AUSTRALIA 2001-2

 

A total of 328 reports of antisemitic violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation were logged during 2001, the third highest on record. Moreover, the number of incidents of violence and property damage exceeded by 50 per cent the previous highest tally (1996). Anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, circulating primarily on the Internet but also beyond it, were prevalent after the September 11 attacks in the US.

 

the jewish community

The 115–120,000 Jews in Australia out of a total population of 17,850,000 constitute the largest Jewish community in the East Asia Pacific Region. The great majority of Australian Jews live in Melbourne (50,000) and Sydney (45,000), but there are also significant communities in Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Adelaide. Australia is a favorite destination of Jewish emigrants from the former Soviet Union and from South Africa. Jews were among the first convicts who settled Australia in the eighteenth century. After World War II, many Holocaust survivors were admitted into the country and today it has the largest per capita number of survivors of any community in the Diaspora.

The leading communal organization is the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). The community is served by two Jewish weeklies and several other periodicals. High enrollment in Jewish day schools and a comparatively low rate of intermarriage are characteristic features of Australian Jewry.

 

political organizations and extra-parliamentary groups

The November 2001 federal election was held against the backdrop of Australia’s participation in the US-led war against terrorism and a public debate on the issue of how Australia should respond to the arrival of asylum seekers, applicants for refugee status and persons without documents who apply to remain in Australia. The tough stand by the main political parties on both these issues was largely interpreted as being the reason the right-wing populist party One Nation, which had received more than 9 percent of the vote at the 1998 election, failed to have any of its candidates elected to either the Senate or the House of Representatives. The total vote for parties of the antisemitic right-wing fringe was extremely negligible in all cases.

 

Extreme Right-Wing Groups

Far right organizations remained present on the fringes of Australian politics, although there were signs that their activity was on the decrease. Nevertheless, a plethora of groups in Australia promote antisemitism, which for some is their raison d’être. Several groups actively propagate the myth that there is a plot by some or all Jews, acting alone or in collusion with other “élites,” to control international finance, the media and politics. This view is commonly expressed as opposition to a globally imposed “world order” which aims, inter alia, to subjugate the (non-Jewish) population of Australia to serve an all-powerful UN.

The groups vary greatly in membership, activities and target audiences. Traditional far right organizations are supplemented by groups of individuals that are in constant flux, including some based on the Internet (see ASW 2000/1).

The Australian League of Rights, one of the most established and influential racist organizations in Australia, continued to hold meetings, conduct action campaigns and seek publicity for its antisemitic analysis of domestic and international affairs.

The Adelaide Institute is a loose conglomeration of individuals around self-styled “Holocaust revisionist” Fredrick Toben. Its website is so extreme that even British Holocaust denier David Irving branded it antisemitic and a liability to Holocaust revisionists (see ASW 2000/1). Reporting on his participation in the 2001 Tehran conference (see Arab Countries) in the institute’s newsletter (June 2001, no.131), Toben stated that it was intended to garner support for the Palestinians after the efforts of “last year’s gathering of Holocaust proponents in Stockholm [January 2000 Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust organized by the Swedish prime minister]” to get “Holocaust studies established in all school curricula,” so that sympathy would flow to the State of Israel. Toben and his Canberra-based colleague Richard Krege spoke at the “Second International Conference on Authentic History and the First Amendment,” organized by The Barnes Review in Washington, DC (15–17 June). Krege tried to prove that Treblinka was not a death camp, while Toben made a series of observations on topics such as Zionists versus “Torah-true Jews,” law in Germany and Australia, and the way in which Iran benefited women.

The extremely antisemitic Covenant Vision Ministry in Sydney’s outer western suburbs is led by Frank Dowsett, who also contributes to the white supremacist, Victoria-based Strategy. As well as conducting services and holding meetings, the ministry publishes newsletters and reading lists and maintained a website for some of the period in review. In its newsletter Covenant Vision Dowsett has warned Christians that “the driving force behind every anti-Christian activity known to mankind” is “Esau-Edom, now known as and acknowledged by themselves to be, modern day Jewry. Thus we conclude that ‘the kingdom of Satan’, or ‘the Beast System’, is identified as and manifest through Esau-Edom-Idumean-Jewry-Zionism.” In July/August it published an editorial stating that “those who claimed to be Jews but were not,” were “the synagogue of Satan.”

The Christian “Identity” Ministries (see United States) of far north Queensland promote an extensive catalogue of literature for sale by mail order. This includes Holocaust denial, attacks on “Judeo-Christians,” promotions of booklets and tapes by Sheldon Emry, founder of America’s “Promise Ministries,” and advertisements for the Nation of Islam’s The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews.

