Over the weekend, I was a presenter at a Fabian's Society meeting which sought input…
The report of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in Australia should be categorically rejected by government
In July 2024, as a knee jerk reaction to pressure being put on it by powerful lobby groups in Australia, the Federal Government created a Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. After it was pointed out that this seemed an odd creation, especially given that Australia has relatively strong racial discrimination and laws that protect freedom of religion, and that other definable ethnic/religious groups were also regularly in the firing line of abuse (for example, Muslims and First Nations peoples), the Government then (with a lag of a few months) created a Special Enjoy to Combat Islamophobia. Both creations are poor policy. On July 10, 2025, the Antisemitism Envoy delivered a major report, which, if the recommendations are implemented will become a major threat to academic and artistic freedom and do nothing to advance world peace and harmony. Quite the opposite. I have been reluctant to discuss the atrocity that is now entrenched in the Middle East as a result of the actions of the Israel government. But the release of this Report and subsequent news coverage that I saw in Doha recently (while transiting) of the starvation of people (especially little children) has led me to this blog post. If the Report’s recommendations are implemented by the Government, such a blog post will probably open me to prosecution as an anti-Semite, which would be a preposterous accusation, and just shows how flawed the path we are taking to these issues has become.
The appointment of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism has been controversial and it is surprising that the Australian government selected her for this position.
First, on November 12, 2023, before her appointment, she was a co-signatory to a – Joint ZFA and ECAJ statement on Foreign Minister Wong’s comments on Insiders – published by the Zionist Federation of Australia, which is an aggressive group in Australia promoting Zionist narratives.
The statement attacked the Federal government support for the UN resolution calling for a ceasefire and stating that the IDF should “cease attacking hospitals”.
The Envoy is also on the listed as a Member of the International Board of the Wiezmann Institute, which is located in Tel Aviv and has been mired in scandals including being surreptitiously involved in Israel’s nuclear program and other defense corporations
Then, it was revealed – that her husband was a major donor to an extreme right-wing lobby group in Australia that denies anthropogenic climate change (a ‘hoax’), is against mass-immigration, opposes the campaign to give indigenous people a formal voice, and says that those who protest against the Gaza atrocities should leave Australia.
See UK Guardian report (July 14, 2025) – Antisemitism envoy denies involvement in major donation by husband’s company to right-wing group Advance
Even the progressive Jewish Council of Australia, which represents non-Zionist Jews in Australia said this association’s positions “only strengthen the case for comprehensively rejecting the plan and the envoy position itself.”
I note the Envoy has said she has “no involvement” in the donation by her husband, and I also agree that a spouse should never be held responsible for what their partner does but in political terms this family association is problematic.
Advance is an extreme group.
But at the heart of the controversy is not the author or her associations.
While the Envoy’s appointment was not acceptable in my view, her recently released Report is a slapped together document that belies the millions that the Australian government gave to her office.
It wreaks of Trumpian narratives.
It lacks an evidential basis that antisemitism is on the rise in Australia.
This UK Guardian Op Ed (July 11, 2025) – The special envoy’s plan is the latest push to weaponise antisemitism in Australia, as a relentless campaign pays off – is a sobering reflection of what is going on in Australia at the moment.
The author, Louise Adler is an adviser to the Jewish Council of Australia and former CEO of Melbourne University Press.
We read:
With respect one might argue that Segal’s previous position as president of ECAJ, an unequivocal advocate for Israel as the Jewish homeland, should have disqualified her for the role.
Moreover:
The publication of the special envoy’s plan is the latest flex by the Jewish establishment. The in-house scribes have been busy: no institution, organisation or department is exempt from the latest push to weaponise antisemitism and insist on the exceptionalism of Australian Jewry. One might pause to wonder what First Nations people, who are the victims of racism every day, feel about the priority given to 120,000 well-educated, secure and mostly affluent individuals.
