Antisemitism on parade

February 24, 2017 by Julie Nathan
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An eclectic crowd of people gathered outside Sydney Town Hall on Thursday evening to protest the visit to Australia of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As is usual at such events the crowd consisted of an assortment of people – bearded, angry-visaged men, women in hijabs, fair-haired twenty-somethings hawking ‘Socialist Alternative’ merchandise, and a small number of middle-aged matrons of European background.

The speakers included Greens state MP, David Shoebridge, state Labor MP Julia Finn, Randa Abdel-Fattah, among others. In the crowd were Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon and state Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane. Shoebridge railed against “the State of Israel and the right-wing cabal of that state,” language that would have gladdened the hearts of antisemitic Jewish conspiracy theorists of all political hues.

The speeches were boring, repetitive and wholly predictable. “Israel must cease to exist. Israel is a racist occupier. The occupation must end. The Palestinian refugees must return to Israel. Israel must be eliminated. Support BDS.” Palestinian leaders and their uncritical supporters in the West have been stuck in this same old conceptual rut for 100 years, and their people have suffered the consequences.

There were about 30 Palestinian flags on display flanked by a dozen yellow flags of Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organisation. Quite a few people, men and women, were draped in Hezbollah flags, and some wore Hezbollah headbands. A large red flag of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), another designated terrorist organisation, was also brandished.  .

One banner was large and had an image of Netanyahu with a Hitler moustache and the word “Fascist” written in both English and Hebrew. Another placard had Netanyahu in Nazi uniform giving the Nazi salute with a Nazi swastika flag as background. There were placards with “Stop the Gaza Holocaust”, “Stop the genocide”, and “This is not war. This is genocide”.  There were several images of Netanyahu, one with “Child Killer” on his forehead, another with red devil horns protruding from his forehead, one with a devil’s tail and large red horns, and yet another “Netanyahu: modern-day Hitler”. A placard of an Israeli flag had the Jewish Star of David replaced with a Nazi swastika.

In their mindless hatred, the protesters compare the leader of a democracy which has had to defend its very existence from would-be genocidists for 70 years, with the perpetrator of history’s most infamous genocide, the murder of six million Jews. Oblivious to the repulsive way they appear to ordinary reasonable Australians, the protesters use images copied straight out of the pages of Der Sturmer to portray the State of the Jewish people and its democratically elected leader.

The antisemitism came right out into the open with one large placard bearing the words “Malcolm Turnbull is Jewish and a poodle for Bibi the war criminal. End the oppression!” Another placard said “End Zionism for Peace”. In the minds of these people every people in the world is entitled to the right of national self-determination – except the Jewish people.

The protesters marched around the city streets, under heavy police presence much to the annoyance of city workers trying to get home at peak hour.

Back at the Town Hall, the evening ended with a young anti-Israel activist holding aloft a Hezbollah flag telling a TV journalist that one day the flag of Hezbollah will fly over the Knesset.  Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiíte organisation.  It seems he forgot that the Palestinian Arabs are predominantly Sunni, not Shia. It might also come as a bit of a surprise to some that the Iranian-backed Shia army of Lebanon has its eye on taking over Jerusalem and Palestine and no doubt turning it into another armed base in the cause of Iranian hegemony in the Middle East – and beyond.

Julie Nathan is the Research Officer for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry

 

Comments

25 Responses to “Antisemitism on parade”
  1. Leon Poddebsky says:

    The Zionophobic antisemites tell us that Israel is unimportant to Australia, and yet they lose much sleep, exhale much hot air and spill gallons of ink obsessing over it.
    Pity they don’t care at all about the West Papuans who helped their country fend off the Japanese in WW2, and are now oppressed under the Indonesian jackboot.

  2. Leon Poddebsky says:

    If ever a “one-state” option were to materialise, Israel would give full citizenship rights to the Arabs of Judaea and Samaria; the propaganda line of “one-state apartheid”is based on malice and fantasy. The enemy already asserts that Israel is an apartheid state even in the current situation.

    Israeli President Rivlin has just declared his preference for one state , where all would have equal rights.
    The Zionophobes / antisemites who throw around the apartheid bogeyman, seem to think that they are clairvoyants.

  3. michael Burd says:

    Yeh Adrian
    Whilst the PM of the Jewish state of Israel received a royal treatment from our PM and Government showing a real moral compass and because Israel unlike its Palestinian and Arab/Muslim neighbors has so much to offer the world and Australia quite rightly wants to take advantage of Israels Jewish brain power.

    Unfortunately, Adrian, all Indonesia has to offer besides Islamic extremism and a history of Australians being murdered by jihadists is their gateway to illegal Middle East asylum seekers looking for free handouts and welfare, nothing much by way of technology, science, medicine, start up etc …….. Australia would do better by nurturing closer relations with Israel than with the corrupt Islamic state of Indonesia.

    • Adrian Jackson says:

      In a decade or two Indonesia will be in the top 20 economic nations; the so called G20.

      Indonesia is a stable democracy and has fewer, per capita, right wing political extremist than Australia has.

