The shocking truth, and a shameful picture of 2026 Australia for so many valuable decent talented people. JD, this is an excellent description of the world we live in.
Deep thanks Joshua, brilliantly expressed , heart wrenching in your honesty and vulnerability and at the same time intelligent and eloquent. I can’t thank you enough . You make me so proud to be of our people.
My goodness this is the most heartfelt, incisive, generous and comprehensive piece of writing on the phenomenon of antizionism in Australia today. Brilliant writing. Exactly what the Royal Commission needs to know.
Well done with this, Joshua, especially for explaining why the Royal Commission needs to recognise and understand antizionism specifically for what it is.
Even though I'm not Jewish, some of what you describe feels very close to home for me, literally, because I used to live in Melbourne and I did my last three years of secondary school in Caulfield (at Shelford Girls' Grammar, which sadly is no more). That was in the 1990s and Jewish Melburnians were, as far as I ever saw, a very well respected and accepted part of the community. I had Jewish friends and I loved visiting Jewish delis and bakeries and so on (my family is part Eastern European and we love similar foods to Ashkenazi cuisine!). We learned about the Holocaust at school and visited the Melbourne Holocaust Museum in Elsternwick, and were left in absolutely no doubt that these atrocities must never be forgotten and must never happen again.
If anyone had told me back then that less than 30 years later, we would be seeing this vile and insane hatred against Jews and Israel erupting everywhere — including in Caulfield and Elsternwick — I would not have believed it. It makes me feel sick just reading about it, and I'm not even a direct target of the hatred. I just wish I could do more to help in this fight, though I'm doing what little I can, at least by spreading the word and supporting organisations like yours.
The shocking truth, and a shameful picture of 2026 Australia for so many valuable decent talented people. JD, this is an excellent description of the world we live in.
A great article. I have also been asked to declare my "allegiance to Israel". My crime was to share an article about the influence of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood in the US.
In the Haggadah we declare the sobering reality that in every generation there will be an enemy that rises up against us to destroy us;
Thus the exodus is the paradigm for God rescuing us in every generation from our enemies. Perhaps the exodus is also a paradigm for another threat to our existence that will face us in every generation – assimilation. Credit to: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-elephant-in-the-room-on-seder-night/
The shocking truth, and a shameful picture of 2026 Australia for so many valuable decent talented people. JD, this is an excellent description of the world we live in.
Deep thanks Joshua, brilliantly expressed , heart wrenching in your honesty and vulnerability and at the same time intelligent and eloquent. I can’t thank you enough . You make me so proud to be of our people.
Ps. Visit Israel :)
My goodness this is the most heartfelt, incisive, generous and comprehensive piece of writing on the phenomenon of antizionism in Australia today. Brilliant writing. Exactly what the Royal Commission needs to know.
Phenomenal writing, Thank you for articulating so well and so personally, what many have struggled to put into words.
Well done with this, Joshua, especially for explaining why the Royal Commission needs to recognise and understand antizionism specifically for what it is.
Even though I'm not Jewish, some of what you describe feels very close to home for me, literally, because I used to live in Melbourne and I did my last three years of secondary school in Caulfield (at Shelford Girls' Grammar, which sadly is no more). That was in the 1990s and Jewish Melburnians were, as far as I ever saw, a very well respected and accepted part of the community. I had Jewish friends and I loved visiting Jewish delis and bakeries and so on (my family is part Eastern European and we love similar foods to Ashkenazi cuisine!). We learned about the Holocaust at school and visited the Melbourne Holocaust Museum in Elsternwick, and were left in absolutely no doubt that these atrocities must never be forgotten and must never happen again.
If anyone had told me back then that less than 30 years later, we would be seeing this vile and insane hatred against Jews and Israel erupting everywhere — including in Caulfield and Elsternwick — I would not have believed it. It makes me feel sick just reading about it, and I'm not even a direct target of the hatred. I just wish I could do more to help in this fight, though I'm doing what little I can, at least by spreading the word and supporting organisations like yours.
Keep on doing what you're doing!!
The shocking truth, and a shameful picture of 2026 Australia for so many valuable decent talented people. JD, this is an excellent description of the world we live in.
You've replied to me rather than directly to Joshua, but I agree.
Perfectly articulated, JD. No one can say you didn’t rise to the occasion when the moment called for it.
And with this submission, Australian authorities can’t argue that they didn’t realise Antizionism is a hate movement.
Profound
An excellent article, Joshua.
A great article. I have also been asked to declare my "allegiance to Israel". My crime was to share an article about the influence of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood in the US.
In the Haggadah we declare the sobering reality that in every generation there will be an enemy that rises up against us to destroy us;
Thus the exodus is the paradigm for God rescuing us in every generation from our enemies. Perhaps the exodus is also a paradigm for another threat to our existence that will face us in every generation – assimilation. Credit to: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-elephant-in-the-room-on-seder-night/