Louisa Adler also is critical of the rather poor and questionable use of data in the Report to justify the alarm it was seeking to engender.
Relatedly, the recommendations that followed the creation of the ‘alarm’ appear disproportionate in the extreme.
The problem is that the Envoy (Segal) is trying to foist on the Australian government and all public institutions the adoption of the definition of antisemitism propounded by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
This is outlined in the report – Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism – where the Envoy says:
Broad adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism is key to distinguishing potentially legitimate critique from hate, especially when anti-Zionism masks antisemitism.
So we are being asked to accept that one who opposes Zionism is at the same time guilty of antisemitism.
And if one dares criticise the State of Israel for its conduct in Gaza and beyond, one can be accused of being an anti-Semite.
Advocating the rights of Palestinians also becomes problematic under this definition.
Marching in the streets of Australia to express our horror at the on-going genocide including deliberate starvation strategies does not make one anti-Semitic.
It just expresses our humanity.
On April 4, 2023, 104 international civil society organisations including many Jewish groups sent the UN a letter – Human Rights and other Civil Society Groups Urge United Nations to Respect Human Rights in the Fight Against Antisemitism – which called on the UN to reject the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism.
The letter said (among other things):
… the IHRA definition has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus chill and sometimes suppress, non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism, including in the US and Europe.
While the IHRA itself has cautioned against using its definition (which was originally designed to “to guide research and law enforcement data validation before being used by the IHRA in its work”) to suppress criticism of Israel, “in practice, these disclaimers have failed to prevent the politically motivated instrumentalization of the IHRA definition in efforts to muzzle legitimate speech and activism by critics of Israel’s human rights record and advocates for Palestinian rights.”
The weaponisation of the IHRA definition has led to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both being accused of antisemitism under the IHRA definition because they suggested the illegal Israeli occupation was a “form of apartheid” (Source).
The letter also says:
The targets of accusations of antisemitism based on the IHRA definition have included university students and professors, grassroots organizers, human rights and civil rights organizations, humanitarian groups and members of the US Congress, who either document or criticize Israeli policies and who speak in favor of Palestinian human rights.
Which brings me back to the Envoy’s plan.
The Envoy has called on the Federal government to defund universities, public broadcasters or cultural institutions (like art galleries, museums, festivals, etc) who allow views to be expressed that are contrary to the adopted IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Trumpian.
Of course, that call, in the case of universities is naive because in Australia, universities come under state legislation.
But in the Plan, there is a massive overreach advocated by the Envoy, where she can “educate”, “monitor”, “embed appropriate lesson plans”, provide “guidance”, assemble “trusted voices to publicly refute antisemitic views” (defined by the IHRA), “develop and launch a university report card”, “work with government to enable government funding to be withheld”, “establish agreed guidelines/protocols for festivals and arts organisations”, “allow for the efficient termination of funding where the institution or festival promotes, facilitates or does not deal effectively” with conduct inconsistent with the IHRA definition, “work with the publicly funded broadcasters to encourage them to develop programs” that are consistent with the IHRA definition, and a lot more.
As one commentator pointed out, the implication is that if a university was to challenge the funding cuts through the courts, the Envoy could seek to guide and educate the Judge on a “thorough understanding of antisemitism” as per the IHRA construct (Source).
The spokesperson for the Jewish Council of Australia (non-Zionist) said the Plan:
… risks undermining Australia’s democratic freedoms, inflaming community divisions, and entrenching selective approaches to racism that serve political agendas.
You have to wonder when the reality is that Australia already has a legislative suite covering racism, discrimination etc that can deal with bad behaviour.
Why go to the next step, which is a step towards authoritarianism?
