An Australian Medico's "Cruel Misrepresentation" of the Shoah

Few remarks regarding the Holocaust can be as frightfully disgusting as those made by a senior Australian doctor, Paul Bauert, comparing the plight of (immigration queue-jumping) "asylum seekers" at present detained offshore, and Jews incarcerated in the Auschwitz death camp.

As reported in The Australian newspaper,

'The paediatric representative from Australia’s peak medical body has suggested asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru are in a worse situation than Jews in Auschwitz because people who knew they were going to be gassed by the Nazis “found some sense of relief in knowing what was happening”.

Paul Bauert of the Australian Medical Association [pictured]... said the mental health of detainees in Manus and Nauru had deteriorated because there was no certainty about their future.

 “The main reason for the impairment of mental health — as Viktor Frankl the psychiatrist from Auschwitz described very well in his book Man’s Search for Meaning — the main problem that these people have is a lack of meaning, a lack of any end to what is going on, a lack of certainty,” Dr Bauert told Sky News.

 “And this more than anything causes severe mental health damage. Even those who finally knew they were about to be condemned to the gas chamber at least found some sense of relief in knowing what was happening.” ....'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjA7bxH4uRE

He's been shamed into tweeting an apology of sorts for his foul comparison: 

“My comments this morning were intended to reflect the writings of an eminent Jewish psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz. The words I used did not convey the complexity of what he wrote. My deep apologies for causing offence. Auschwitz was a humanitarian disgrace."

In a Sky News interview with Peta Credlin, Peter Wertheim, joint CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), has robustly condemned Bauert's odious remarks, terming them "an offensive dumbing down of history," "extremely cruel to the few Holocaust survivors we have left", and "a cruel misrepresentation of what these people actually went through".

And the ECAJ has not surprisngly and quite justifiably made a formal protest to the Australian Medical Association, terming Bauert's apology on Twitter "inadequate".

As Dr David Adler, president of the non-leftist Australian Jewish Association (AJA), has written:
 :

"I worked for the AMA as Deputy Medical Secretary when it was a quality professional organisation in the past. That’s where I learnt something about policy and advocacy. I put my heart and soul into it and have a sense of gratitude for the experience and contacts gained during my time there. So it is distressing to see the decline of this once prestigious and respected body."

Declares the AJA:

"Trying to conflate an analogy with the Holocaust to support the "Medivac" Bill of Dr Kerryn Phelps is a shameful disgrace.

The Holocaust was a systematic attempt on an industrial scale to exterminate an entire people. Whatever your view of off-shore detention, it is nothing of the sort and to link the two is as ridiculous as it is offensive.

Dr Paul Bauert for the Australian Medical Association (AMA) even suggests that Holocaust victims found some sense of relief in knowing what was happening as they were taken to gas chambers. He is grossly in error - many Holocaust victims were deliberately misled with the gas chambers disguised as shower blocks.. Even the Zyclon B gas was dispersed through shower heads.

AJA President Dr David Adler is formerly AMA Deputy Medical Secretary. He adds "It saddens me to see a once presitigous and highly professional body fracture into an ill informed political activist group. No wonder AMA membership has declined dramatically and only a minority of doctors belong".

We note that Australian security experts have warned that the Medivac Bill would result in people who present risks to others entering Australia.

Would the AMA be comfortable with the restoration of people smuggling and its associated death toll at sea? What of potential victims of those who are a security risk gaining entry? How does it reconcile this with the mission to preserve life?

The AMA stands condemned for using the Holocaust as leverage for a political agenda and meddling in matters of border security."

Sizer, Najar, & Two Anglican Prelates Called George

On Stephen Sizer's Facebook page, beneath a post of his linking to this Guardian report, eyebrow-raising posts by a Michigan-based "friend" of his, Linda Najar:

And on Najar's own Facebook page, such current uglies as these:

Is the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Trust, really happy to have Facebook friends such as she?  If he is not, he should demonstrate his disapproval by de-friending such people forthwith. 

