Antisemitism Report 2009 - World Jewish Congress

* In a letter commenting on terrorism in Indonesia by a self-described Islamic group, Tony
Kelly claimed that ―Islamic destruction‖ had its roots in their religious inheritance from
Judaism. (The Australian 21/7/09).
* After an article was posted on the ABC Unleashed website critical of antisemitism, a
number of antisemitic comments were posted and published, including ―I‘ve often been
struck by the parallels between Nazi Germany and the state of Israel – a hyper-aggressive,
racist state driven by a quest for Lebensraum. I would expect elements of the Israeli army to
treat Palestinians as less than human and harvest their organs in the same way the Nazis
conducted medical experiments on the Jews.‖ (29/8/09), ―It is tragic that any Palestinian
leader would be a supporter of Hitler but that in no way excuses the Israeli government and
military from behaving like the Nazis.‖ (30/8/09), ―For crying out loud, more bleating about
the sacred copyrighted holocaust. I was raised & educated with a genuine feeling of concern
& sorrow for the events of the 1930‘s and 40‘s. However, this railing about ‗bias‘ &
‗propaganda‘ in the face of Israel‘s extremism dims my concern for the horrors of Jewish
history. Events today overshadow it. Is that anti-Semetic? I certainly hope not. I see it
more as disappointment. With a history of suffering such as they have endured, why would
Jews in Israel wish the same on anyone else?‖ (29/8/09) and ―And why is anyone who has
anything against Israel and its foreign policy today labelled as an anti-semitic. I am puzzled
where is this monolitic superiority comes from. Racism originates in the feeling of
superiority anyone who is giving lables of antysemitic nature should think about this. Being
positioned against the state of Israel and its policies does NOT imply anti-semitism (being
against the whole rase of semitic people which includes three religions – Juadism,
Christianity and Islam). Semits does not equals Jews. The primary notion of Jewish
superiority lays in this fact.‖ (28/8/09).
* After radio host Kyle Sandilands made fun of victims of concentration camps and Jewish
Australians (and others) expressed disgust, the on-line comments section of a major news
site published hundreds of comments condemning Sandilands but also some supporting him,
such as ―Why do these Jews complain about every thing? The comment was disgusting but
PLEAZE!! Every little chance to be in the news and they gas bag away…yes little Fritz and
Josef was evil and Kyle‘s a rancid motormouth bla bla bla . BUT…This was not about Jews!
Go make some money! Yeeesh!...LOL‖, ―In many European countries you can deny that
God exists. But you deny holocaust and you go to prison. Examples are Austria,
Switzerland, Germany etc. Jews run this world. I can assure you that just because some
jews raised concerns, Kyle will be banned. Where‘s the freedom of speech, expression
etc?‖, and ―Leave Kyle alone. He‘s a comedian. THIS IS AUSTRALIA NOT A JEWISH
COUNTRY OR AMERICA‖. (9/9/09).
The comment which prompted the last listed incident was one of a number in which
attempts at humour, or throwaway comments, gave rise to upset or offence. Other incidents
of this type included a comedy skit on the Rove variety television programme, where a
comedian played a definitely Jewish character as a stereotype of a dishonest person, an ABC
radio sports journalist describing someone as ―having a girth bigger than Hitler‘s gas bill‖.
In these, and a number of similar instances, there was nothing to suggest any over-riding
antisemitic agenda or prejudice.
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