Crikey‘s report last week on a controversial opinion article on asylum seekers by the owner/publisher of The Australian Jewish News, Robert Magid, caused a stir, with The Age and the ABC’s Lateline joining the fray with follow-ups.
In the op-ed, for those who missed it, Magid called for Jews to be less compassionate towards asylum seekers arriving by boat and conflated the issues of Muslim immigration and terrorism. Some in the Jewish community reckoned this “hate speech” and demanded the paper apologise. In last Friday’s edition, however, AJN editor Zeddy Lawrence stood by his man:
“The simple fact is Australian society as a whole has a diverse range of opinions on the issue of refugees, and as a microcosm of that society, Australian Jewry also has a diverse range of opinions.
“As a newspaper, we endeavour to represent as broad a cross-section of our community as possible. We give space to our readers, we give space to our rabbis … and yes, very occasionally, we give space to our publisher, for he is no less entitled to hold his views as anyone else is to hold theirs.
“As a newspaper, we don’t legislate on who should believe what or whether one person’s point of view is more legitimate or more valid than another’s.”
The paper published four letters in support of Magid’s article and five opposed. Can’t get much more fair and balanced than that.
Isn’t this the largely unspoken essence of the whole refugee debate? And isn’t this exactly what Scott Morrison was suggesting as a vote-winning theme back in February 2011? (See http://www.smh.com.au/national/morrison-sees-votes-in-antimuslim-strategy-20110216-1awmo.html ) For how much longer can we run the refugee debate as a proxy for the debate on the place of Islam in our society?
Magid’s timing is perfect. Announced today: 67 Palestinian refugees presumed drowned while heading for Australia from Java.
What were they Magid? Terrorists? Muslim fanatics? Or were they very similar to the persecuted Jews who migrated here from the 19th century onwards- just wanting a better life free from threat and abuse?
And who’s been persecuting the Palestinians for the past 60 years, Magid? Tell us about institutionalised racism. Tell us about the world’s largest concentration camp, aka Gaza. Tell us about the Islamic terrorism and religious fundamentalism which decades of daily humiliation and dispossession have generated around the world.
That’s not an unreasonable defence of the decision to publish Robert Magid’s piece, but it all seems hypocritical when it’s coming from a religious community that spawned atrocities ranging from killing 91 people in the King David hotel in the 40s, to organising public killings in in the UAE in 2010, and an extensive list of attacks on civilians in between.
Now, watch. The people who complain that pointing to Jewish terrorism is anti-Semitic will turn right around and deny any sort of bigotry in their condemnation of Muslims.
That’s the great thing about bigotry, it’s equal opportunity.