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey, now a life peer, is seen below asserting, in  an interview on i24NEWS with video anti-antisemitism campaigner and Middle East analyst Jonathan Sacerdoti, a few home truths on Holocaust Memorial Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E8Xx58zq68

Inter alia, to quote the uploader:

'.... Lord Carey of Clifton told i24NEWS on Sunday that 'Christians are to blame as well' for high-levels of anti-Semitism in the UK, which he suggested was linked to the one-sided narratives many received on pilgrimages to Israel and the West Bank. 'What I think we need to do is to better educate Christians who go on these pilgrimages to see this as not the total story,' Lord Carey said, urging the thousands attending such religious trips to prominent and widely-contested holy sites in the region to seek the entire picture with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of the religious sites such as Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron are located in the West Bank, often flashpoint and conflict-centric areas. 'What they don’t realize is what is happening to the Jewish communities in their own land who are sidelined and in a way persecuted by Palestinians. You’ve got to get a much more balanced view of what’s going on,' he continued. 'I think of Israel as a wonderful, sophisticated, democratic society surrounded by undemocratic nations. I mean we must support one another,' he said, emphasizing shared the Judeo-Christian heritage. 'Christians owe so much to the Jewish scriptures and Jewish history, so we stand as one,' the former top church leader added. Lord Carey of Clifton has often spoken out publicly against anti-Semitism in the church and across the UK. 'It’s not going to cost my life, it’s not going to cost my future, and this is what Jews fear, you know, the persecution, indirect persecution,' he asserted, referring to the detrimental impact anti-Semitism can often have on daily life. 'Think of Jewish children walking to school with armed guards, guards outside synagogues — in an advanced civilization such as ours, this is quite deplorable,' he told i24NEWS'

On the other side of the world, meanwhile, here's George Browning, former Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, who's president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), warming the hearts of supersecessionists everywhere, and (in a passage not quoted by me in the excerpt below) giving the nod to Stephen Sizer, with no mention of that gentleman's dodgy postings and dodgy associations over the years:

'Christian Zionism does not support Israel for Israel’s sake, but because ‘believers’ have been led to understand the Bible teaches Israeli sovereignty from the Nile to the Euphrates will herald the end of the world and trigger the ‘rapture’, when Jesus will come again and establish his Kingdom – from Jerusalem. So important is the acquisition of land to this cult like ideology that Zionists resist ‘land for peace’ or the unfolding of a peace process that would ultimately see the establishment of a Palestinian state.

It should not simply be left to secularists to describe this for what it is – absurd, dangerous, nonsense .... Tiptoeing around is to condone cruel apartheid for Palestinians who, through accident of birth and heredity, inconveniently stand in the way of these delusional ambitions, cloaked as they may be in saccharine piety. Tiptoeing around is not simply to support Israel in its overtly apartheid system of colonisation, it is also to turn a blind eye to the reality that Saudi Arabia has been the cradle from which terrorism has sprung, while the demonization of Iran leaves it dangerously outside the checks and balances that come with being part of an international community of trade and diplomacy.

Just as Christian Zionism’s concern for Israel resides in a very different priority; similarly, US Middle Eastern politics is driven not by events in the Middle East, but by US domestic politics and the base from which Donald Trump relies on for support – the Evangelical Christian right. We are confronted with utter hypocrisy and disdain for truth on every corner. It is very unlikely that Donald Trump believes the nonsense of the Christian Zionist position, but being their champion keeps him in the White House. (By contrast the very honourable John McCain refused to accept endorsement from this quarter). It is almost incomprehensible that Christians of any description could condone Trump’s deceitfulness, self-aggrandisement, and appalling behaviour, particularly to women, and yet none of this seems to matter to the Christian right, as long as he supports their agenda.