The Citizens’ Electoral Councils (CECs), based in Melbourne, engage in mass mailings of literature reflecting the views of their guru, the US-based conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche. The LaRouche organization expends hundreds of thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of which are raised in Australia, during Australian federal electoral campaigns.

The Australian Civil Liberties’ Union (ACLU) continued to advocate Holocaust denial and to protect the “rights” of Holocaust deniers and other racists. John Bennett, who is the union’s motivating force, sits on the editorial advisory committee of The Journal of Historical Review published by the Institute for Historical Review in California. The 27th edition of Your Rights, the organization’s annual handbook appeared in 2001. Over the years the book has attacked multiculturalism and Asian immigration, promoted One Nation’s Pauline Hanson (see ASW 1998/9, 1999/2000) and the Adelaide Institute’s Fredrick Toben, and strongly criticized the Jewish community.

Exposure, a glossy magazine sold by subscription and at newsstands, was influenced by the worldview of UK eccentric David Icke and publicized the material of several far right Australian groups. In February, editor David Summers sold the magazine, which is now called Hard Evidence. Judging by its promotion during the year of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, videos of speeches by League of Rights stalwart Jeremy Lee, a half-page advertisement for Nexus magazine (see below), and aggressive advertising for past issues of Exposure, the magazine’s content remains little changed.

There is a large overlap between far right organizations and New Age (see ASW 2000/1) or other fringe, alternative lifestyle groups, whose rhetoric is heavily laden with conspiracy theories. The New Age magazine Nexus, available widely at newsstands and by subscription, has for some time promoted extreme right writers, organizations and conspiracy theories. In 1995 its links to US-based militia groups were exposed; Nexus advertisers, the Loyal Regiment of Australian Guardians, were later investigated for possession of “dangerous weapons,” in the midst of the gun-ownership debate in 1996.

The magazine New Dawn, available through New Age outlets, prints conspiracy theories and LaRouchite, Nation of Islam and Libyan propaganda. During the period in review there was far less discussion on matters relating to Jews and the Middle East than in the past because of preoccupation with Australian political issues.

Annwn, an Internet newsletter with associated hard-copy publications, generally authored by webmaster Joseph Chiappalone, contains blatant examples of antisemitism cloaked in New Age rhetoric. Jews have been depicted as “the anti-Christ” and “Zionists” were blamed for the death of Jesus. Annwn urged readers to subscribe to the essays of US white supremacist William Pierce, commenting, “Although he is a self-confessed racist and bigot, his research is immense and much valuable data is presented in his essays.”

Small groups of neo-Nazis are present in most cities. Attempts by individuals associated with far right groups such as the WCOTC to direct their violence toward Jews and other minorities have been common in the last few years. A disturbing development was a report in the Australian media that three former members of an élite army unit had been members of the Hitler-worshipping neo-Nazi band Blood Oath during their army service.

Australian National Action have engaged in the past in a number of public activities, including staging rallies in Melbourne and Adelaide and publishing a newsletter which maligns their enemies, including Jews. Their agenda is antisemitic, anti-immigration and white-supremacist, with regular occurrences of harassment and direct confrontations with political opponents.

Other organizations on the neo-Nazi fringe which came to attention during 2001 included the Australian Nationalists Movement (ANM), White Australian Revolutionaries, Australian National Socialist Movement, C18, the Australian Revolutionary Movement and Daughters of the Celts. Reports emerged during the period in review that former ANM leader Jack Van Tongeren was trying to recruit fellow prisoners to a new “nationalist” group, the Australian National Workers’ Union.

Leaflets bearing the signature “Asgard” (a name from Norse mythology) and containing White Power slogans were distributed widely in suburban Sydney. The campaign appeared to be the work of one person, David Palmer, who has used the postal address on the leaflets to advertise a number of Nazi or pro-Nazi groups over a long period.

None of the above groups played significant roles in Australian politics or public debate, but a number were involved in activities (such as hate mail, leafleting, poster campaigns and graffiti) which offended or intimidated Jewish Australians.

 

The Far Left

Although the many small groups which comprise the Australian far left often make declarations critical of racism in all its forms, demonization of Israel is a common thread and the language used to condemn Zionism and Israel are almost indistinguishable from that of the far right (the concept of Zionism as an “international conspiracy” and of Jews as Nazis, for instance). It should be noted that most of the groups in this sector are ambiguous, if not internally contradictory, on questions of Jews and Middle East politics. Trotskyist or pro-communist groups, for example, regularly proclaim their opposition to antisemitism but use antisemitic language when discussing Israel.

 

The Arab and Muslim Community

Australia’s Arabic-speaking community is large and vibrant. Jews are not a major concern or pre-occupation of this community. Both the Arabic-speaking and the Islamic communities are served by a vigorous media, in Arabic and English, which generally avoid inflammatory or offensive language, but sometimes reflect the existence of extremist and antisemitic viewpoints.