Louise Adler notes that:
The glaring absence here – a tactical move – is the question of Israel and its war on Gaza, as if antisemitism is a particular problem absent of any connection to Middle Eastern realpolitik. One oft repeated concern in the document is that younger Australians are more susceptible to antisemitism than older generations. The reason, clearly unpalatable to the authors of this document, is that younger, media literate Australians recognise the steadfastly uncritical advocacy of Israel by Australia’s Jewish leadership. Young people see the death and destruction in the occupied territories and cannot avoid the blindingly obvious connection. If the actions of Israel in the past 20 months or indeed the past 75 years doesn’t engender any dissent in the diaspora, it’s unsurprising that critics of Israel conclude that Jews are to be condemned for their appalling myopia and lack of moral clarity.
Jewish academic – Tony Judt (now deceased) – initially embraced Zionism and worked for the IDF during the Six-Day War in 1967, became highly critical of the Israeli state in his latter years.
His May 2, 2006 article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz = The country that wouldn’t grow up (Israel) – is essential reading if one wants to understand how the state of Israel has evolved (or not).
He wrote “The habit of tarring any foreign criticism with the brush of anti-Semitism is deeply engrained in Israeli political instincts” and:
When Israel breaks international law in the occupied territories, when Israel publicly humiliates the subject populations whose land it has seized – but then responds to its critics with loud cries of “anti-Semitism” – it is in effect saying that these acts are not Israeli acts, they are Jewish acts: The occupation is not an Israeli occupation, it is a Jewish occupation, and if you don’t like these things it is because you don’t like Jews.
Judt indicated that this has compromised Jewish populations living outside of Israel and “encourages others to look upon Jews everywhere as de facto collaborators in Israel’s misbehavior.”
But the point is that under the Envoy’s Plan, the Federal government would prosecute anyone who dared write or say what Judt wrote in 2006.
The approach taken by various governments such as the UK and Australia to the genocide being inflicted by the IDF in Gaza is pathetic.
I saw the British foreign secretary’s display in the Commons on Monday trying as best he could to look as though he cared while proposing nothing to stop the horror that is, in part, using British supplied military equipment.
And while the Australian government has increasingly voiced criticism of the attacks on innocent civilians in Gaza it conspires to reprimand elected Members of Parliament who visibly protest in the legislative chamber.
Governments will not call the actions taken by the Israeli government genocide.
Why?
If one acquaints themselves with the – Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948, nothing could be clearer:
… genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group
There are five sub-clauses defining genocidal actions – “killing members of a group”, “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group”, “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” etc.
Who is responsible (that is, guilty)?
In addition to the obvious agents of the genocide, the UN Convention lists “Complicity in genocide”, which in the current context would include the US political classes, and any other government officials anywhere that allowed the action to occur, whether by explicit agency (supplying weapons) or implicit action (not stopping the supply of goods and services that helped the state commit genocide).
So when we see on our TVs at night the increasing starvation deaths of Palestinians including young children – for example – Hunger crisis deepens in Gaza as 10 more starvation deaths reported – there are a lot of public officials in the UK, Australia, Germany and elsewhere that should be brought to justice for being complicit in this disaster.
Why complicit?
Because they have not done everything they could to stop the massacres.
For example, why is Al El airlines still allowed to land anywhere outside of Israel?
Why is the EU still one of the major trading partners with Israel? See this report from SOMO – Economic sanctions now: the EU is Israel’s largest investor
Germany and the Netherlands are the largest suppliers to the Israeli economy.
Why is the Australian government still allowing exports to and imports from Israel (imports are more than twice the exports in value).
Why is Australian investment continuing in Israel.
It’s all very well to sanction a couple of the most extreme government ministers but that does nothing to stop their illegality.
Widespread global sanctions are required to isolate Israel and foster internal change.
The BDS report – The “S” in BDS: Changing Policy for Accountability – advocates:
There are at least five areas to which sanctions, in the form of negative obligation, can be applied:
– Military-security links, including two-way trade, transfer, and transit of military and dual-use material, partnerships, joint training, academic research, and other forms of military cooperation;
– Energy links including the supply of oil, gas, and coal;
– Economic and financial links, including trade, co-operation agreements and forums, and banking relations;
– Cultural links, including academic cooperation and sports (including exclusion from the Olympics, FIFA, etc.);
– Diplomatic links, including relations on an official level, participation in international institutions, networks and meetings.