[Emphasis asdded; the irony of citing Trump's alleged misogyny, while turning a blind eye to the appalling reality of Islamic subjugation of women, not least in Iran, will surely not be lost on readers!]

.... So, what of Australia? How many Christians are motivated by a Zionist ideology is very hard to know. What motivates [Liberal federal politician] Eric Abetz to demonise Palestinians and unconditionally laud the state of Israel? Only he could answer. His public statements following the Labor Party motion to make the recognition of Palestine a priority indicate either he has callous disregard for Palestinian suffering at the hands of the occupation and settlement program, or that he chooses to block this reality from his mind. He continues to insist that Palestine refuses to accept the right of Israel to exist even though since the Oslo accord more than 20 years ago Palestinians have accepted a territorial divide based on 1967 borders. Further he refuses to acknowledge that the boot is on the other foot, most ministers in the Netanyahu government have said they will never allow a Palestinian state.

South African apartheid enjoyed the imprimatur of conservative Christians based on spurious interpretation and application of biblical text. To be doing the same in the land of Jesus who revealed that in God there are no boundaries, no divisions; common or shared humanity is more important than tribal, ethnic or religious identity; is to deny the very foundations of Christianity itself.'

What a ripper of an article, by contrast, and on the ABC site no less, by co-CEO of the Executive Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim, who having ably described Australia's support for Jewish statehood at the UN General Assembly in 1949, remarks:

 'If [the Australian] Labor [Party, which at its conference last month voted to recognise a Palestinian state on assuming office] today were to apply the same criteria to recognition of a Palestinian state that it applied to recognition of Israel, "Palestine" would fail on all of them. In particular, due to the schism within the Palestinian national movement, there is no Palestinian entity that exercises "control of all forms of administration within specified areas" that comprise the territory claimed by the Palestinians ― namely, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The internal divide between the secular nationalist movement among Palestinians, represented by the PLO and Palestinian Authority (PA) which controls parts of the West Bank, and the theocratic movement, represented by Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, has resulted in internecine violence on many occasions. They are at odds over the most basic questions, not only concerning peace with Israel and other policy issues, but also on the essential nature of a future Palestinian State, and the basic rules by which it will be governed.

Hamas refuses to relinquish its arms to the PA and to place its operatives under the PA's command. The PA is too weak to force Hamas to do so. The Palestinians have never had their "Altalena" moment.

So for reasons which are entirely internal to Palestinian society, there is no reasonable prospect for the foreseeable future of any government being formed which would exercise effective control over both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and possess the capacity to give effect to any agreements signed by "Palestine" ― including any peace treaty that might be negotiated with Israel.

Recognising a Palestinian state in these circumstances would therefore not help to end the conflict with Israel, but would almost certainly inaugurate a new and bloodier phase of that conflict, at the likely cost of many more lives than the conflict has claimed thus far.'

Stephen Sizer: Statement by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry

This statement has been issued today by Mr Peter Wertheim, CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, regarding the ABC's interview with Stephen Sizer, aired on Friday, and mentioned in my Sunday post:

For centuries, Easter Holy Week was an occasion for incendiary sermons and outbreaks of mob violence against Jewish communities throughout Europe.   In recent years we have seen a more subtle version of that tradition take shape. Commentaries about Israel, especially in the lead-up to Easter, often go beyond mere criticisms that are similar to those levelled against any other country or government, and are couched in terms that evoke ancient calumnies against Jews as a group.  Some of Steven Sizer’s public statements have been in this category.

Although David Rutledge’s interview of Sizer on the ABC RN Breakfast program on Good Friday explored some of these statements, it was a soft interview that allowed Sizer’s self-serving answers to pass unchallenged.

Rutledge allowed Sizer to get away with claiming that none of the speakers at one of the conferences he addressed in Tehran in 2014 were criticised as antisemitic. In fact, as was reported at the time, the Iranian-run Press TV described the conference as intending to “unveil the secrets behind the dominance of the Zionist lobby over the US and EU politics”, with one session devoted to examining “Mossad’s role in the 9/11 Coup d’Etat”, and another discussing “9/11 and the Holocaust as pro-Zionist ‘Public myths’ ”.

