13-10-2008 / Australia
< BACK
Australia - Jewish group warns about anti-Israel blogs
Members of a Jewish group have raised concerns about blogs written by Australian academics, including one that made a reference linking the "Israeli propaganda machine" to the "Nazi apparatus under Goebbels".
While the blogs are set up outside universities, "it is an indication that the classroom offering may be of a similar bias," Dr Colin Rubenstein, of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, told a Senate inquiry.
Dr Tzvi Fleischer, editor-in-chief of the Australia/Israel Review, published by the council, said one blog, by Sydney academic Evan Jones, which in July 2005 included the Israel-Nazi Germany reference, "comes close to violating Australian law".
The two men also criticised a website run by a group of academics from Macquarie University that claimed Israel was responsible for the rise of al-Qaeda against the West in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Dr Rubenstein said the council was concerned that "what could be called biased information is creeping into many courses".
Dr Fleischer said Jewish students had complained about biased teaching in Middle East studies and politics courses, but admitted they represented a minority of students.
Dr Jones, who is an honorary associate professor in the department of political economy at Sydney University, said yesterday he stood by his blog reference to Goebbels.
Dr Jones said he wrote the blog as a private individual who holds strong views on Israel, which he considers to be an illegal state. "As a matter of principle, nowhere do I mention that I was employed by Sydney University," he said. "It (the blog) was entirely a separate part of my life.
"As all my teaching has to do with political economy, the word Israel or Palestine wouldn't have appeared once in any of my classroom appearances."
Dr Jones said a number of teaching positions at Monash University and a position at Sydney University had been funded by pro-Israel groups in Australia: "If there is any a concern about academic freedom regarding teaching on the Israel-Palestine dispute in Australia, I think the problem exists on the other side."
Professor Sinclair Davidson, dean of research and innovation at RMIT University's business department, told the inquiry universities already had codes of practice that asserted that political bias was unacceptable.
Source: www.theage.com.au
< BACK