    • Jan Poddebsky says:

      Dear Michael,
      1,090,025 Australians visited Indonesia in 2016. I guess they didn’t go for the technology, science, medicine, start up etc but still found enough interest, adventure, beauty and friendliness to keep returning. Making an enemy of Indonesia does not sound like wisdom.

  4. Michael Burd says:

    It’s good to see how all the anti Semites are so scared of the repercussions of the powerful
    18C legislation . I guess this is why our Jewish communal leaders are so strongly defending this reallly grat piece of legislation .
    I guess the only minority group who mostly live in Lakemba and the western Sydney suburbs that this powerful tool it actually protects must be really grateful for our Jewish community for pouring so much Jewish community resources into ensuring 18c is not removed or altered .

  5. john nemesh says:

    Very well written by Julie Nathan.

    These contemptible creatures have indeed done us a favour.They have exposed themselves as not only our enemy because of politics, but as haters because we exist at all.

    I would like our official bodies to expose and demand that these extreme and detestable placards, and p[eople be held accountable to the mainstream media–ie ABC…Fairfax and News.
    These media outlets should highlight , expose and then denounce such hatred, and dripping vitriole.

    We all should expose these creatures .

  6. Yosi Tal says:

    600 protestors in a city of 5 million people and 300,000 Australians of Moslem Heritage…Just shows you how little support these idots have!!

    • Adrian Jackson says:

      Equally most pro Israel demonstration in Australia only have a few hundred people out of a Hebrew population of about 85,000 plus.

      Muslim is the correct spelling in Australia too.

      • Sandy Matrai says:

        The last Pro Israel demonstration in Sydney drew a crowd of over 1000 in 2015. And I am not part of a “Hebrew” population I am Jewish.

        • Adrian Jackson says:

          Two years ago. You sound like Trump over his swearing in ceremony crowd.

  7. Adrian Jackson says:

    Today visit of the President of Indonesia is more important for Australia, and our region, than the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Israel from the far off northern hemisphere.

  8. Adrian Jackson says:

    Being anti Bibi is not necessarily antisemitism. Some moderate and left wing Hebrews dislike Bibi too.

    PM Turnbull was raised a Protestant but jumped ship to become a Roman Catholic like his wife when they married.

  9. Larry Stilllman says:

    Contemptible loonies. Not everone who opposes Israeli government policies should be tarred with the same brush. At other events I have been to, people have been told by organisers to remove their placards. There are frequent denunciations of such behaviour by more mainstream pro-Palestine groups. Unfortunately, there are people who pay no attention or don’t care. MPs should be more careful and denounce this sort of stuff

    This behaviour goes both ways of course. There are racists at both ends of the spectrum.

    They are in the same category as Israeli right-wing extremists with their chants and placards or Betar supporters. We should not forget that Rabin was depicted as a Nazi in uniform, the Lager meme used by settlers and others, devils horns were applied to Shulamit Aloni, and Bibi has indulged in all sorts of inflammatory rhetoric, as have other MKs. Then there is the spray painting of racist slogans but Tag Mehir and others

    In both cases, the activity of extremists should not be used as a way of totally denouncing the ‘other’.

    • Michael burd says:

      With due respect Larry the definition of extreme in our community is posting and promoting anti Netenyahu petitions and anti Netenyahu demonstrations on your
      AJDS website .
      Furthermore extreme is AJDS ,s affiliation with
      APAN Palestinian Islamist lobby group and going up to Canberra together to lobby for the Palestinians .

      • Larry Stillman says:

        Only one point fast, Mr Burd. APAN is not a Pal Islamist Lobby Group. If anything, it is strongly Christian.

        Further, every single pollie I met several years ago in Canberra when I went with APAN–and we made our different orientations clear–supported the existence of Israel.

        As for the rest of your accusations, well, that’s a political difference about Netanyahu which many share.

        And in any case, you miscontrue APAN. Its key objective is “To advocate for peace and justice in Palestine/Israel based on UN resolutions and international and humanitarian law;”.

        I realize that George Browning and others see everything drift towards one state, but that is a widely shared viewpoint. So I share a recent comment of Brownings “Australian politics is at a crossroads in relation to Israel. Bi-partisan political support for a two state solution continues. If this policy has any meaning then both sides must be unequivocal in their stand against all settlements even to the point of boycott and sanctions. If there is no stomach for this, then policy must change to face the reality that Australia is dealing with Israel as a ‘one-state’ apartheid nation requiring the same sanctions as apartheid South Africa.” You can disagree with his BDS stance, but rational people see with real danger of a one-state apartheid nation he puts is.

        And to deal with Mr Winter and Mr Nemesh. If it walks and stinks like an anti-Semite. I’ll call it out. It were not the case here.
        Mr Burdo, I have not read that the the image was created by the
        Shabak, whether or not they infiltrated various fascist circles. But it was circulated.

        My correspondence is closed with all these 4 individuals.

    • Ron Burdo says:

      The placard in which Rabin was dressed as a Nazi was created and published by the Shabak. This is not a right-wing conspiracy, it was revealed by a left-wing commentator, Amnon Abramovich.