Antisemitic elements within the Arabic-speaking and Islamic communities often draw on the same material as white supremacists, “Identity” groups and other overt racists, and vice-versa. For example, Islamic Offerings from Australia and the Strategy (see below) have used the Holocaust denial of Ahmed Rami’s Radio Islam, while al Moharer al-Australi and the New Age Annwn site have quoted the Turkish conspiracy theorist Harun Yahya (see ASW 2000/1). Cross-pollinization and mutual support of these often opposing groups may be explained by their common acceptance of antisemitic conspiracy theories. Another reason is that very little antisemitism is indigenous to Australia and foreign (generally US) sources are exploited to provide ideas and “evidence” to sustain the various groups’ followers.

 

antisemitic activity

Violence, Vandalism and Intimidation

In total, 328 reports of antisemitic violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation were logged during 2001, the third highest on record, including for the period prior to the standardization of the national database in 1989.

The number of incidents of violence and property damage exceeded by 50 per cent the previous highest tally (1996) and was over double the annual average. In-your-face harassment was reported at its second highest level and one-third above the average. Graffiti and telephone threats were at almost exactly the average rate, while reports of hate mail were at their lowest for nine years - 50 percent below the average.

In six of the twelve months covered, one or more reports were received of physical assaults on Jewish individuals, generally in the environs of synagogues in Sydney and Perth.. None of the assailants has been identified.

Synagogues were attacked in NSW, Tasmania, the ACT and Western Australia (WA). Several were damaged by rocks or other projectiles, and one synagogue (in Canberra) was subjected to numerous attacks, including several rock throwing incidents and a series of petrol bombings.

Jewish families were harassed as they walked to or from synagogue or participated in other activities such as commuting, picnicking or shopping. The worst of these instances took place in Victoria and NSW.

Threatening or abusive phone calls were received by Jewish organizations and individuals in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, NSW and WA. Hate mail received throughout Australia claimed that Jews should be fought because they were “anti-Christian,” because Judaism was “the religion of evil,” because there had never been a Holocaust and because globalism was a Jewish idea. A Jewish academic was told that his attempts to explain Israel’s situation would lead to his early demise.

While reports of antisemitic and neo-Nazi graffiti have declined in the last decade, the swastika and accompanying slogans daubed on synagogues and in areas with substantial Jewish populations in 2001 made it clear that Jews were the target. Antisemitic leaflets (particularly in Tasmania), electronic mail, faxes, and brochures and pamphlets supporting Nazism were reported by Jewish recipients in Queensland and NSW.

 

Propaganda

The Media

There are no overtly antisemitic newspapers, television stations or radio stations with any audience reach in Australia. However, the year 2001 saw a dramatic increase in articles, commentaries and published letters in mainstream papers which made explicit or implicit anti-Jewish statements, in most cases related to events in the Middle East or to 11 September. For example, one letter in the Hobart Mercury wondered: “Was there a worse injustice in the 20th century than this: that the price for Hitler’s crimes against Jews (and homosexuals and the mentally ill) has been paid, not by the Germans who committed them, but by the innocent Palestinians, whose land has been seized to compensate mainly US Jews.” Another claimed that Australia was safe from terrorism unless the government took “orders from the US and the Jewish lobby.” A third said: “The problem with the Israelis is that they are not acting like Jews, they are acting like Nazis.” It then went on to compare former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Jerusalem had been a Jewish city for the last 3,000 years and would remain Jewish for the next 3,000, with Hitler’s declaration on the 1,000-year Reich.

While there was a negligible amount of anti-Jewish commentary in the electronic media, radio stations with public affairs discussions and talkback radio sometimes aired antisemitic remarks. There were also occasional examples of commentators making analogies and comments, for which they generally later publicly apologized. One such remark was: “The yanks have more public holidays than us … the stock market closes for a Jewish holiday. Just shows you the kind of control they’ve got over the stock market.”

A panelist on the daytime talk-show “Beauty and the Beast” on Channel 10 was responsible for some of the more blatant anti-Jewish statements made on television. He claimed the “powerful Jewish lobby” in Australia had prevented British Holocaust denier David Irving from coming to the country, and that “the Jewish lobby in America has the government by the balls … they do things which they should not do … they’re not even-handed and that’s created the hatred.”

             

Holocaust Denial and Distortion

Holocaust denial appears as a central plank in the platforms of most antisemitic groups. It is also promoted by some individuals and groups whose primary political concern is the defense and promotion of totalitarian Arab regimes or extreme Islamism. There is little evidence to suggest, however, that dissemination of Holocaust denial has had any impact on the way the Holocaust is taught or on Holocaust scholarship in Australia. It is noteworthy that the most prominent advocates of Holocaust denial in Australia, Richard Krege of Canberra, John Bennett of Melbourne, Olga Scully of Launceston, and in particular, Fredrick Toben of Adelaide, have all been identified with international organizations promoting Holocaust denial.