Anything short of that, in my view, means complicity with genocide.
Conclusion
It is one thing to express horror about the way the Gaza situation is unfolding.
But the reason Israel can blithely and deliberately ignore international law and engage in war crimes and genocide is because it is aided and abetted by the rest of us.
We are complicit.
Of course, saying all of this would bring ire from the Envoy and risk discipline from government.
Episode 2 of the Smith Family Manga
Episode 2 of our MMT Manga will be out tomorrow.
That is enough for today!
(c) Copyright 2025 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
Excellent summary. In the UK new anti-terrorist legislation makes in a criminal offence punishable by 16 years imprisonment, should anyone show support for Palestine or demand action from the UK government to stop the genocide and slaughter in Gaza.
The Israeli Zionist movement are implementing a two pronged campaign – to force ‘allies’ into making draconian new laws to stop the criticism of Israel, making it a criminal offence such as that proposed by the Envoy in Oz – and at the same time, proscribing and prosecuting individuals that demonstrate support for the Palestinian people.
There cannot be a two state solution after the last two years where the Zionist mask has lifted to reveal such a ponerology of evil. Can you imagine the Nazi’s being permitted to retain power in Europe after the atrocities they committed during WWII?
But Israel still acts with impunity. Why?
Could it be because Zionist control the world banking and finance systems and own the Federal Reserve in the US? Surely it isn’t beyond the wit of man to disband the present system and create an entirely new monetary and banking network – with policies that reflect the thinking and principles of MMT with complete transparency and fairness?
“Could it be because Zionist control the world banking and finance systems and own the Federal Reserve in the US?” What is this drivel…
This comment section should not be allowed to devolve into crackpot conspiracy theories (and indeed properly antisemite I might add) which are detracting from the very reasonable and important points made in the article itself !
Thank you Professor Mitchell for laying out the truth on US, UK, Germany, Australia (and others) collaboration in the colonisation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide perpetrated by Israel. In this matter the UK (and US and EU) government seems to be one step ahead of Australia. In 2018 the Labour Party NEC ‘adopted all of the IHRA examples of antisemitism, in addition to the IHRA definition which Labour adopted in 2016, alongside a statement which ensures this will not in any way undermine freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians.” (Party spokesperson quoted in the Guardian). An accompanying statement proposed by Corbyn was of course rejected. And here we are now with a Labour Government complicit in aiding the genocide and acting to silence dissent (Mark Russell is not correct, but we see that police forces are using the banning of Palestine Action to harass and detain any peaceful, non-spray painting protest and chill dissent). There seem to me to be several reasons for this. 1. Our main political parties are infused with zionist supporters (Friends of Israel) and act at the behest of zionist lobby groups. 2. Sadly it seems zionist supporters (those thinking Jews have a god-given right to be the chosen people in a greater biblical Israel) are not just limited to the mouthpieces of jews in the UK (the British Board of Deputies, the Jewish Chronicle, UK Lawyers for Israel), but a significant number of the Jewish population. 3. UK governments have allowed the UK economy to be dominated by US companies and reliant on the US to the point where, for many years, they have acquiesced on foreign policy 4. Ukraine is dependent on the US for holding back Russian imperialism and the EU/UK would rather do nothing about a genocide in Gaza than risk alienating this support on the continent of Europe. 5. Post-WW2, post-colonialism UK governments (and the City) have never really thrown off their colonial/racist clothes, hence the Windrush scandal, the treatment of Diane Abbott for her clumsy but patently true observation, the idea of building a Holocaust Memorial next to Westminster, to mimic the appropriate one in Berlin, while trying to completely silence any true history or remembrance of the UK elites’ part in ethnic cleansing and genocide perpetrated against brown skinned people. Thank you once again Bill Mitchell.
