Antisemitism Report 2009 - World Jewish Congress

political discourse. A Canadian academic Michael Neumann is even harsher, accusing Jews
of ―complicity in Israeli crimes against humanity‖ no different to the complicity of Germans
in Nazi war crimes.
- Stereotypical descriptions of Jewish behaviour, and attacks on alleged Jewish wealth and
influence. Conspiracy theorists accuse Jews of controlling western governments, banks and
the media, and of responsibility for the US-led war in Iraq. For example, Labor backbencher
Julia Irwin accused Jewish lobbyists of using their financial clout to impose pro-Israel
policies on the ALP. According to Irwin, ―Political influence requires the currency of ideas,
not cash. Labor cannot be bought‖. Similarly during the Hanan Ashrawi Affair, a number of
commentators accused the Jewish community of exerting undue financial and political
influence.
- Deliberate attempts are made to diminish and trivialize the extent of Jewish suffering in the
Holocaust by comparing Jews with Nazis. For example, numerous critics have equated the
Star of David with the swastika, Prime Minister Sharon with Hitler, claimed that the Israeli
army is the equivalent of the Nazi SS, and argued that the assault on the Jenin refugee camp
was reminiscent of the Nazi assault on the Warsaw Ghetto. Some Left commentators go
even further and allege that Zionist Jews collaborated with the Nazis to perpetrate the
Holocaust in an attempt to shift the blame or responsibility for the Holocaust from the Nazi
perpetrators to the Jewish victims, or in some cases endorse overt Holocaust denial. ―
Within what is broadly defined as the left, a number of small political groups which describe
themselves as communist, socialist or anarchist have been part of the Australian political
landscape for many years. Although the groups often appear indistinguishable to outsiders,
their differences and rivalries are often circulated with passion. Amongst a number of the
groups, evidence of ideological purity is very important, with accusations of pragmatism
levelled at opponents as a means of denigrating their activities.
14 . John Brumby: Jewish lobby puppet
Greg Barns writes:
Would Victorian Premier John Brumby refuse to meet a senior Chinese government official if the Tibet lobby
asked him not to? Of course not. So how come when members of the Jewish lobby once again play bully boy and
demand that Mr Brumby not meet with the only Iranian leader to defend Jews, Sayed Khatami, does Mr Brumby
meekly accede to their request?
Mr Brumby looks a fool -- a puppet of a powerful lobby group and someone not capable of standing up to their
incessant demands that only those people they approve of be allowed to meet with political leaders.
Mind you, if Mr Brumby thinks he’s making some sort of international statement by his refusal to meet former
President Khatami he’s deluded. "John who?" and "where’s Victoria?" would be the response in Tehran and
Washington, one imagines.
Mr Brumby is made to look even more foolish when one considers that Khatami will be the guest speaker at a
lunch next Friday organized by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, an old venerable and
mainstream organisation not given to hosting people whose views are beyond the bounds of civilised dialogue.
Khatami will also be going to Canberra for a day to meet with political figures, although one can imagine that
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and his Shadow Julie Bishop will be subjected to relentless arm twisting by the
Jewish lobby not to meet with Khatami.
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