In the current debate surrounding the Australian passports used in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, there are two equally unsound positions.
Firstly, there’s the shrill (if exultant) Anti-Zionist response, that often tips over into outright racism. (see readers comments at the end of the stories)
On the other side, Jewish Australian leadership still hasn’t managed [...]
Mar
4
2010
4
2010
Feb
28
2010
28
2010
Mossad and Our Passports
Sep
10
2009
10
2009
Aug
25
2009
25
2009
Part Five – Axis of Honour: Dislocation, Family, and Terror
You probably remember the refrain, during the Bush years, that the Islamists objected to our freedoms and our way of life – that this is why America was attacked on September 11.
This is not exactly in the realms of profound analysis, and belonged with Bush’s ill advised response soon after the attacks, that America was [...]
Aug
20
2009
20
2009
In The AJN 1: The Stark Contrast between Albert Dadon and the JCCV
A number of items in this week’s Australian Jewish News deserve a mention.
This post will contrast the highly problematic style of the JCCV with the sophistication and achievement of Albert Dadon.
What is so striking about Dadon’s opinion piece (AJN page 25), is the way it manages to be both humble and without vitriol, while still [...]
Aug
20
2009
20
2009
Part Four – The Axis of Honour: Honour, Modernity, and al Qaeda
To read the previous posts in this series, click on the links below:
Part One: Introduction
Part Two: Honour, Communalism, and Islamist Suicide Terrorism
Part Three: Honour and Shame
Part Four: Honour, Modernity, and al Qaeda
The first three instalments of this series asked whether it was possible to find an ultimate cause for suicide terrorism, without falling back on [...]
Aug
14
2009
14
2009
In The AJN – The Holocaust: No Laughing!
I remember the story of two Jewish girls in their early 20s.
They were a bit tipsy on a weeknight when they arrived at one of the girls’ family home. The young ladies didn’t want to scandalise the parents, so they tried to compose themselves before entering.
“Stop laughing,” the girl whose house it was – let’s [...]
Jun
14
2009
14
2009
Antony Loewenstein: Easily Startled
Today’s Sunday Age has published a letter from Antony Loewenstein.
We’ve written before that our objections to Mr. Loewenstein lie not only in the flawed intellectual foundations of his anti-Zionism, but also in his utterly vapid arguments which he so often supports with factual errors.
Let’s examine his latest contribution to the public discourse on Australian Jewry [...]
May
31
2009
31
2009
May
24
2009
24
2009
The New Week: Ideas from SJ Readers 1 – Yoram’s Report from Auburn Rd Shul
Firstly, Yoram, of the Auburn Rd Shul, conducted a discussion among the Shul’s congregants regarding some of the themes raised on this blog. We thank him for doing that. For more information on that discussion, you can read Yoram’s comment here. The congregants, diverse in age and background seemed to agree that the community requires some form of leadership; however, Yoram contends that even though such a forum was effective at promoting discussion, the “Town Hall” style of meeting may not be best suited to establishing tangible changes.
More Than Three Opinions: A Map of The Jewish Australian Blogosphere
“Two Jews, three opinions,” is a cliché. It’s also a gross understatement.
The ease with which a blog can be set up combined with my people’s natural tendency to debate anything, means that there is now a cornucopia of Jewish Australian opinion available online.
Left and right, centre and periphery, religious and secular, Zionist and anti-Zionist – [...]