Rutledge gave only partial information about, and under-played the full extent of, Sizer’s own statements legitimising outlandish conspiracy theories blaming Israel for the September 11 terror attacks in the US.  There was no mention of the fact that Sizer’s own Church in the UK was so embarrassed by his public statements that it extracted an undertaking from Sizer to stop commenting on the subject while he remained a vicar, an undertaking which Sizer subsequently broke.

Nor was there any mention of the fact that in November 2016, Inter-Varsity Press (IVP), one of Britain’s largest Christian publishers, withdrew Sizer’s books from sale and ceased to list them on its website.

Rutledge took it upon himself to tell Sizer “I accept you are not an antisemite”, instead of adhering to proper interviewing standards and allowing the audience to make up its own mind.   Under the working definition of antisemitism adopted by the 31 democratic countries of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, including the UK, the US and EU, certain kinds of criticisms of Israel are internationally recognised as antisemitic.  It is strongly arguable that some of Sizer’s statements about Israel fall within that definition, but Rutledge did not put this question to Sizer.

Finally, Rutledge should have taken to task Sizer’s egregious comments about Israel ceasing to be a democracy if it retains the settlements in the West Bank.  At official permanent-status negotiations between Israel and Palestinian leaders at Camp David in 2000, in Taba in 2001, in Jerusalem in 2008 and in Washington DC in 2010, both parties accepted the principle of “land swaps”.  This would involve incorporating into Israel’s territory a small part of the West Bank where the major settlement blocs are located in exchange for Israel ceding to the Palestinians an equivalent area of land from within Israel’s pre-1967 territory.

Overall, Rutledge’s interview was far beneath the standards of probing, well-researched, quality journalism that regular listeners expect from an ABC RN current affairs program.  For this he should apologise not only to the Jewish community but to the ABC’s entire audience.

Instead of pre-judging Christian Zionism by only featuring one of its critics, the ABC should for once set aside its customary hostility towards Israel and its Jewish and Christian supporters, and interview one of Christian Zionism’s more able exponents, such as Dr. Jürgen Bühler, the President of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

Antony Loewenstein Interview Regarding Ben Zygier: The ECAJ Alleges "Grave Breaches Of The ABC's Code of Practice"

Regrettably, as outlined on the ABC's "The Drum" here, and described in graphic detail elsewhere, Australian prime minister Julia Gillard is often subjected to demeaning sexist abuse, one of the chief culprits being an odious political cartoonist whose portrayals are grotesquely obscene and misogynistic.

The following depiction of Ms Gillard is not offensive in the same sense, but it is repellent and obscene for a different reason, one that hardly needs to be spelled out.

The provenance of that image is not clear, but it surfaced in 2010 and was posted approvingly by Sydney-based anti-Israel campaigner Antony Loewenstein on his blog, prompting the disgust of even some of his usual supporters, so that, chastened, he eventually apologized and removed it. (See more on this incident below.)

Loewenstein, a freelance journalist from Melbourne, achieved publicity in his own country when – to the chagrin and amazement of mainstream Jewish communal opinion –  a respected academic publisher, Melbourne University Press (headed by a Jewish critic of Israel) published his non-academic polemic, My Israel Question.  He has gone on to be a "star" of the anti-Israel movement worldwide.

About a fortnight ago, Elizabeth Jackson of the ABC (Australia's answer to the BBC, and just as leftist in its mindset) interviewed this enfant terrible regarding the "Prisoner X" or Ben Zygier case.

Ms Jackson introduced the segment thus:

'The revelation this week by the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program that Melbourne man Ben Zygier was Israel’s “prisoner X” have thrown light on some of the most secretive workings of the Jewish state.

