Last week I gave some of the contexts for current antisemitism in Australia.<\/p>\n
This week, so many of the Left are arguing that we don\u2019t need a Royal Commission and so many others are arguing that we do need a Royal Commission, but very few of them are talking about the path Australia had taken to reach the point where Jews were murdered on Bondi. For some (especially on the right) it fits a bunch of their conceptions of the Labor Government, and on the Left, they are being very careful to disassociate the shooters from any demonstrations and other hate and very slow to admit the government cutback on investigations of what ASIO had determined was the #1 threat to Australia. In other words, the government may well have seen this coming.<\/p>\n
If they didn\u2019t, then they missed the picture of the shooters marching across Sydney Harbour Bridge. My view is (since I had friends marching) that we can\u2019t assume hate on the part of all marchers, but we need to know how much hate was on the Bridge at that time. We also can\u2019t assume that the march itself didn\u2019t (whether intentional or not) support hate towards Jewish Australians. A group of senior people at the head of that march have been very public with their negative thoughts about Jewish Australia. I follow them on X, because I feel I need to understand them, but I always have to clear my mouth from the bad taste of their thoughts.<\/p>\n
If you want to follow these people on social media, begin with the Australian Union Movement (Doug Cameron is a good path into that) \u2013 not all unionists are such bigots, but some of the leading unionist are. This is not new.<\/p>\n
The historical context is that there was a strong Jewish component in the Australian Left. This was especially true in the 1950s and maybe 60s. In the 70s, more and more Jews hid their identities or turned to being a performative \u201cGood Jew\u201d in order to stay in the Left. I\u2019m not that good at being performative, whatever branch of politics we\u2019re talking about, in case you were wondering (which you were not!) This have reached a curious point since the 70s. Now, the further left someone travels, the more likely they are to be in a nest of joyous antisemites. I wait to see what anyone says about who I am and what assumptions they hold about my existence before I know I\u2019m safe with them. This is not only unionists, but, for family reasons, the union aspect contains certain ironies. I can identify how safe I am with the far right (mostly not, but easy to spot) more easily than with the left.<\/p>\n
What I thought might be useful today is not a list of those who hate and claim not to, however, but links to places that open the subject in different ways. I don\u2019t agree with everyone and all the things said, but these citations will enable anyone who also needs to understand to explore further. To cross boundaries and begin to understand modern Australia, rather than being fixated on a narrow view,<\/p>\n
I want to begin with something that doesn\u2019t even mention Jewish Australia. Let me link to someone who says this better than I can and then I\u2019ll try to explain anyhow: https:\/\/x.com\/MatthewNouriel\/status\/2007975770342506846<\/a> First thing first (and why I talk about Jewish Australia rather than the people of Gaza) listen to those who are being hurt to determine the nature of the hurt. I cannot speak for the people of Gaza. I can speak for myself.<\/p>\n When we listen, we can help more effectively. And the best help is often in ways that support multiple voices of those under attack. I can attest that most performative people will tell me what to think rather than ask what I\u2019m dealing with. I began to post some of my experiences on my Facebook page to address that a little. For the status of this, see the note below. Next is a bit of background about Labor\u2019s relationship with Islamic preaching in Australia. At the time of the Hilaly furor (1980s, when I was working on a PhD in Sydney), I was treated quite unkindly by performative supporters (\u2018performative\u2019 is my work of the week) and those who kept me safe were Pakistani Australian, Lebanese Christian Australian, and Palestinian Australian friends. In the early 2000s there were places in Sydney I already I had to hide my Jewishness and spend as little time as possible there, but there was far less spitting hate. It was just as difficult to be a woman in those streets as a Jew. And the streets to avoid weren\u2019t many. In other words, hate is not shared equally. Rhetoric counts more than checking things through and understanding. The rhetoric is strong in this one, but at the heart of his clamour there is some really interesting (and worrying) Australian history. https:\/\/x.com\/MarkWRowley\/status\/2007965362776945037<\/a><\/p>\n So what is the Jewish community thinking right now? So many different things, but this article by Adam Slonim in The Australian<\/i>, shared by the president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia sums some of it: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lynda.benmenashe\/posts\/pfbid0S4dFspFfPFJLSinvEewo17cq1pJQNMhnQZ3qLaLci35Qj8ehwcB8skKuHWoM7Bffl?__cft__[0]=AZYKbgPaM44VBpGF3-7O3tHeBoRT__5gkXWnjvplaV9F7Hrx_z9Xqy80jfFTeg-g64wTEiH6KLvvOKD71r6YQJpQWKzlaWruEbYwGgdEpX1yK1afdv_QmsObJ0_dAlkf770&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R<\/a><\/p>\n And this is some of what it boils down to https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adam.klein.7399\/<\/a> which links to this https:\/\/www.commentary.org\/articles\/eli-lake\/asajew-brief-history\/<\/a><\/p>\n As I said earlier, I don\u2019t agree with everything. This is purely to help those who need to understand things from other (Jewish Diaspora) directions. I cannot speak for Israel, partly because I\u2019m Diaspora and partly because I don\u2019t know enough. I do however, as my historian self, see that most people shouting at Israel are doing it from emotional pedestals and without sufficient evidence. This may be pushed as propaganda, or it may come from deep cultural antisemitism\u2026 either way, I need to learn more.<\/p>\n I had intended to give you something more balanced and also some idea of the definitions of Zionism that are used to connect people and t push hate (9 definitions so far and\u2013 we can\u2019t talk on common ground without agreed definitions, which doesn\u2019t help at all. What I\u2019ve shared today is an emotional rollercoaster, so I shall stop there. If anyone wants me to talk about definitions and how they help us find what we share and where we disagree on heartland matters, and why some of the defintions contribute so directly to violent hate, say so in the comments and that will be your post next week.<\/p>\n Small update: I have been thrown off Facebook (no reason given, nor any apparent way of sorting things out, though I\u2019m still trying.). I am considering what I can do to keep in touch with everyone. Last week I gave some of the contexts for current antisemitism in Australia. This week, so many of the Left are arguing that we don\u2019t need a Royal Commission and so many others are arguing that we do need a Royal Commission, but very few of them are talking about the path Australia had taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[636,56,17],"tags":[656,112,580,970,1168],"class_list":["post-4408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-life-experiences","category-rants","tag-antisemitism","tag-australia","tag-jewish","tag-jews","tag-performative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4409,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4408\/revisions\/4409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe subject is performative politics, directly speaking about this week. When are we helping someone, and when are we failing even to listen?<\/p>\n
\nJust to make it clear that I\u2019m not talking about extremists, a kind soul put some social media screenshots of more extreme thinking. I have not looked into it (I\u2019m not that well right now and everything\u2019s a bit difficult), and I really hope it\u2019s fake. https:\/\/x.com\/l3v1at4an\/status\/2007847171723505810<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDue to my experience over time, I am always going to look for the views of informed individuals. Those who act on the preaching of extremists need to learn to live in a shared society. Those who do not, are getting blamed for the hate of others. This applies to the Jewish community too, but in a different way. All Jews who are not \u201cGood Jews\u201d are in the wrong, I\u2019m told, and be deported from Australia (for existing, I assume) but are not allowed to go to Israel because the same people want it not to exist.<\/p>\n
\nIn case you need to contact me directly and I\u2019m still (or forever) banned from FB, ping me in the comments, please, and when I work something out, I\u2019ll let you know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"