Crying Wolf Over Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism up 21% asserts the heading of a 25 November 2013 'news' item on the J-Wire website.

Its introductory spiel adds:

"In his report covering the 12 months' period ending on September 30, 2013, Jeremy Jones has reported 657 incidents defined by the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission as 'racist violence' against Jews. The figure reflects a 21% increase over the previous year... Incidents included physical assault, vandalism, threatening phone calls, hate mail, graffiti, leaflets, posters and abusive and intimidatory electronic mail. Jones has made it clear that incidents based on criticism of Israel or references to Australian Jewry's involvement in politics were not taken into account."

(Note that the HREOC definition of 'racist violence' is defined as "a specific act of violence, intimidation, or harassment carried out against an individual, group or organisation (or their property) on the basis of race, colour, descent, or ethnic origin.")

What then follows is a list of what I assume is meant to be 19 examples of the above alleged "incidents" of "'racist violence' against Jews." I thought I'd check some of  them out:

1) "Cartoonist Leunig's defence of Nazi/ Jewish comparisons (Dec 2012)"

Leaving aside the incredible suggestion that everyone on the planet can presumably be compared to Nazis - except Jews - I've just taken the trouble to reread Leunig's essay Calm the hatred & try to love those who are not 'us' (The Age, 21/12/12), which I assume is the "defence" referred to, and for the life of me I can find no such thing. And even if I could, how the hell could this possibly be characterised as an incident of 'racist violence'?

2) "With the initial calling of the 2013 Fed Election on the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur, Jews were accused of 'whinging' for raising this as a concern (Jan 2013)"

So an accusation of "whinging" is 'racist violence'? And who was the perpetrator? Well, Israeli writer Judd Yadid for one:

"For the first time on record, Australians will go to the polls... on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Given that voting in Australia is compulsory, what issues... are at play? Here are some points to ponder: Jewish Australians who want to vote... can do so either by voting early at special booths or by post. Some of the Jewish community's most prominent leaders have said that it really isn't a big deal, and that it's no different to the predicament faced by all observant Jews every Saturday election day. Perhaps the outcry from some quarters is just plain old whinging." (Stuck between a rock and a holy place: The impact of Australia's decision to hold Election Day on Yom Kippur, Haaretz, 7/2/13)

Hm... this was all Julia Gillard's fault, and yet, despite setting the scene for this particular "incident" of "racist violence," she's just been awarded the 2013 Jerusalem Prize by the Zionist Council of Victoria, the Zionist Federation of Australia, and the World Zionist Organisation. Work that one out.

3) "The tragic story of Ben Zygier, an Australian/Israeli dual citizen who died in an Israeli prison, was used as a pretext by antisemites to accuse Jews in Australia of disloyalty (Feb 2013)"

Antisemites? Surely he's not referring to ABC Radio National's Breakfast presenter Fran Kelly, who dared - DARED! - to raise the question of loyalty in relation to Australian citizens working for Mossad. (See my 17/2/13 post Prisoner X5.) This is getting sillier by the minute.

4) "Call to 'eliminate' Jews in song, in Arabic, on ABC Radio (Feb 2013)"

I'm sorry, but one can only take so many red herrings. I simply refer you to my 8/3/13 post The Ultimate Zionist Whinge on this one.

Jones' list, of course, goes on, including even Max Brenner boycotts (May 2013)... but frankly, I've had enough already, and anyway I'm sure you've got the idea.