There are many perplexing elements to this story; one of them is the deafening silence.

Silence and gag orders from Israel, silence from the Australian Jewish community, and perhaps most perplexing of all, silence from Ben Zygier’s family.

Co-founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices, Antony Loewenstein, says he believes the Jewish community in Australia is embarrassed.

The journalist says the case involving Ben Zygier should be a wake-up call to the community in Melbourne and Sydney to re-examine the way young Jewish youths are educated at religious schools in Australia.

He says Australian Jews need to re-think the wisdom of a culture which encourages young men and women to join the Israeli military."

Both interviewer and interviewee made assertions that have been challenged by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (through its executive director, Peter Wertheim) in a formal complaint to the ABC, alleging grave breaches of the ABC’s Code of Practice:

'.... The themes of the interview are encapsulated in a series of assertions in the introduction and in the interview itself. The principle assertions are itemized below. Our comments in response to these assertions appear in square brackets after each item.

 1. “The most secretive workings of the Jewish state”. [Every State, including Israel, has “most secretive workings”. But to juxtapose the words “most secretive workings” with the word “Jewish”, instead of referring to “Israel” by name, appeals subliminally to notorious anti-Jewish stereotypes about the supposed power of Jews as a collective, and about Jews supposedly being engaged in a world conspiracy. Later in the interview other stereotypes are introduced impliedly accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations. These stereotypes are internationally recognized as among the hallmarks of anti-Jewish racism and prejudice – see Working Definition of Antisemitism as adopted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

(http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2011/working-definitionantisemitism) and the UK All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Antisemitism (http://www.antisemitism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/AllParty-Parliamentary-Inquiry-into-Antisemitism-REPORT.pdf) among others].

2. There are many perplexing elements to this story; one of them is the deafening silence.

Silence and gag orders from Israel, silence from the Australian Jewish community, and perhaps most perplexing of all, silence from Ben Zygier’s family. [The claim of “silence from the Australian Jewish community” was a blatant falsehood.

In point of fact, the previous day presenter Fran Kelly had conducted a detailed interview of the President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Philip Chester, on ABC Radio National about the entire subject.... Ms Jackson should have challenged Mr Loewenstein, with the fact of that interview, which also aired on the ABC. Further, silence from Ben Zygier’s relatives is a dignified and understandable response from a grieving family. To describe their silence as “perhaps most perplexing of all”, implies that the family’s response is in some sense aberrant and unnatural. In our view this was an unwarranted and disgraceful attempt to reflect adversely on a family in mourning.

3. Co-founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices, Antony Loewenstein, says he believes the Jewish community in Australia is embarrassed. [The reference to Independent Australian Jewish Voices implies that Loewenstein has some kind of constituency within an identifiable section of the Australian Jewish community. On its website, Independent Australian Jewish Voices admits that it is not an organization with membership, decision-making procedures and a political platform, and that the small number of people who signed their original statement in March 2007, “probably won’t agree on anything else besides that statement they signed”. It is therefore misleading to suggest that Lowenstein has any constituency at all. Nor does he have any academic or scholarly credentials whatsoever, or any particular real-life experience that might explain why the ABC seeks him out so frequently as a commentator about Israel. Indeed, Antony Loewenstein published a grossly antisemitic ‘poster’ on his website on 11 and 12 July 2010.... [This is the poster reproduced above - D.A.]

The ECAJ sent an informal complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission at 1:00pm on July 12.... Later that day, Loewenstein removed the ‘poster’ from his website and published a retraction ....

4. The journalist says the case involving Ben Zygier should be a wake-up call to the community in Melbourne and Sydney to re-examine the way young Jewish youths (sic) are educated at religious schools in Australia.

