Anti-Semitsm on the rise

THE number of anti-Semitic physical assaults trebled to 15 in the last year according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s (ECAJ’s) annual anti-Semitism report.

The majority of those attacks, 11, took place in NSW while two occurred in Victoria and one in both Western Australia and Queensland.

The most serious incidents were the assault of five Jewish people in Bondi, who were viciously assaulted after being called “F***ing Jews”, and an attack on a 28-year-old man wearing a T-shirt with Hebrew writing on it in Melbourne.

The ECAJ’s Julie Nathan, who compiled the report, laid much of the blame on mainstream media, which, she said, helped anti-Semitism move from the margins into mainstream society, and highlighted three specific incidents: The Peter Goers article in the Sunday Mail of Adelaide, in which he said that Jews were “oppressive” while Palestinians were “the best, kindest, most stoic and eloquent people”; anti-Semitic comments that were left unmoderated on the ABC’s Four Corners Facebook page for up to five weeks; and a cartoon by Glen Le Lievre in The Sydney Morning Herald, where he portrayed a classic negative stereotype of a Jew with a hook nose, kippah and a Magen David on the back of his chair while looking over Gaza holding a remote.

“When major media outlets, including the national broadcaster, are prepared to publish or host unsubstantiated claims and irrational bias, that is combined with outright demonising of Jews, then a signal is sent that anti-Semitism is acceptable and even respectable, and Jew-haters feel emboldened to promote their views and to act on them,” Nathan said in the report.

Overall the total number of anti-Semitic incidents – which includes physical assaults; abuse; harassment or intimidation; property damage and vandalism; graffiti; and threats via email, Facebook, mail, telephone and posters – rose by 35 per cent.

“There was a clear undertone of anti-Semitism at the anti-Israel protests this year,” Nathan told The AJN.

“We’ve had some major incidents and there has become a tolerance for anti-Semitism in Australia.”

The number of anti-Semitic incidents refers to those reported, and authenticated, by community roof bodies in each state, the Community Security Group or the ECAJ.

JOSHUA LEVI

Members of the Behar family from left, Zeev Aronstam, Shlomo Behar, Lea Behar, Eli Behar (who were attacked last October) and Issar Ben Behar.