"These Rallies & Their Online Conduits Have Become Platforms For Expressing & Promoting Antisemitism"

Writes Julie Nathan, research officer of the Executive Council of Australia Jewry, following the third  Sydney rally against Israel in as many weeks:

'....The protesters no longer bother to hide the fact that they are calling for Israel’s destruction.

Some of the antisemitic slogans from previous weeks were gone, but these were replaced with others. A particularly nasty placard had the Star of David equaling a swastika, with the words “Stop the Holocaust in Palestine”. Another placard also had the Star of David equaling the swastika and the words “Shame shame shame Israel, Zionism = Nazism, Nazism = Zionism”.

Most disturbing were the placards that claimed that Israel deliberately kills children. In large red writing were painted the words “Babies Blood on your hands Israel” and “Israel murders babies”, with red spatters over each placard....

After the march from Town Hall to Hyde Park, street theatre was utilized to reiterate the erroneous claim that Israel targets and murders children.  Around the fountain, young people made-up with fake blood and ash played dead, next to various signs insinuating that Israel had killed them. On a ‘stage’ area, several groups of children were playing, with girls dancing and boys playing soccer, then the sound of bombs dropping, and the children all collapsing dead by the hand of Israel. Various signs were held up, some with the words “Stop the Genocide” and “Never Again”, both with implied references to Jews.

Ophelia Haragli, the MC, stated before the march that “We are not against Jews or Judaism, we are only against the illegal Jewish state.” This statement is as bizarre and disingenuous as saying “We are not against Italians and Italian laws, culture and traditions, we are only against the illegal Italian state.” Despite their attempted claim to be not against Jews, the fact that anti-Jewish themes, classical and modern, were expressed in abundance shows that the protesters’ protestations that they are not antisemitic to be nothing but empty rhetoric....

Antisemitism was present not only at the Sydney rally, but also on the Sydney protest event Facebook page, set up Palestine Action Group (PAG), the organizers of the rally. On this page antisemitic comments, images and links were posted. This has been the standard scene on PAG’s Facebook event pages for each of the three rallies....

 For an organization and campaign that claims to have nothing against Jews (apart from a Jewish state), a disinterested observer could easily conclude that Jews are seen as fair game, and that there is free and frequent denigration and demonisation of Jews and denial of rights to Jews. These rallies and their online conduits have become platforms for expressing and promoting antisemitism.'

 See all of Julie Nathan's article, with images that back up her assertions, here

Meanwhile, with his mind on the situation in Europe, Benjamin Weinthal shows in a new article "Why-Zionism is Modern Anti-Semitism":

'Israel’s defensive Operation Protective Edge against Hamas rocket fire revealed that it took a military conflict to show that anti-Zionism cannot be decoupled from anti-Semitism.

As veteran observers of contemporary anti-Semitism are aware, the rejection of Jewish state sovereignty in Israel (i.e., anti-Zionism) has always been an inherent part of Jew-hatred....

The calls for the dismantling of Israel and shouts to kill Jews on the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, and Frankfurt, to name some of the major European cities where they’ve occurred, are indicative of a lethal anti-Semitic mass movement. What unifies many European elites, large numbers of Muslims, motley crews of leftists and neo-Nazis is a loathing of the Jewishness of Israel....

Continental Europe has tolerated enormous amounts of anti-Semitism over the last few decades. Critics correctly point out that there is a market demand for demonstrations of it in Europe. The pressing question remains: Why is there such tolerance for and such a great demand for hatred of Israel? The Israeli psychoanalyst Zvi Rex famously said, with biting sarcasm and irony,” The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz.” The line can now be updated to: “Europe will never forgive the Israelis for the Holocaust.”....'

Read Benjamin Weinthal's entire article here

Below: by anti-Israel stalwart Alex Seymour (aka Seymour Alexander), a video of the 29 July demonstration outside Downing Street against Israel's right to defend itself against a genocidal foe: