Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Something Unique in Australian Journalism?

Has veteran Australian journalist Tony Walker done something unique in Australian journalism? Call on a bloviating Zionist lobby operative to put his money where his mouth is:

"In an opinion piece in Sydney's Daily Telegraph, Jeremy Leibler, the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, likened [Melissa Parke's] criticism (ill-defined) of Israel to a 'new anti-Semitism'. 'Disguising itself as anti-Zionism, the new anti-Semitism uses criticism of Israel as a Trojan horse to perpetuate age-old stereotypes about Jews under a quasi-intellectual cover,' Leibler wrote. I reached out to Leibler to ascertain what criticism of Israel might be acceptable in the interests of enabling reasonable discussion about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and its attitudes more generally to the peace process. He did not respond." (Melissa Parke incident raises difficult questions about Israel, Tony Walker, smh.com.au, 17/4/19)

4 comments:

Grappler said...

I had to look up Tony Walker. I'm sure you know the following, MERC, but I didn't and it might be worth passing on to other readers.

https://www.wheelercentre.com/people/tony-walker/

He was Middle East Correspondent of Financial TImes, and he has written a biography of Arafat. So he knows what he's talking about and, no doubt, he also knows that this is a political minefield. Good for him!

Anonymous said...

Of course the Leibler didn't respond. let me answer for him, even though the answer remains unspoken:

No level of criticism of Israel is acceptable, ever, no matter what. No also to reasonable debate and no to any discussion about the treatment of the captive Palestinians.

To mix metaphors, Zionists have both a very thin skin and very fragile glass jaws. They need a tame and obsequious media to exist.

MERC said...

G, Tony Clifton is another Australian journalist of note in this respect. His book on the 1982 Israeli siege of Beirut, God Cried, should be added to your library. I've just added in the Tony Clifton label so you can read some excerpts. A dazzling writer.

Grappler said...

Good posts, Thank MERC. I will follow up.