My following review appears in yesterday’s Weekend Australian newspaper: Understanding the insular and tribal Melbourne Jewish community has fascinated sociologists for decades. With one of the largest concentrations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel, proudly Zionist and with strong Jewish day schools, it’s a world that created Ben Zygier, the Australian Mossad agent who committed…
Showing all posts tagged Judaism
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"After Zionism" review surfaces
Back in 2012 I co-edited a book, After Zionism, with Ahmed Moor (it was released in an updated edition in 2013). Now the magazine at the University of Technology Sydney has published a review (yes, just a little late and on page 17): Israel is a stark anomaly. There are few… states in the world that…
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Personally supporting BDS against Israel
Last night in Sydney there was a successful event to highlight the growing global movement of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel and the legal case against proponent and Sydney University academic Dr Jake Lynch. Around 140 people came to hear various speakers detailing the many reasons BDS is one just way to apply…
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On racism, how to tackle it and why the state often worsens it
My weekly Guardian column: As an atheist Jew, I find it distinctly uncomfortable to defend the free speech rights of Holocaust deniers. I utterly oppose the inaccuracy, hatred and intolerance that goes with refuting the reality of Nazi crimes against Jews, gay people, Gypsies and many others. But a truly free society is one that…
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The ethics of the US alliance
The job of US State Department favourites (journalists, commentators and politicians who routinely rehash US government talking points over war, peace and the Middle East) must be exhausting. Defending the indefensible while still being on the information drip-feed. Welcome to the US embassy, the free champagne, caviar and PR tips are in the boardroom. I…
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Western hypocrisy over Russia
Brilliantly strong Gideon Levy in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: Saddam Hussein has already been executed, and so has Osama bin Laden. But all is not lost for the enlightened West. There is a new devil, and his name is Vladimir Putin. He hates gay people, so the leaders of the enlightenment did not go to…
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Why progressives must fight and win the culture wars
My weekly Guardian column is published today: Australia’s reactionary culture warriors are amateurs compared to their British and American counterparts. Sack the ABC Chairman Jim Spigelman,… screams… News Limited columnist Piers Akerman. Privatise the public broadcaster,… shouts… the Institute of Public Affairs (a think-tank that refuses to disclose its funders, though the ABC still allows its spokespeople to appear).…
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Latest news on My Israel Question Arabic
In 2013 my first book My Israel Question was translated and published in Arabic by the Lebanese-based publisher All Prints. The name was changed to Cases Against Israel. Here are some of the positive reviews (just Google Translate here, here and the most recent from late 2013 is… here.) You can buy it here… so please tell…
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On anti-Semitism, BDS, Palestine and justice
My essay in New Matilda is here: As the BDS campaign starts to gain traction, accusations of anti-semitism should be treated gravely – whether from pro-Palestine advocates or Israel’s defenders, writes Antony Loewenstein The charges of racism were serious. University orientation weeks, reported Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper,… The Australian,… in early March, “have been marred by a series…
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A truly free society would support and not silence BDS
Me at ABC’s The Drum today: The BDS movement is a logical and non-violent response to human rights abuses in Palestine, so why is it being threatened in a country like America that prides itself on free speech, asks Antony Loewenstein. It seems barely a week passes without a student union or corporation somewhere in…