Examining the Bondi massacre, Michelle Berkon, Jewish activist for Palestine, and Stefan Moore, filmmaker and Bondi resident, join CN Live! Watch the replay.
The fallout from the Bondi Beach massacre in Sydney has unfortunately been predictable. As in the aftermath of 9/11 in the U.S. with the Patriot Act and mass surveillance of Americans, Australia is adopting stringent new measures that will clamp down on free speech.
In adopting a definition of anti-semitism that conflates Judaism with Zionism, Australia is attempting to stamp out legitimate protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Within hours of last Sunday’s terrorist attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sections of the media and Western politicians exploited the killings to blame them on anti-genocide protestors.
Australian outlet Deepcut News reports:
“A contentious plan to ‘combat antisemitism’ that human rights organisations have denounced as ‘an outrageous and blatant act of repression’ has been adopted by the federal government.
Speaking on Thursday, the prime minister announced the government would adopt the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism – a sweeping set of proposals that would proscribe criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
If the recommendations are implemented in full, the Albanese government will have handed Jillian Segal – the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and an unelected appointee – wide-ranging powers to monitor media outlets, school and university curricula, cultural institutions and the public service.
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) condemned the government’s adoption of the plan, calling it ‘a profound threat to Australian democracy, civil liberties, and the right to peaceful protest.’
‘This report does not deliver safety. It delivers sweeping new state powers that undermine democratic freedoms and silence dissent, particularly opposition to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza,’ APAN president Nasser Mashni said on Thursday.
‘By adopting this report, the Albanese Government has chosen control over conscience, censorship over accountability, and political expediency over human rights.’”
Joining CN Live! tonight is Michelle Berkon, a Jewish, pro-Palestine activist who was forcefully removed by police from a vigil at Bondi Beach because she was wearing a Palestinian scarf; and by Stefan Moore, an American-Australian filmmaker and producer who has worked for WNET in New York, the BBC in London and the ABC in Sydney. He is a resident of Bondi.
Interviewers: Cathy Vogan and Joe Lauria. Producer: Cathy Vogan. Time: 1 hr. 19 min. (Pre-recorded)
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The honding back and censoring protestors, instead of the aggressor can be understood for the same power dynamic at play in domestic violence scenarios. Traditionally the women was told to leave the house, to stop behaving in a way that make the aggressor angry, to put up with the controlling adn the lies. Some countries have taken a stand against domestic violence and through education and demanding accountability have adjusted the response of authorities and the community to victims and perpetrators. It is so important to call attention to the abuse, and to support the target of those aggressors.
To focus blame on those with less functional power, to controlled and limit freedoms of free speach calling for justice is supporting structures of abuse.
I’m lost for words after watching this important revelation of the chicanery of the Australian police and politicians.
Thank you for the conversation. …very interesting times we are in. Solidarity and Peace.
Wish John Pilger was still here.