In a personal submission to the Antisemitism Royal Commission, P&I founder John Menadue argues that it is impossible to separate increasing rates of antisemitism from the way Israel has conducted its genocide in Gaza.

“Antisemitism - it’s a trick, we always use it.” So said the late Israeli parliamentarian, Shulamit Aloni. UNSW Honorary Associate Professor Peter Slezak, when drawing attention to it, added the observation of distinguished Israeli diplomat Abba Eban 50 years ago: “one of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the non-Jewish world is to prove that anti-Zionism is merely the new antisemitism.”

The trick is still being used. It has led to this Royal Commission.

George Orwell in 1984 speaks of language to control consciousness and using language as an anaesthesia to numb moral perceptions. We see that in the use of the term ‘antisemitism’ to describe criticism of genocide in Gaza. It takes a term with a precise morally serious meaning and misuses it. When language is debased, Orwell wrote, truth is obscured, not incidentally, not as a side effect, but for a purpose.

As with terms like ’terrorism’ or ‘genocide’. the abuse of the term ‘antisemitism’ does not merely distort the language. It distorts the reality the language is supposed to describe.

For centuries the Christian church led anti-Jewish prejudice. That prejudice is still latent. Because of that, misuse of the term ‘antisemitic’ stores up danger for the future. It disarms the concept at precisely the moment when precision is most needed.

Emeritus Professor Robert Manne, writing under the headline Don’t mention the war, put it plainly:

the sharp rise in antisemitic acts since October 7 – insults, tweets, graffiti, doxing, arson – did not occur for no reason. They are self-evidently connected; in ways we must try to understand…to the character of Israel’s war in Gaza…

the sharp rise in antisemitic acts since October 7 – insults, tweets, graffiti, doxing, arson – did not occur for no reason. They are self-evidently connected; in ways we must try to understand…to the character of Israel’s war in Gaza…

Professor Henry Reynolds, writing in Pearls and Irritations in January 2026, noted that surveys found 76 per cent of Australian Jews considered themselves Zionists and 86 per cent felt responsibility for Israel’s continued existence. He said:

This helps us understand why there is so much determination to relate the growth of criticism of Israel to antisemitism rather than to the utter barbarity of the IDF in Gaza and the continuing pillage of the settlers in the West Bank…It would greatly facilitate social cohesion if the leaders of the mainstream Zionist organisations could trace the true source of discomforting, community criticism back to Israel rather than to the broader Australian community.

This helps us understand why there is so much determination to relate the growth of criticism of Israel to antisemitism rather than to the utter barbarity of the IDF in Gaza and the continuing pillage of the settlers in the West Bank…

It would greatly facilitate social cohesion if the leaders of the mainstream Zionist organisations could trace the true source of discomforting, community criticism back to Israel rather than to the broader Australian community.

The upsurge in antisemitism, and the conduct of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, have occurred simultaneously and are plainly connected. The refusal of pro-Israel lobby organisations in Australia to acknowledge it is dishonest. (See my earlier article, The weaponising of antisemitism is to hide the genocide in Pearls and Irritations.)

The very important context includes not only Gaza, but also US violence and Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Five million people in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East have been killed in US-led wars since 2001, with a further 38 million displaced. Israel and Australia have supported all these wars.

In 1948, Palestinians owned 94 per cent of all land in Palestine. Then came the Nakba and the beginning of ethnic cleansing. Then regular Israeli ‘mowing the lawn’. Then Gaza and the West Bank. Now Palestinians own only 18 per cent.  Why wouldn’t Palestinians in Australia be angry!

The Security Council, UN agencies and the ICJ have determined that Israel is breaching numerous international laws. Human rights experts have highlighted Israel’s crimes against humanity – murder, torture, sexual violence – and war crimes with starvation as a weapon targeting civilians. Despite all this the Zionist lobby in Australia has said little or nothing about this genocide.

No one should be deterred in calling out Israel’s behaviour for fear of being called antisemitic.

The pro-Israel lobby in Australia is “formidable, well-funded, and effective”. These are the words of John Lyons, a senior ABC journalist writing in Pearls and Irritations in 2021. Another senior journalist Peter Greste said that “the pressure the Israeli lobby places on Australian journalists is frankly outrageous”.

Former NSW Premier and Foreign Minister Bob Carr described his experience in Pearls and Irritations in October 2021:

My experience as Premier and Foreign Minister confirms that the lobbying exceeded that marshalled by any other diaspora community. As Foreign Minister, on my first visit to the UN, I released a very routine statement noting the latest burst of Israeli settlement activity was not helpful to the peace process. From Australia arrived a request that I make myself available for a telephone conference with community leaders who would patiently explain to me that Australia was not entitled to criticise settlements – even though they represent a clear breach of international law.

My experience as Premier and Foreign Minister confirms that the lobbying exceeded that marshalled by any other diaspora community. As Foreign Minister,........

© Pearls and Irritations