So much mischief attends the conflation of the Jewish faith, and/or Jewish people with the state of Israel. Beware anyone who trades in confusion between the categories.
If I even wear my ‘Palestine Action’ Tee shirt now, maybe out doing the shopping, I am open to Terrorism charges and six months in jail as I am regarded as demonstrating support and endorsement of a proscribed group. Yes, I do support peaceful protest within UK society as a fundamental principle.
The law proposed by the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on behalf of the current government has meant that Palestine Action ( a non violent protest group campaigning against the Gazan war) is now classified as a terrorist organisation under the 2000 Terrorism Act.
Membership of a proscribed Palestine Action is now punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
I believe that banning any non-violent direct action group such as Palestine Action threatens our fundamental rights of freedom of expression, and of peaceful protest, and this Labour government has promoted an inexcusable political repression of civil rights.
It is a disgraceful action even by the standards of a socially conservative Labour government.
In Martin Luther King Jr’s letter from that Birmingham jail he wrote,
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Every Channel Four * news feature of the atrocities being implemented against millions of innocent Palestinians in the name of Zionist expansionism is painful to millions of us, because it hurts our inherent sense of justice, and our fundamental humanity.
This slaughter of the innocents cannot be excused or compromised.
* The BBC has long morphed from having critical editorial independence to moreorless slavish observance of so-called state interests, maintaining only trivial unfavourable reporting on government actions as cover. It cannot be trusted as an unbiassed or balanced news source.
How can any civilised nation possibly justify this cruelty to millions of Palestinians ?
How can over 350,000 military attacks by the IDF on Gaza be justified as a proportionate response to Hamas’ violence ?
And how then can the UK Labour government possibly excuse its continued passive and active support for this genocide, pretend it is not happening, and even criminalise me for my total condemnation of the Israeli liquidation of Gazans ?
This is not consensual government through the rule of law, but despicable dictatorship.
Hi Patrick B – can you explain why I am incorrect please?
@ Mark. Hi. You wrote: ‘In the UK new anti-terrorist legislation makes it a criminal offence punishable by 16 years imprisonment, should anyone show support for Palestine or demand action from the UK government to stop the genocide and slaughter in Gaza.’ The designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, making it a crime to express any support for the direct action protest group, has undoubtedly had a chilling effect on any Palestine related protest, given related police action e.g. the women in Kent who the police threatened with arrest as she held up signs saying ‘Free Gaza’ and ‘Israel is committing genocide’, but no-one is suggesting that she could be successfully prosecuted under the Terrorism Act.
But that is exactly what is happening Patrick. People are being prosecuted and imprisoned for this and lesser criticism and support. Craig Murray, the ex-ambassador and human rights campaigner, is currently involved in helping three female activists being held by Police under this legislation for protesting outside a weapons manufacturer that supplies Israel and charged with offences under te Terrorism Act.
Jonathon Cook neatly encapsulated the nefarious influence of the Israel/Zionist lobby in the UK in framing legislation in favour of Israel’s impunity, that demonstrates the moral and ethical corruption of the British Establishment.
If Bill permits the links:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/07/the-big-chill/
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2025-07-16/gaza-rights-end-criminality-begins/
I have previously posted the story of the Trade Union men at the Rolls Royce factory in Scotland who took a stance against the slaughter perpetrated by the Pinochet junta by sabotaging the engines of the Hawker Hunter jets used by the Chilean Air Force against its own people. Nae Paseran.
These men are heroes and revered fondly by the people of Chile today. Their justifiable action prevented the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
Had this been today – at a BAE Systems factory supplying munitions and aircraft parts and maintenance to Israel – the same men would now be in prison facing lengthy jail sentences.
That’s how far we have fallen into the Zionist pit. They own the politicians and lawmakers, the media, banking and finance – they manipulate world events, create false flag atrocities and lie. And still we cant say no more.
