More examples of Antisemitism at Left Wing rallies

Not afraid of ruins has blogged about Antisemitism that was encountered at a rally against Asset Sales in Wellington.  (Also covered by Kiwiblog here).

Last Saturday I went to the protest against asset sales organized by Aotearoa Not For Sale. I was marching with my friend Maia, discussing the latest episode of The Good Wife in between chants of ‘hey hey ho ho/John Key has got to go’.

Halfway up Willis St we overheard a guy behind us talking: ‘This is all because John Key is a money-hungry Jew.’ Maia immediately turned around and told him that he was being anti-Semitic and that it wasn’t ok (she’s great like that). The guy explained that she didn’t understand the historical context, that ‘they took over this country with their money’, before finally giving up and telling her ‘you must be Jewish’ (incidentally, she isn’t. Not that it’s relevant’).

By that point I’d already walked away. I was in no mood to hear about how I control the world’s money and am personally responsible for the economic recession.

This wasn’t the first time that anti-Jewish racism has cropped up at Aotearoa Not For Sale events. Last year a guy named Nathan Symington joined an anti-asset sales march in Auckland holding a skateboard with swastikas chalked on it. The same man was later charged with the racist vandalism of the Symonds St Jewish cemetery.

When an Auckland activist noticed that Symington had clicked ‘attending’ on a facebook page for an Aotearoa Not For Sale street party, she commented and asked the organisers to make a clear statement that racism and fascism weren’t welcome at this event. She was ignored and her comment was deleted. (I’m told that at the party itself one of the organisers did make a statement condemning racism. I don’t want to imply that everyone involved in ANFS ignores racism.)

There were similar instances of anti-Jewish racism at Occupy spaces in 2011, and on the facebook pages of several of the Occupy groups as well.

Unfortunately it is becoming more prevalent and open, and the organisers of these rallies are doing less and less about it.  If John Key was not of Jewish ancestry, this same malevolent behaviour would  still exist, except it would probably only be displayed at anti-Israel rallies.  There is a clear commonality between the two, and it is usually just rent-a-crowd attending.

Now what is interesting is that the author of this blog is "Nausea Nissenbaum".  I don't know this person, but his/her twitter bio describes themselves as:

"Born on occupied Palestinian land, living on occupied Māori land."

They are also heavily active in trying to get BDS to New Zealand (a facebook page of 60 or so likes).

I would ask this person - If you are so proudly "Jewish" that you want to stand up against racism, then what are you doing to identify as such?  Can you really just say "I was born a Jew, but I can hate Israel"? 

Where is your empathy with Jews living in Israel?  Where is the empathy with the constant threat of attack?  If it is all "stolen" land, then what about the actual money paid by your ancestors.  Or do you think like BDS and you want a Palestine next to a Palestine.  Two Islamic states side by side.

Really I am not surprised at all that there is antisemitism at these rallies.  What I am surprised about is your naivety about it, and naivety towards the other groups you are involve in.


 

Antisemitism on campus in NSW - "Sue me Jew"

AIJAC has two compelling posts regarding online hate speech on campus at UNSW.

They highlight some atrocious examplesof hate speech towards Jews on facebook.

I really appreciate AIJAC taking this stand, and highlighting this - my only question is why are New Zealanders so quiet over the same issue here. 

How about this one:

Or this:

Both taken from the Israel In New Zealand facebook page.  Just the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately.

Merciful Jews forgive Nazi Grave vandal - no word on SA

A very heartening article, and a move I support

The Jewish community has taken pity on one of the youths who desecrated graves at a cemetery in Auckland with Nazi symbols - causing worldwide outrage - and is even offering to pay his university tuition fees so he can turn his life around.

What an amazingly positive step.  I always felt that the perpetrators would be young and stupid, rather than evil.  This is a great show of compassion.

Meanwhile, Socialist Aotearoa still continue to support murder.  Sigh.

Morsi: Jews are "descendants of apes and pigs"

It didn't get much media attention, but Mohammad Morsi, now President of Egypt (Oh, Yay for Arab Spring), called Jews "descendents of apes and pigs".

OK, so maybe he'll come out and say he meant Zionists and not Jews!  Right.

Antisemitism and the Left - The common ground of hatred

This week, Maia from the Hand Mirror wrote a post about Antisemitism invading Left Wing activities.  (Also picked up by Kiwiblog here).

I'm very surprised it's taken so long for someone to notice.  Well actually - this has been written about for a long time, but it has kept continuing.  No doubt it will still continue.

I can't count the about of antisemitic material that is either tolerated, defended or, in some cases actively promoted within the left.  Admittedly it is usually the extreme left.

