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May 20, 2024, 12:44 PM

The Jewish Council(s) of Australia Part 2

In a recent article, I explained how the views of the new anti-Zionist Jewish Council differed sharply from those of the former Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism (JCCFAS) which existed from 1942-70. I highlighted two particular contrasting...

May 10, 2024, 10:22 AM

The Jewish Council of Australia: how can they learn from the earlier JCCFAS?

In early 2024, a new left-wing Australian Jewish group called the Jewish Council was launched. The Council described itself as ‘a diverse coalition of Jewish academics, lawyers, writers and teachers. We are experts on antisemitism and racism. We were...

Dec 19, 2023, 8:24 AM

The NSW Teachers Federation and their response to the October 7 Hamas Massacre

The October 7 Hamas death squad massacre has had a traumatic impact on Jews globally. For many Australian Jews, their first response was a frantic checking on the safety of family and friends living in Israel. Beyond that, there...

Nov 23, 2023, 4:47 AM

Twice Traumatized: Australian Jews and progressive responses to October 7

The national conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs is an ongoing tragedy that adversely effects the lives of Jews and Arabs living in the Middle East, and additionally the wellbeing of Jews, Arabs and many others living across...

Aug 29, 2023, 4:14 PM

Not just a collection of anti-Zionist conspiracy theories: ‘Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab Jew’ by Avi Shlaim

״Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab Jew״ by Avi Shlaim. One World Publications. London. 2023 This autobiographical narrative by the Israeli-born revisionist historian Avi Shlaim has already caused a lot of controversy. That contention is the result of both his...

Nov 17, 2022, 11:48 AM

Contemporary progressives on antisemitism

Explaining the ambivalence of contemporary progressives on antisemitism: Some learnings from Sima Arnold’s From Occupation to Occupy: Antisemitism and the contemporary American Left, Indiana University Press, 2022 by Professor Philip Mendes Every few months now, Australian student unions seem to...

Oct 17, 2022, 9:34 AM

Trade unions and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement

What happens when ideological zealots infiltrate trade unions to attack academic freedom? A case study of the Australian National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the extremist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by Professor Philip Mendes In the 1980s and...

May 5, 2022, 10:52 AM

A crude hatchet job on the Australian Labor Party

A crude hatchet job on the Australian Labor Party is not in the best interests of Australian Jewry: A response to the ultra-conservative Australian Jewish Association by Philip Mendes Every now and then, strange hatchet jobs appear in the political...

Jun 3, 2012, 12:53 PM

Dismantle settlements to defang BDS

Has the time come for a large scale 'disengagement' from the West Bank?

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About Me

Professor Philip Mendes is the author or co-author of 13 books including Jews and the Left: The rise and fall of a political alliance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), and Boycotting Israel is Wrong (New South Press, 2015). His most recent critique of the Australian BDS movement has just appeared in Robert A. Kenedy et al (Eds.) Israel and the Diaspora: Jewish connectivity in a changing world. Springer Nature Switzerland, pp.221-238.