Tag: Racism

The death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer was a breaking point for race relations in the USA, setting off massive protests... and awakened sympathies of people of all ethnicities, including world Jewry.

A number of commentators, on both sides of the barricades in the battle over the future of race relations and the call for the recognition that Black Lives Matter, have noted the way some have tried to hijack an anti-racist agenda to push a radical anti-Israel barrow

In recent days, there have been multiple incidents in Europe that deserve our attention.  In France, video emerged of anti-racist demonstrators chanting “dirty Jews”, while monuments to recall those who helped defeat the Nazis were defaced. In the UK, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi was stabbed in the streets.

David Harris is the Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) – a proud partner organisation of AIJAC – and has led AJC since 1990. He spoke to an AIJAC webinar direct from New York City on 10 June 2020.

AIJAC's Jeremy Jones spoke about the resurgence of antisemitism in Australia and internationally on "Breakfast" with Fiona Parker on ABC Radio Central Victoria. 

In more than one recent case, the perpetrators of violent, even murderous, antisemitic acts have been given legal clemency on the grounds of mental impairment.

For young people navigating the world via social media, hate speech seems to be unavoidable. According to Australia’s Office of the E-Safety Commissioner, more than 50% of young people have seen or heard hateful comments about a cultural or religious group online.

It also should go without saying that there is no place for anti-Jewish activity (or any other form of bigotry) in contemporary Australia. However, out of the many hundreds of millions of interactions between Jewish and non-Jewish Australians each year, some of them involve behaviour which is abhorrent and despicable. 

The reverberations from media reports that two Melbourne students were subjected to humiliating anti-Semitic abuse have been felt in Jewish communities around the world. How could this happen in an enlightened society, ask well-meaning people.

Racism in its many manifestations is, far too often, allowed to be articulated and practised without any response, let alone real consequences.