Conspiracy theories in the Occupy movement?  Yes, I knew about that.  The occupy movement was such a vast disparate group of souls, many who wanted to create invisible enemies to hate and blame.  Of course they were to forget the movement started in Israel (not Wall St!).

I've seen defense of Iranian Holocaust denial seminars, and there has been the acceptance of the most vile genocide calls (all in the name of 'Palestine').  This has been seen by elected Left Wingers like Keith Locke and Bryan Peppergill.

And now, there is surprise - Neo Nazis marching and demonstrating with the Occupy Movement!  If you read my posts this year, you will see that we have neo-nazis Greta Berlin in the BDS movement and the Skull marching on Nakba day.  This should not be a surprise.

We are told they are supposed to be completely different ideologies - and they are.  But there is on thing in common:  Hate.

The extreme left carry so much hate and anger toward anything which could be seen as conservative.  It is a baseless hatred.  They hate the person - or in many cases a phantom.

The extreme right neo nazis carry this same kind of baseless hatred.  (Hamas also promote baseless hatred). 

These groups follow the ideology that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Maybe this is the wake up call the left need.  I expect (sadly), that I will be documenting similar events for many years to come.

Jewish Graves desecrated in Auckland

Jewish graves in an Auckland cemetary have been desecrated.  They were daubed in Graffiti - mainly swatikas and "88" (a Far right symbol that represents "Heil Hitler").  One had "F*** Israel" written.

This is not the first time.  In 2003, after Helen Clark's jumped up "Spy Scandal" there were four separate attacks in 6 Months.

This is most likely the work of the far right morons known as "Right Wing Resistance" or some such that were having conferences this labour weekend.  They are so small in numbers and stupid that I seldom blog about them.  Still dangerous, apparently.  Unlikely to win too much respect with cowardly acts like this.

The Anti-Israel post at Vic Parliament last night

Daphne Anson has a review of the protest at Vic government last night

Really - it was small and meaningless.  Maybe 30 protesters - very much outnumbered by Police. 

By chance, I worked in the city yesterday. I walked past the demonstration. A guy offered me a badge, and I responded "go Israel". He didn't like it, but maybe I could have said something funnier.It was Tempting to spend some time irritating them further, but I really they just live for the attention and confrontation. And anyway, they really aren't that important or interesting to me (or anyone else in Melbourne). I ripped down a half dozen posters though.  This morning, there were no posters at all left.

David Southwick tweeted this

Malaysia calls the Jews "Enemy #1"

I was in Singapore recently.  The Major news in the Asian Jewish Times was that a Malaysian government religious leader had labelled the Jews "Enemy #1" in a Friday Sermon in March

Nazi snapped at last night's nakba rally

Ross "The Skull" May

Well-known Australian Nazi, Ross “The Skull” May, joined with fellow demonstrators last night in chanting “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians”.

In the photo below taken last night, May is the bald man wearing the checked green shirt. He is marching next to and behind yellow Hezbollah flags. Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation is a prescribed terrorist organisation under Australia’s Criminal Code (Cth).

Al Qaeda looks for a nicer terrorism

Al Qaeda is looking for a nicer terrorism

The article encourages jihadis to practise terrorism in “his land” rather than incurring the cost and hardship of travelling, migrating, or moving to where “direct jihad” is possible. It lists politicians, media personalities and television centres as top targets. Economic targets included stock exchanges, airports, harbours, roads, power and gas installations, military bases and barracks, especially American bases in Europe and centralised computer centres. Other targets were where “Jews gather”, but avoiding synagogues, and offices of institutions such as NATO and the European Union.

It's a nicer terrorism that asks you to kill Jews away from their houses of worship.

Dunedin's Peace Pole not so peaceful

 Recently I visited Dunedin.  Its a great place, and I had not been for about 14 years.  Thankfully, not much has changed, and it is still as beautiful as ever, and the people are nice and down to earth.

I was told to visit the Peace pole, which is in front of the Dunedin Museum.  It was erected in 2002, with flags of every country in the world.

This is a picture I was sent.

It had been suggested that somehow a certain country had been omitted.  I personally didn't believe it to be the case, but I needed to check for myself.

On the one hand, I was glad to see that the rumour was not true - Israel was definitely included.  Unfortunately, it's never nice to see this:

Israel's flag is almost totally scratched out, as is USA and Great Britain.  New Zealand's flag also had a single scratch.

Now I probably don't need to explain the symbology that destroying the flag of a nation represents the destruction of that nation.  Hardly peaceful.  Alternatively, Israel is not worthy of making peace.  

