Yet, very few eastern European Jews actually settled in Australia during this time.

https://theconversation.com/the-long-dark-history-of-antisemitism-in-australia-217908

 

Ozimoron has it nailed. It's also a question of how you use facts, and which ones get left out.

 

Murdoch media is a repulsive sewer. Speaking as a (retired) professional who would never have worked for him for any wage (and I was very well paid).

[Bkk Brian]

11 minutes ago, BusyB said:

 

Ozimoron has it nailed. It's also a question of how you use facts, and which ones get left out.

 

Murdoch media is a repulsive sewer. Speaking as a (retired) professional who would never have worked for him for any wage (and I was very well paid).

Have you noticed none of my links and I've posted 4 so far have been to any Murdoch media?

[LosLobo]

An interesting Q&A last with former conservative PM Turnbull et alia, with relevance to this topic.....

 

 

Edited February 27 by LosLobo

[JonnyF]

Hardly a surprise. 

 

The UK Labour party also has a long history of anti-semitism. In fact, Australia seems to be repeating many of the mistakes that is currently destroying the UK. Sad to see. 

[Chomper Higgot]

13 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Hardly a surprise. 

 

The UK Labour party also has a long history of anti-semitism. In fact, Australia seems to be repeating many of the mistakes that is currently destroying the UK. Sad to see. 

The UK has a long history of anti semitism across the whole of the political spectrum.

 

The cause of damage to the UK is about to be removed from office, my punt is May.