We very much agree on the substance, but I’m still not sure where I am incorrect.
Best.
Bill, thanks for your reasoned response.
What I find disappointing and hypocritical is that while Albanese and Wong urge that the Israeli government to act with humanity, they still permit the export of Australian made military componentry to the IDF; as per investigations by Kellie Tranter [https://declassifiedaus.org/author/kellie-tranter/] and Michelle Fahey [https://declassifiedaus.org/author/michelle-fahy/] over at Declassified Australia.
Doing so is in breach of the ICJ ruling and the legal opinion of Francesca Albanese.
I did read the envoy’s report and was astonished at the total lack of evidence to support her claims as to what she referred to as ‘antisemitic’ behaviour, lots about people’s feelings; I found this astounding considering how easy it is to include references with today’s technology and that the author is a lawyer trained at Harvard.
A final point, limiting myself here, the PM had no compunction in wielding a captain’s pick in appointing an envoy to appease one segment of society, yet has not deemed First Nations’ people worthy of similar respect.
thanks
Seems to be a few British folk commenting especially re the BBC.
The folk at Media Lens do an excellent job exposing how pathetic the Beeb have been: https://www.medialens.org/
Everything you say here, Bill, is valid. Being a critic of Zionism and Zionist Israel does not make anyone an anti-Semite. Freedom of speech is really being threatened here on behalf of the State of Israel. The Albanese Labor government should hang its head in shame for its failure to call what Israel has been doing in Gaza a genocide! And let’s not forget the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank!
Tristan wrote (July 24th) “what is this drivel?”
What is not drivel is the secretive nature of the meeting at Jekyll Island in 1910 to design the Federal Reserve system….though only one of the six central bankers present was a Jew.
Hence Ford’s remark made during the GD “if people knew how money is created there would be a revolution the next morning” .
Why all the secrecy?
As for Jews, their bible – the Christian OT – is a bronze-age monstrosity. with its ‘Chosen People’ and “Promised Land” mythologies, including god-ordained genocide being carried out even in our time.
Naturally the Arabs objected to the creation of an “infidel” state on Muslim land – land which was confiscated by the UN to create a Jewish homeland.
Which resulted in the ongoing war; the UN should never have recognized Israel without simultaneously recognizing Palestine as envisioned in UN res 181, which would have required a UNSC capable of enforcing international law….
So obsolete ideology triumphs over the UDHR.
Sad to say everyone is paying lip servicee to international law, but no-one wants to compromise absolute national sovereignty to the degree necessary to establish international law.
btw, am I an ‘antisemite’, given the above narrative?
Indeed. Tristan might care to enlighten himself of the relevant historical facts before spouting nonsense. My criticism is of the Zionist enterprise, not the Jewish people, although the vast majority of Zionists are Jewish. This is not antisemitic, though Zionist sympathisers and apologists always try to conflate the two.
Dear Mark Russell (at 2025/07/27 at 5:!1 pm) and all
Please keep your exchanges here respectful.
Also I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of conspiratorial control etc. This is not the right arena for those discussions.
best wishes
bill
As a vassal to the US hegemony is anyone really surprised of antisemitic laws?
I’m not.
It has been the US who has pulled ALL the levers from the crises in the middle east to Ukraine to China.
There are enough published papers by think tanks who form part of the foreign policy in the US, which clearly identifies what directions it will take before it happens. Such as Brookings papers about extending Russia (how to) and Israel lobby (why the lobby ensures unconditional support from the US).
Quite sad really.
There is no way imho that the west can take the moral ground by condemning anyone until they condemn themselves.
The Special Envoy’s report is a blatant attempt to stifle free speech and manipulate public opinion surrounding Israel’s actions, as they become ever more intolerable.