Assuming that this act of vandalism was performed by so-called "Peace" protesters, it is a fairly not peaceful act to get their message across.  But I think it's well known that "Peace" protesters don't really want peace.

I'm not sure which administration looks after the Peace pole - the museum or the City Council.  It would be nice to see it repaired, although the risk is that it may be continually vandalised.  Perhaps they could look a way to protect the flags in a better way.

Lessons on "anti-zionism" from Passover

I read the phrase on the internet all the time: "I'm not anti-semitic, I'm anti-zionist".
It's interesting - it suggest that being anti Israel somehow supports Jewish people and their culture, and there is no connection to Israel.  Its even stranger when we hear people quoting the anti-zionist Jews as some support to their hypothesis.

There is nothing so obvious a connection to Judaism than the Passover Seder.  There is nothing so bound with Jewish Symbology - Matzah, the Seder plate and bitter herbs.  So it stands to reason that all those anti-zionists that are not anti-semitic will be supportive of the practices and teachings that Jews recite at the Passover Seder.

This post takes some real quotes from the Passover Haggadah - The order of the Passover meal.  This is the same meal that Jesus practiced when he was arrested by the Romans of the crime of practicing Judaism.

"Whoever is hungry, let him come an eat.  Whoever is needy, let him come and celebrate Passover!"

For non-religious Jews, if they practice no other aspect of their culture, they will often still celebrate the Passover Seder.  It is almost universal.  One wonders then, how it is celebrated by the like of Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, etc.  I expect that it is not.  I know that Anthony Loewenstein certainly doesn't.  Every year, he is the only Jew in Australia available for an interview to the ABC on some aspect or another of Israel's "crimes".  Last year he attended the Marrickville BDS meeting ("randomly" selected for Seder night).

"Now we are here; next year may we be in the Land of Israel!  Now we are slaves; next year may we be free men!"

The telling of the exodus is core to the Passover Seder.  One really wonders how the anti-zionist brigade would react if they knew that this was part of the Judaism they supported.  The current excuses are that Jews are a myth - although how that is not "anti-semitic", that is beyond logic.

Much of the seder was devised around 2000 years ago, at the time when the Talmud was written down.  Before that, it had been a biblical commandment, with practices passed down orally from generation to generation.  The seder itself references its authors Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon.

"For not only one has risen against us to annihilate us, but in every generation they rise against us to annihilate us."

The correct interpretation (unlike that espoused by Loewenstein 'quoting' from Uri Avnery) is not that "they" will rise but "one" will rise.  This is a scary prediction.  Scary, because it was made 2000 years ago, and has sadly proven to be true.  It is followed by a statement that the Jewish people will be rescued every time.  Many see the rise of Iran and Islam as a fulfillment of some kind of final prophecy.  More widely interpreted though is that Ahmadinejad is just the latest to rise in this series of terrors.

"Whoever has not explained the following three things on Passover has not fulfilled his duty:  Pesach, Matzah and Maror"

 This is a key section where we explain the symbology of Passover - the passing over of the Israelites houses by the tenth plague; Matzah - the unleavened bread, that did not have time to rise as the Israelites fled Egypt; and Maror - the bitter herbs which represent the bitterness imposed on us by the Egyptians.  It is sad that often the cited anti-zionist spokespeople (Loewenstein, Finkelstein etc) cannot explain the relevance of practicing Judaism.  Why then are they somehow shown as "Jewish" spokespeople - they are doing everything they can to get away from it.

Probably the most telling statement is the final statement made at the seder:

"Next Year in Jerusalem!"

If this is a key to practicing Judaism, then Israel is also central to the practice of Judaism.  I would then conclude that anyone who states they are anti-zionist but not anti-semitic (or anti-jewish) is either ignorant of the facts or deliberately distorting them.

Jewish school attacked in France

This week saw some terrible news:  In France, a gunman attacked a Jewish school, and killed 4 people, including 3 children

Often when news appears like this we get caught up thinking "That's so far away", "it's completely different there".  For New Zealanders, most will not know of any local Jewish schools.  These are schools that receive regular threats via phone and post.  Schools that have to employ full time security guards.  As recently as 1990, there was a serious knife attack on students at Kadimah college in Auckland by a deranged woman.

Australia has much worse threats.  As a parent of children at Jewish Primary schools and kindergartens, it is very worrying.  We have terrorists in jail now that were planning attacks on Jewish Community centers.  This article eerily appeared in The Age in January.  Sadly, threats against Jewish lives, including children is very real here.

Whilst condemned the Muslim community in France stated they would "pray for the victims", it is sadly clear that many regard him as hero. 