      Needless to say which regimes used secret services to demonize the opposition.

    • Paul Winter says:

      “Contemptible loonies.”, but ones you stand up for, Larry.

      You are right of course in saying that not everyone opposed to Israeli policies should be tarred with the same brush. The problem is that people do not tar opponents with the same brush. What you are trying to do is to portray anti-Jewish sentiments as kosher responses to Israeli policies and Jews as subversives trying to close down debate by claiming all criticism is antisemitic.

      And you have been to rallies where placards were removed! Good propaganda, but the sentiments of the placard bearers remained unchanged and uncriticised.

      “This behaviout goes both ways…”. No, it doesn’t. Here you are trying to excuse the Jew haters by falsely equating behaviours and at the same time criticising Jews, your friends’ enemies. Your blanked claim without listing instances is just base hypocrisy and obfuscation.

      Depicting Rabin as a Nazi was offensive indeed, but what you fail to give is context. Rabin persisted with the disastrous Oslo Accords of 13.9.93 even after Arafat’s 10.5.94 Johannesburg speech where he explained that his agreement was like Mohammed’s Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, i.e. something that was to be broken as soon as the Arab’s strength increased.

      And Shulamit Aloni, the post-Zionist, was depicted not with a devil’s horn but with the horn of a rhinoceros, a pun on her name. And she was indeed dispicable.

      If I recall correctly, it was Rabbi Sacks who pointed out that antisemitism has gone from hating Jews for (supposedly) killing Jesus, to hating Jews on racial grounds and it is now the hating of Jews because of the existence of Israel. That is the manifestation of Jew hatred expressed by your buddies.

      But keep it up Larry. Every time that you stand up for antisemites, you confirm the group with which you identify and the group, us Jews, that you seek to undermine.

    • john nemesh says:

      How can anyone who is not a supporter of Likkud and Bennett, have anything to do with these visceral haters?As a supporter of Labor Zionism I find these creatures repulsive and my enemy purely because I exist at all.

      Larry I suspect that they hate you as much as any other Jew because of exactly that.You are a jew, and thus have no rights , and just be grateful to be allowed to exist at all.

    • Michael burd says:

      Sorry Larry as much as the hard looney left love to use moral equivalence in order to white wash atrocities and human rights violations usually by the religion of peace you won’t get away with using this propaganda tool comparing all racists or arguing there are other racists and bigots .
      The gold medalists would have to go to those that have a history of bigotry towards
      Jews , Christians , gays , LBGT , woman , different sects of their own faith , Americans to name a few .
      I don’t think any others would come close to these champions of bigotry and rascim .

      btw You would be the first to start whinging if Jewish zionists took to the streets with placards demonising and vilifying Muslims , Islam and chanting offensive remarks about Muslims .
      Interesting Larry isn’t it that this actually does not happen , wonder why ?

      • Larry Stillman says:

        Really Mr Burd, I can’t let your comments go. ” You would be the first to start whinging if Jewish zionists took to the streets with placards demonising and vilifying Muslims , Islam and chanting offensive remarks about Muslims .
        Interesting Larry isn’t it that this actually does not happen , wonder why”

        So are groups like Lehava a fiction? https://972mag.com/the-right-wing-group-trying-to-keep-downtown-jerusalem-arab-free/110658/ , or soccer hooligans beating up Palestinians in a shopping mall, or a group (I think it was Lehava youth), turning up to intimidate a peaceful protest outside the mayor’s residence in Jerusalem (I was there) or in the Old City to celebrate Jerusalem Day filmed chanting ‘Death to leftists,’ singing ‘Muhammad is dead (http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html) or firebombing and leaving slogans on a Palestinians home (see the video here with Yehiel Grunemann). The list is all too long.

  10. michael Burd says:

    Vivienne Porzolt is she still around still using her Jewish birth to vilify Jews and Israel. Like Porzolt who uses her Jewish birth as a propaganda tool and a type of legitimisation. Similarly, we also have Australian Jewish Democratic Society who use their official affiliation with the JCCV to give them extra credibility to attack Israel and zionist jews as they so enthusiasts have been doing for decades.

  11. Michael Kuttner says:

    These protesters have done everyone a favour. They demonstrate exactly how Jew hatred has mutated into hatred for the Jewish State. Now that these examples of infected humanity have shown their true colours nobody should be in any further doubt as to the real agenda of BDS supporters and knee jerk conspiracy theorists.

  12. Jan Poddebsky says:

    On Wednesday eve, our old friend, the ‘I am a Jew and my mother was a victim of the Holocaust therefore I have the right to attack Israel, Vivienne Porzolt, flapped her anti Israel banner at the approaches to Central Synagogue where the Prime Minister of Israel on his a first official visit to Australia addressed members of the Jewish community.

  13. Rabbi Pinchos Woolstone says:

    It is ironic that the posters prominently displayed by the protesters vilified the Prime Ministers on the basis of alleged religious affiliation and grotesquely attempted to establish an equivalency with arguably the most evil man to walk the earth in modern history.
    Vindictive displays of this type are contemptible.
    The protagonists bring shame on themselves and their community.

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