The following article, by Andrew West and Jonathan Pearlman, appears in today’s Sydney Morning Herald: More than 100 Australian Jews, including two award-winning novelists and a former federal cabinet minister, have signed a statement condemning Israel’s siege of Gaza, heightening tensions within the local Jewish community over the violence. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, meanwhile…
Showing all posts tagged Independent Australian Jewish Voices
Gaza invasion over the top: Jewish group
The following article, by Barney Zwartz, appears in today’s Melbourne Age: More than 100 Australian Jews, including some prominent members of the Jewish community, have condemned Israel’s incursion into Gaza as “inhuman, superfluous and abominable”. They have signed a statement disowning the military assault as grossly disproportionate and claiming it was Israel that violated the…
Gaza media statement
The following email was just sent to the over 500-strong Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV) mailing list: Dear friends, We have drafted the following letter and are planning to post it on our IAJV website and also send it to the major newspapers including the Australian Jewish News. We invite your signature. If you wish…
Gaza distorted by the media lens
The following article, co-written with Peter Slezak, was published today on Online Opinion: Palestinians are paying the price for what we in the West are doing, or rather, failing to do. Israel and its “supporters” rely on rewriting history even as it happens, with the complicity of our media and politicians. The average television viewer…
Israel no victim
The following article, co-written with Peter Slezak, was published today on ABC Unleashed: Vic Alhadeff is a senior Zionist organisation official. His Unleashed article provides an opportunity for analysis that is instructive about our media and intellectual culture. The very persuasiveness of Alhadeff’s case for Israel is the reason it deserves attention. It misrepresents the…
How should we feel about Obama?
The recently released Verso book, A Time to Speak Out, in which I contribute a chapter about progressive Jewish thought, has just launched a blog. My first post is the following: As one of the contributors to this important new book, currently in Sydney, Australia, the issue of Jewish identity in the 21st century is…
Shifting sands of Israel/Palestine
My following talk was presented today to a full room at Harvard University: Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government/Centre for Middle Eastern Studies ME Forum, 24 November 2008 The Shifting Sands of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: An Australian Perspective Antony Loewenstein Australian Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking in March this year at a United Israel…
We stand up for all human rights, not just Jews
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) recently released a collection of essays by Jewish dissenters. My chapter, as the co-founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV), is about the situation in Australia and the growth of public anger towards Israel’s war crimes in the occupied territories. The book, A Time to Speak Out, launched in London and…
The Zionist desire to shut mouths
How does the mainstream Australian Jewish community view the issue of academic freedom? Simply put, according to a new blogger on the Independent Australian Jewish Voices website, these groups want to crush any opinions or individuals who dare challenge Israel and its apartheid policies. The Jewish state is a religion for these people, beyond public…
Widening the debate down under
As a co-founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices, the following email was just sent out to our list: Dear friends, Since we were last in touch, we’ve been making efforts with other groups to organise visiting speakers along the lines we had indicated. We would like to inform you of our plans. Jeff Halper, a…