 

Islamist and Arab Propaganda

The publication Nida’ul Islam, available on the Internet and as a glossy magazine, prints extreme views of members of the Islamic community in Australia and of a range of overseas commentators. The tone towards Jews is often hateful and inflammatory.

Overt antisemitism was published on the E-group site of the Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth, and material from extreme right-wing sources was published on the web pages of the West Australian Islamic Network. Antisemitic New-Age conspiracy theorist William Cooper’s interpretation of the World Trade Center attacks, which compiled a number of myths circulating at the time, was published on FAMSY’s site (see below).

Advocates from within the Arabic-speaking community who have come to attention during the past year include a representative of the Australian Palestinian Cultural League who gave a lecture alleging Jews “control the US government, own 25 percent of the banks in the US” and are “two-faced”; and the Dir Yassin Remembered group which has made comparisons between Israelis and Nazis and quoted propagandists claiming that Christian support for the existence of Israel is “anti-biblical.”

 

The Internet

Anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, circulating primarily on the Internet but also beyond it, were particularly prevalent after the September 11 events. The most popular claimed that Israel, Jews or forces sympathetic to them carried out the mass murders to further political agendas. Some saw the attacks as part of the Jews’ march toward world domination, while others attributed financial and short-term political motives to the alleged perpetrators. These theories appeared to have been widely endorsed within the Arabic-speaking community in Australia. They also received some currency in left-wing, anti-Israel circles.

The Australian chapter of the World Church of the Creator (WCOTC; see United States), with no more than three identifiable supporters in Australia, has its own website. Its homepage refers to “the parasitic Jews.” “Shaun Simmonds” of the WCOTC urged “creators,” in an Internet discussion group, to take action in Australia in the battle to “re-take” Australia from Jews and “non-whites.”

                        The website of the Christian Separatist Church Society (CSCS) is militantly antisemitic, going so far as to ridicule overt anti-Jewish propagandists such as Frank Dowsett for being too moderate, and asserting that “British-Israeli is most often only a surname for Masonic mongrel-lover” (see also ASW 2000/1).

           A number of skinhead groups operate websites, although they show little evidence of activity outside this medium. These include the Southern Cross Hammer Skinheads (SCHS) which proclaim “White Pride, White Loyalty, White Heritage and White Power” as their birth right; Fortress, identified as the Melbourne cohorts of the Sydney-based SCHS; and Aussie Bootgirl 88, which promotes neo-Nazi skinhead material and links.

A website advertising the White Pride Coalition of Australia went online during the period in review. This site promoted the Australian NSDAP, the Australian Nationalists Movement, Asgard and the Invisible Australian Empire. However, there is no real evidence of a “coalition” beyond the web page.

In addition to material transmitted by electronic mail, many un-moderated newsgroups dealing with Australian issues have allowed individual bigots and anti-Jewish propagandists to promote material to a new and potentially larger audience. Another growth area is Internet newsletters, sent to individuals with an interest in a specific subject, which sometimes serve as vehicles for hate propagandists.

Antisemitic material has been included on a regular basis in contributions to a number of Australian-based forums and discussion groups, particularly the Forum for Online Opinions and the club maintained by the Federation of Australian Muslims and Youth (FAMSY). Antisemitic comments have also appeared on bulletin boards provided by mainstream media outlets inviting feedback on matters of general community interest. Jane Quantrill of Sydney, the moderator of the Internet club theholocaustrevised, wrote to the Racialist Club of America calling for Nazis to work with Palestinians to fight “the kikes.”

Newsgroups in which antisemitic material was posted from Australian Internet addresses included alt.revisionism, aus.politics, aus.general, aus.religion.christian, aus.religion.judaism, rec.music.opera, alt. conspiracy, soc.culture.jewish, soc.culture.european and alt.conspiracy.

 

responses to racism and antisemitism

Complaints to the Federal Court were lodged on behalf of the ECAJ leadership against Fredrick Toben and Olga Scully in 2001, due to their failure to abide by the 2000 demand of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) that they desist from their antisemitic and Holocaust denial activities. The HREOC does not have the power to enforce its orders. In September 2002 the Federal Court upheld the ECAJ complaint in both cases. It ordered Scully to stop distributing literature offensive to Jews and Toben to remove such material from his website and to cease disseminating it in printed form.

The state governments of Queensland and Victoria both enacted comprehensive legislation designed to give victims of racial and religious vilification and intolerance a measure of legal recourse, which now means all Australian states and territories have such statutes. While there is no federal or state law against Holocaust denial, offenses of this nature are covered by the general anti-racial and anti-discrimination legislation, as in the cases of Toben and Scully.