Uncategorized

The Weaponising of Antisemitism

1 Comment

Are « The Jews » being blamed for the cancellation of the Adelaide Writers’ Festival? Michael Gawenda, former editor of The Age, has this to say: “In an interview on the ABC, (Louise) Adler … included in her warning the need to act against people with “fat chequebooks” who want – and in some cases have succeeded – in determining what is kosher and what is not for the arts institutions to which they have given large sums of money”. Who are these fat chequebook-flourishing miscreants? There was a time when their generosity was something to celebrate, a time when « it was unimaginable to believe, at least publicly, that this generosity was based on a desire by these Jews to force Australian cultural institutions to do their nefarious (sic) bidding,” writes Gawenda.  According to Gawenda, these generous philanthropists are hardly the “powerful secret Zionist Lobby” who wield their evil power over Australian politics. In fact those who chose to contribute were proud to be identified for their contribution to the Arts sector in Australia. To say this “secret society’ influenced the cancellation of the Festival is rather a stretch, given Adler’s contempt for what she calls the “pro-Israel Lobby”. So now this fictitious Lobby is copping blame for politicising the Bondi Pogrom in order to influence the cancellation of a writer, who has gushed hatred towards Jews in her writing. In fact it was the former Festival Board who advised this cancellation […]

Read More →

A Dangerous Daughter

A review of A Dangerous Daughter

Leave a Comment

According to a recent Deloitte study, over 70 million people today have an eating disorder. There are almost certainly millions more who are restricting their food intake in some way. So embedded is the idea of ‘thinness’ as beauty in our culture that from early childhood women are conditioned to think of the human body’s natural appetite—not just for food but for space, power, and desire in general—as gross and inappropriate.  Jewish traditions are often built around meals that reference persecution – such as the seder where foods are eaten to call to mind hardships. A Dangerous Daughter is fiction but it’s based on Dina Davis’ own experiences with anorexia that include many of the damaging mis-treatments that the protagonist of the book, Ivy, experiences.  Like many people, Ivy is encouraged to think of the abundance of food in her life as a privilege against the starvation that others continue […] View more on Dina Davis’s website »

Read More →

ANTISEMITISM

Murder of Innocents

2 Comments

In 1939, a man I used to know was walking down the street in Czechoslovakia with his wife and two young children, one a baby. The Nazis had just invaded his country. A Nazi officer stopped him asking for his papers. When it was clear the young man was Jewish the officer picked up the baby by its feet and smashed its skull against the iron railings in the street. Then he lifted the toddler and did the same to it. My friend and his wife were forced to witness the murder of their children. The officer then drew his pistol and shot the children’s mother, leaving the father alive. He was sent to a concentration camp, which he miraculously survived. But whether he survived witnessing the brutal murder of his wife and children is another matter. Move on to 2025, the war in Gaza. A young mother and her two infant children were taken hostage on the 7th of October 2023. After 17 months in captivity Israelis looked forward to their release by Hamas in February 2025. Instead, three black coffins were ceremoniously presented to the waiting crowd. Inside were the bodies of 4 year Ariel and 18 months old baby Kfir. In the 3rd coffin, instead of Siri Bibas lay the body of an unknown Palestinian woman. Was this a deliberate act of extra cruelty? Hamas claimed the bodies had been found in rubble, killed by Israeli crossfire, […]

Read More →

ANTISEMITISM

Shades of Kristallnacht

4 Comments

Germany, 9 November 1938: Shops, houses, synagogues are set alight. Earlier, piles of books are burned. Innocent civilians , including children, are vilified and physically attacked. Men have their beards cut off, their trousers pulled down. Women are terrorised. All these innocent civilians are labelled with a yellow star so the people will know it’s OK to abuse, humiliate and […]

Read More →

ANTISEMITISM

Not all Zionists are Jewish and not all Jews are Zionists.

3 Comments

GET THE FACTS The worldwide scourge of Antisemitism is largely based on misinformation, propaganda and lies. For example, did you know that the establishment of the State of IsraelDid you know that many Zionists are Christian, not Jewish? In fact the non-Jewish British politician, Lord Balfour, fought to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This further corrects the fallacy that […]

Read More →

Uncategorized

This Writing Life

4 Comments

From believing that one really is a writer (even after having two books published) to realising the world rarely rewards us with the same respect as, say, for sports achievers, takes supreme confidence. To keep on writing against these odds one needs a community of writers, or at least one or two others who believe in you when you yourself […]

Read More →

Uncategorized

Death does not discriminate

3 Comments

  Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. (The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism adopted by more than 1,000 entities) The most useful—and for some […]

Read More →

Why Anti-Semitism is Racism

1 Comment

As a person of Jewish descent living in Australia, I have experienced racism in the form of anti-semitism all my life. It’s often subtle, like someone saying in my hearing that the Jews control Hollywood, monopolising the industry. It’s sometimes overt, like the time we were at a friend’s house for dinner and a guest said, quite casually and apropos […]

Read More →