The focus of Block 3 of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was on online hate but the commission did not hear about the hate directed at pro-Palestinian groups. 

How can the “discomfort” felt by certain Zionists when they see a keffiyeh or hear pro-Palestine peace slogans be more serious than the mutilation and murder of tens of thousands of children? More important than the unspeakable suffering of an entire people being dehumanised, dispossessed and erased from their land, culture and history? More pressing than the escalation towards an all-out war?

On Thursday 9 July, Jews Against the Occupation ’48 (JAO48) and Stop the War On Palestine (SWOP) co-hosted a protest rally against the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

JAO48 is one of several anti-Zionist Jewish organisations refused leave to appear at the Royal Commission Hearing Block 3 focusing on “the dissemination of antisemitic content and other forms of hateful speech in the online environment, as well as antisemitism in traditional media and broadcasting”.

Why is the anti-Zionist Jewish voice not heard? Nor the voice of our Arab and Muslim communities and the Palestinian community? Apparently because none of these excluded groups have a “direct and substantial interest” in the scope of the hearing.

Yet, the Commission supposedly concerns social cohesion, and the Block 3 hearing encompasses “other forms of hateful speech”, not only antisemitism.

The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) is the only non-Zionist Jewish group given leave to appear. One of its founders, Sarah Schwartz, gave a comprehensive testimony on 2 July. Seen as dissenters and traitors, she and the JCA have copped much flack and many smears from the Zionist majority that dominates the narrative.

In May, when the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) was refused leave to appear, they rightly said: “excluding our community from a process examining racism and social cohesion, as well as from discussions which label our advocacy as antisemitic, is unacceptable”.

At Thursday’s rally, JAO48 displayed posters of the........

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