The path for her appointment and the content of the report was being prepared even as a motion supporting Israel and condemning Hamas was presented by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the days following the October 7 violence. The scene was set for Australia’s failure to take any meaningful action to reduce Palestinian suffering over the course of the subsequent war on Gaza.
Quoting US President Jo Biden, Albanese dismissed Hamas as terrorists driven by hate and anti Semitism and while he excepted ordinary Palestinians from blame, there was no indication that their decades of suffering inflicted by Israeli state sponsored terror compared to the hurt and outrage felt by Australian Jews due to the Hamas attack.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in supporting the motion excused Israel in advance for the Palestinian casualties that would inevitably follow. These would be solely the fault of Hamas. Dutton expressed great anxiety for the Jewish community in Australia, but virtually none for the Palestinians in Gaza.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles spoke passionately about the horror for non-combatants to be exposed to the Hamas attack. He lamented with apparent sincerity the resultant Palestinian deaths already occuring and likely to continue, but quickly heaped all the blame on Hamas and decried what he claimed was anti semitism in protests against Israel’s response.
Marles made much of Australia’s involvement in the creation of Israel when Foreign Minister Doc Evatt chaired and drove the Special Committee on Palestine in 1947, but clearly overlooked the very different context today as he reiterated Australian support for Israel.
Marles’ assertion that Israel and Australia share the values of human rights and freedom of speech as their founding ethos made me very uneasy. Australia had a brutal settler colonial history in which a minimum of 40 thousand indigenous men, women and children are believed to have died as a result of frontier violence. Survivors were driven onto reserves or stuggled to survive on the fringes of society. The true extent of the suffering and loss of opportunity through generations would be impossible to calculate.
That is in the past, but it is painful to witness an Australian government that is still attempting, after more than a century, to ameliorate the impact of violence and disposession in its own country, decline take a stand against genocide, settler colonialism and apartheid elsewhere.
Hi Bill,
I am always respectful and careful when I write. I do take exception of being labelled an ‘antisemite’ and never post inaccurate or blatant conspiracy theories. I do apologise if my post was offensive, it certainly wasn’t intended as such. What I do find deeply offensive is the genocide, slaughter and starvation of innocent people, particularly children – and those who facilitate and support these barbaric actions, then accuse others of racism against the Jews.
Best wishes, as always.
Mark Russell
Mark Russell
“the vast majority of Zionists are Jewish”
Unless America and India are actually full of secret Jews, and Euroland to a lesser extent, that is clearly is not true, which makes the whole thing even more ridiculous actual imperialism.
Thanks for the Tony Judt reference. I remember we lost Judt and Hitchens in quick succession, it was a huge blow to intelligent public discourse.
There are some things that one can add about the use of antisemitism as rhetorical cudgel.
Yes, it’s often dishonest. But it’s also cowardly. Those using it are generally attempting to hide behind Jews worldwide. That becomes evident when an indicted genocidaire like Netanyahu goes around accusing HIS critics and critics of HIS government of being antisemites, and, by implication, enemies of all Jews.
Perversely, antisemitism as an accusation is probably more effective against people who are not antisemitic. For me, being called antisemite would feel insulting. However, go and accuse a neo-Nazi of being an antisemite. I suspect they would wear that label as a badge of honour. I mean, duh.
But the weaponisation of antisemitism may be even worse than all that. It may be counterproductive. People get tired of those crying wolf.
Hi Paolo
“Unless America and India are actually full of secret Jews, and Euroland to a lesser extent, that is clearly is not true”
Can you give some figures to back up your supposition? I don’t know the number of Zionists worldwide – I can assume there are some who may not be Jewish, but I suspect the majority of them will be Jewish.
There are some very courageous and vocal Jews who are not Zionists and have been warning us of their nefarious influence for many years.
Paolo, just to be absolutely clear. I am referring to actual Zionists – not their supporters and enablers, of which there are many in every country. You don’t have to look far for prominent politicians publicly declaring their support for Zionism. In the UK – the Prime Minister down, many MPs have issued unequivocal loyalty to the Israeli project and Zionism today and for many decades. Remember the opening sentence of Arthur Balfour’s letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1917?
