Overview
In Australia in 2008, to accuse any person or organisation of antisemitism is to allege that their behaviour is antisocial and unacceptable. No one with aspirations to public credibility admits to holding antisemitic views or to associating with openly antisemitic organisations. While individuals and organisations associated with the political left who promote extreme anti-Israeli racism, which sometimes included offensive and gratuitous anti-Jewish imagery, are keen to assert that they are not antisemitic, even some far-right and neo-Nazi groups publicly profess to be “anti-Zionist” rather than anti-Jewish, although the material they distribute can give the lie to any such distinction.
In the Australian media, during the year in review, commentators and contributors of letters (and in other forms of public commentary) occasionally, but rarely, crossed the line between political commentary and anti-Jewish slander in discussions of the alleged strength of “Jewish lobbies” in both the USA and Australia, as well as in some discussions of Israel. Notably, this took place less often in the period in review than in any of the previous eight reporting periods. Anti-Jewish rhetoric was also invoked in other discussions such as Australia’s anti-terrorism laws and on Australian Jewish support for victims of racism. Particular concern, in the period in review, has been expressed at the negative impact of material from a variety of overseas sources which has as its thesis an eternal enmity of Muslims towards Jews.
The period in review included the 2007 Federal Election, which passed without any notable change in the prevalence of antisemitic acts. Despite efforts by anti-Jewish groups and individuals, matters of specific concern to Australian Jewry, such as community security and funding support for Jewish education, were discussed publicly in a manner which was generally free of prejudice. Similarly, public discussion on the extradition request by Hungary to Australia for alleged Nazi War Criminal Charles Zentai, the Federal Court contempt hearing process under the Racial Hatred Act concerning Fredrick Toben and the Australian Parliament’s motion congratulating Israel on its 60th anniversary, was essentially reasoned and reasonable, despite efforts by some organised political and other anti-Israel groups, as well as a small number of media commentators.
There was a concern that the staging of a re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross, during the 2008 Papal visit to Sydney, would reinforce or encourage anti-Jewish stereotypes and prejudice, but there were efforts made by the Catholic Church and the Jewish community to minimise this potential harm, apparently successfully.
Between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008, the database assembled and maintained by the author of this report since 1989 included 652 reports of anti-Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation, the highest tally ever recorded and close to twice the average of the previous 18 years. Anti-Jewish propaganda in fringe publications and from extremist organisations remained an ongoing concern. Conspiracy theories abounded on the internet and these included a disturbing proportion which were overtly or implicitly antisemitic.