[Without evidence or substantiation of any kind, or indeed any attempt to examine what “young Jewish youths” are in fact taught at Jewish schools in Australia, the assertion is made that there is some connection between the Ben Zygier case and what they are taught. Not only is this inaccurate, it feeds into the propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes as referred to in our response to 1 above. I understand that Loewenstein never attended a Jewish school, “religious” or otherwise, and has no direct knowledge, let alone expertise, concerning their curricula or teachings.] [In fact, Mr Loewenstein did attend a Jewish Sunday School, that of Temple Beth Israel, Melbourne's largest Progressive congregation - D.A.] ....

5. He says Australian Jews need to re-think the wisdom of a culture (sic) which encourages young men and women to join the Israeli military.

[Again, without evidence or substantiation of any kind, or indeed any attempt to examine the “culture” of the Australian Jewish community, the assertion is made that that culture encourages young men and women to join the Israeli military. Not only is this inaccurate, it feeds into the propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes as referred to in our response to 1 above].

Then, in the body of the interview, Loewenstein makes the following assertions without contradiction or challenge from the presenter:

6. The Jewish community in Australia has taken the position of complete lockdown, where there has basically been virtually no comment about the details of the case. [See our response to 2 above].

7. There’s been virtually no comment about the relationship between the Jewish establishment in Australia and the Israeli government, and indeed Mossad, and indeed Israeli intelligence and the Israeli embassy.

[Yet again, without evidence or substantiation of any kind, the implication is made that there is a relationship between “the Jewish establishment in Australia” and “the Mossad, and indeed Israeli intelligence”. Not only is this inaccurate, it feeds into the propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes as referred to in our response to 1 above].

8. The “Jewish communities in Sydney and Melbourne” facilitate and encourage Jews from a young age “to not just be involved with Israel, visit Israel, [but also] incredibly often fight with the IDF (Israeli Defence Force)… and indeed for that matter sometimes joining Mossad. [Yet again, without evidence or substantiation of any kind, the assertion is made that Jewish communal organisations in Australia facilitate and encourage Jews from a young age to join up and fight with the IDF and the Mossad. Not only is this inaccurate, it feeds into the propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes as referred to in our response to 1 above].

At this point in the interview, the presenter, Elizabeth Jackson, chimes in, not to probe or challenge the interviewee, but to add her own unsubstantiated innuendo:

9. “perhaps it even happens in the synagogues, I don’t know – but how do they facilitate this kind of mentality”.

[Apparently not content with her interviewee’s denigration of the Jewish community, Ms Jackson now invites him to denigrate observance in synagogues generally of the Jewish faith. This is a particularly disturbing and disappointing feature of the interview.

Not only is the assertion inaccurate, it invites uninformed speculation by Loewenstein,who has more than once admitted that he does not attend synagogue, and it feeds into the propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes as referred to in our response to 1 above].

Loewenstein then continues:

10. Many Jews are sent to Israel, often after school, for a year or six months or whatever. Not that many Jews are moving to Israel – some do. There’s definitely an encouragement to do so – in other words, to be the best kind of Jew you can be, so the thinking goes, some people argue the only way you can do that is to go to Israel and live there.

If you’re a young Jew, you’re likely to have to do military service, it’s compulsory in Israel for three years normally. And you potentially – although this is obviously far less  people – could be recruited by Mossad.

Now this sort of stuff I’m not saying is regularly discussed openly in synagogues in Sydney or Melbourne – it’s not.

[Nowhere does Loewenstein attempt to explain how programs in which young people travel to Israel and live there for a short time actually work. No-one is “sent” to Israel. Those who wish to visit are given assistance by Zionist organisations in Australia. Nor was Loewenstein asked whether he has any direct personal knowledge of these matters. Not only are his assertions unfounded, they feed into the propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes as referred to in our response to 1 above. In point of fact these programs are primarily aimed at educating young Jews about their heritage and about contemporary Israel, and have never had anything to do with recruiting people for military or intelligence organisations].....'  [Emphasis added.]

The transcript of the interview, and the full text of Peter Wertheim's complaint, can be read here