Foxy, you made some good points.

Unfortunately, the Palestinians have few supporters in Australia, the mythical land of the fair-go!

David G,
The greatest oppressors of Muslims are other Muslims,why do you make a special exception for the Palestinians and not, say the Shia minorities spread across Western Asia who live in the same precarious state as the people in Gaza and the West Bank?
I don't think you're actually an anti Semite as you don't profess anything but Judeo Christian universalism but you do seem to hold Jews to a higher standard of behaviour than other middle easterners.
Then again that's also consistent with Judeo Christian beliefs, the oaths of Jews are seen as "more sacred" than those of gentiles so when Jews talk about peace and the being the light among nations you hold them to their word, Anti Semites don't, that's the difference.

The primary reason why anti Semitism is growing in Australia is because Australia has foolishly imported 300,000 Muslims, and hatred of the Jews (and everybody else who is not Muslim) is a religious obligation under Islam. So, if there are any Jews out there who supported multiculturalism, you just shat in your own nest, didn't you?

The second reason, is because our social regressive class have flipped allegiances. They were once the Jews most ardent supporters and you were not really hip if you had not worked on a Kibbutz. But Israel kept winning it's wars and if there is one thing that a trendy hates, it is a winner.

Once the trendies went in to bat for the poor Muslims who were unable to exterminate the Israelis, they could not hold back. Since they seem to possess Absolutist personalities where there 50 shades of grey can not exist outside of the bedroom, The Jews trans mutated from being the victims to the oppressors. The Syrian and Iraqi governments can drop poison gas on their own civilians and you are not going to hear a peep from the Greens or the Leichardt Municipal Council. But if the Israelis do to the Arabs what the Arabs have been doing to them for 1300 years, the world savers will scream it from the rooftops.

Dear Foxy,

So it's a chicken-and-egg issue.

No doubt that Palestinians as well as Arab Israelis have serious grievances against Israel, but some people like their grievances more than their own welfare, like those crippled beggars in India who live of displaying their deformities to tourists: some could be treated, but they refuse treatment, they don't want to be well, their crookedness is their profession.

You want to do for them more than they are willing to do for themselves. Why for heaven sake can't they at least VOTE? Along with their brothers and sisters of the Israeli peace-camp they could have achieved victory, they could have kicked Netanyahu and his gang out, they could have signed a peace deal, have a Palestinian state, better and fairer living conditions, more water, repealing of draconian laws, etc. Perhaps their achievements may not be perfect, but they could experience such an improvement!

But what do they do?
Come election-day, they sit at home.
For those who are permanent-residents there are forms to fill:
if they filled them they would become Israeli citizens in 18-24 months,
then add their votes to the peace-camp...
then nobody could kick them out of their homes...
but they don't. Why? Is their hand hurting?

Regarding those draconian restrictions, 1948-1966, haven't Australia done the same with alien Japanese/German citizens during WWII? Essentially, rightly or wrongly, these people could not be trusted, they were assumed to side with the enemy. Were all those restrictions necessary? no, they were overly cruel beyond what was absolutely necessary and lacked discrimination between real and imaginary dangers. Mind you, Jews of German origins were also idiotically locked up during WWII in Australian detention camps together with Nazis, forced to eat with them at the same table.

Let me pose this question: what if tomorrow, we all woke up and switched on the news and found that, overnight, the Israelis had bayoneted every single Palestinian child, women and man.

On OLO, the following would be typical responses:

1. The Jews have made a terrible mistake but an honest one!

2. The Jewish ignorance which brought this tragedy about cannot in any way be seen as evil, just a case of human frailty combined with the influence of overly fervent religious conviction!

3. The indecent but short-lived violent behaviour of the IDF was a result of Jewish affliction and illness and trauma experienced over centuries!

4. Who cares? The only good Palestinian is a dead one!

5. A terrible tragedy but at least six decades of Palestinian suffering and humiliation has finally ended. The obvious question is: who is going to wear the Israeli yoke next? (my comment).

Which response best suits you? Could it be racist?

David G

Your certainty about others’ responses here is breathtaking. In my case, and I'm sure most others, the answer would be “none of the above”. I would be as outraged as you.

But – I would not see this as in any way justification for the racism directed at Australian Jews that Julie’s article describes.

By comparison - do you see the excesses of the Taliban as jistification for racism directed at Australian Muslims?