In Australia and NZ, we have seen a few generalised condolence messages.  Mostly, it has been quiet.  Lets hope we never see a tragedy of this kind, that we need to ask ourselves the hard questions of how to prevent it.  Especially in the light of the Urewera trial.

Protest against Israel .. at a Jewish Synagogue!

News broke yesterday that the local Anti-Israel crackpots were planning a protest outside a synagogue in Melbourne, on a Saturday afternoon

These morons usually stick to protesting Chocolate shops on Friday nights when any opposition will be sharing time with their families.  This time, they stupidly announced that they are clearly attacking Jewish Religion, not just the state of Israel.

Of course its not the first time.  In other centers, the protests are regularly outside the Shules.  Just look at the racist protests of John Minto in Auckland, or the Workers party in Wellington.  Strange also to protest ultra orthodox Adass, who don't officially believe the state of Israel can be created until Moshiach arrives.  To be fair, many non-ultra regular shule goers also attend this shule.

They changed their mind, and decided to move the protest to an office building.  I think this is more out of fear, that the 20 or so people that might show up will probably face thousands that reject their racist BS.

What a useless protest it will be, outside an empty office block in St Kilda Rd, with nobody listening from level 8.  Idiots.  Main protagonist is some whacko who has changed her name to "Vashti Jane".

Anti Semitic commentator

David Farrar at Kiwiblog has a post highlighting a New Zealand antisemitic Youtube commenter

The poster "derrenmac" states things like:

i fully agree, f*** the jews, especially that black jew they call the worlds president. THEYRE ALL LIARS…. f***ing scum… 

I am pretty sure I have seen the commenter "derrenmac" on other websites, particularly stuff.co.nz.
People with these types of attitudes usually also filter into the BDS movements.  Politically, he is supported Winston Peters, which suggests he may be part of the Christchurch group "Right Wing Resistance".

Most of these attitudes stem from complete ignorance.  In New Zealand, its unlikely he's ever met a Jew or has any contact.  These attitudes can be formed as part of mob mentality, when vulnerable people seek and join groups such as RWR.

All societies have an anti-semitic element.  It is something that defies reason.  Some societies are worse, as they teach it actively in their education system.  It is a sad fact

Ukraine synagogue firebombed for second time in two months

This is scary.  Could be any synagogue in the world.

http://www.jewishbayside.com/news/article_cdo/aid/1730226/jewish/Ukraine-Synagogue-Firebombed-Again.htm

United or Divided Future?

The United Future Party in New Zealand state:

We aim to build a modern multicultural society

which encourages social harmony and unity through respect for individual differences and cultural diversity;

However, United Future's East Coast Candidate (and #10 on their list), Martin Gibson seems to have other ideas:

You say the orthodox Jews are like the Taliban which is true, but what you fail to note is how similar Zionists are to Nazis.

Really?  Like Nazis?  Martin Gibson appears to justify himself by referencing Gilad Atzmon as his only reference.  As a journalist, surely he knows that you must grant comment from others as a right of reply.  Instead he references quotes from just one estranged individual, and with little supporting evidence.  So really he is just forcing his own opinion on us, with the fallback of "Hey, this Jew said it, so its OK".

Mr Gibson's comment appears to fail the Natan Sharansky 3D Rule of Anti Semitism.  It's a great example of Demonisation without any examples whatsoever.  We can be sure that he is the same Martin Gibson that writes as a journalist for the Gisborne Herald.

Now, I'm sure the usual suspects can come out and make the usual generalistic "Anti Zionist" comments.  Mr Gibson is welcome to be one of them.  My question is, how does this position fit in with United Future?  Mr Dunne??

Wellington City Councillor accuses Mossad of orchestrating 9/11

Young but Grumpy has uncovered that a Wellington City Councillor, Bryan Pepperell has accused the Jews (Mossad) for orchestrating the 9/11 attack.

How do people with such whackpot ideas get elected???

Tom Scott's latest anti semitic cartoon

Here is Tom Scott's latest Anti Semitic Cartoon.

Also here and here

I like the star of David on the cuff of the shirt.  Clearly reference to Jews.

See how it shows that Obama is in the pocket of an unseen Jewish big brother.  Probably the Elders of Zion.  Or is it just suggesting Jews are corrupt.  It forgets to tell us that Palestinians are refusing to talk or recognise Israel.

This kind of garbage would be spiked by most editors worldwide.  In New Zealand, and because its Tom Scott, its OK.

Radio NZ Rubbishes Southland Times Mossad claims

Great Mediawatch episode rubbishes the Southland Times claim of the Mossad in the Christchurch Earthquake

This was the most ridiculous piece of "journalism" I have ever heard of.  Propaganda for the anit-semites