“I have much pleasure, conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which have been submitted to, and approved by Cabinet.”
Rothschild was a prominent Zionist; Balfour was a sympathiser and Scottish Protestant.
The same applies to the US where many in the political arena have Zionist sympathies – you know the culprits; Project for the New American Century had both Zionists and supporters in prominent positions. It is an efficient and perverse ideology and movement. Epstein and Maxwell provided the material for blackmail, extortion and silence, for example.
Respectfully, ridiculous imperialism doesn’t even come close.
As per my penultimate post. A letter to the Guardian from many prominent Israeli’s opposing the genocide and calling for crippling sanctions against their country.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/29/the-starvation-of-gaza-is-shameful-crippling-sanctions-on-israel-are-needed
Sirs,
We, Israelis dedicated to a peaceful future for our country and our Palestinian neighbours, write this with grave shame, in rage and in agony. Our country is starving the people of Gaza to death and contemplating the forced removal of millions of Palestinians from the Strip. The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire.
Yuval Abraham Journalist; Academy Award recipient (2025)
Ra’anan Alexandrowicz Documentary film-maker; Sundance world cinema jury prize recipient (2012)
Udi Aloni Film-maker; Tribeca film festival best international narrative feature recipient (2016)
Liran Atzmor Documentary film-maker; Peabody Award recipient (2014)
Prof Tali Bitan University of Haifa
Michael Ben-Yair Former attorney general of Israel; former acting supreme court judge
Nir Bergman Screenwriter and film director; Ophir award recipient (2020)
Avraham Burg Former speaker of the Knesset; former head of the Jewish Agency
Peter Cole Poet and translator; MacArthur Fellow
Guy Davidi Documentary film-maker; International Emmy Award recipient (2013)
Ari Folman Screenwriter and film director; Golden Globe recipient (2009)
Shira Geffen Actor and screenwriter; Camera d’Or recipient (2007)
Prof Emeritus Amiram Goldblum Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof Oded Goldreich Weizmann Institute of Science; Israel prize recipient (2021)
Tamar Gozansky Former Knesset member
Prof Uri Hadar Tel Aviv University
Prof Moty Heiblum Wolf prize in physics recipient (2025)
Adina Hoffman Writer; Windham Campbell prize recipient (2013)
Eran Kolirin Screenwriter and film director; Ophir Award recipient (2021)
Nadav Lapid Screenwriter and film director; Golden Bear recipient (2019)
Alex Levac Israel prize recipient (2005)
Hagai Levi Television writer and director; Golden Globe recipient (2015)
Samuel Maoz Film director; Golden Lion recipient (2009)
Dr Adi Moreno Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College
Prof Michal Na’aman Painter; Israel prize recipient (2014)
Ohad Naharin Choreographer; Israel prize recipient (2005)
Daniella Nowitz Cinematographer; Academy Award recipient (2023)
Prof Adi Ophir Tel Aviv University
Inbal Pinto Choreographer and dancer; Israeli ministry of culture award recipient (2011)
Aharon Shabtai Poet and translator; Israeli prime minister’s prize recipient (1993)
Eyal Weizman Architect; director of Forensic Architecture
Mark Russell
Sorry, I’m not getting your definition. What I mean is there is a lot of support for, at the very least, an apartheid ethnostate by christian evangelicals and hindus – belief in the rapture is a significant political phenomenon. Then there’s the white supremacists who want it to lead in showing how to build an ethnostate – that they will inevitable blame all the Jews for whatever happens (there’s something going on in social media) is great for the zionist regime, they need the bodies to fill the land, especially as the idea of previously fringe idea of Greater Israel gains power and popularity.
“Sorry, I’m not getting your definition”
Don’t worry about it. You’ve enough to contend with,
Good luck.