I accuse

In 1898. Emile Zola famously wrote to the president of the French Republic, Felix Faure, decrying the conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. This conviction was based on a forged letter purporting to show treason on behalf of Dreyfus. Zola’s famous letter accused the Republic of blatant antisemitism. For this he was tried and convicted of  libel and to escape jail he fled to England for a year. The French press had, for the most part, at that time, run with the idea that Dreyfus was a traitor. Notorious antisemites had a day. Ultimately, as he know, the forger was discovered to be another, an Esterharzy and Dreyfus was  pardoned and reinstated to the army. It took over a hundred years though before proper acknowledgement occurred.

I am no Zola but I accuse. I accuse the media of being lazy and complicit in the promulgation and dissemination of inflammatory and inciteful material against Jews. Time and again we read in the press or hear on the radio of the sins of Israel. We hear words thrown about carelessly, words like genocide and ethnic cleansing and apartheid. We see those words used so frequently that their true meaning has been obliterated, all in the name of Jew hatred. Of course, by and large you won’t read that. By and large you will read something about Israel or Zionists. But that’s just a camouflage. A mask. We all know what it means. We know that because the animus towards Jews is just that: as I write this  a synagogue in Sydney has been defaced. Jew or not? You decide.

A non-peer reviewed article in The Lancet, widely quoted, has thrown out ridiculous and made-up numbers of alleged deaths and casualties in Gaza. Allegations of a non -existent famine in Gaza have been thrown about. While this is happening, guess what is not being printed- the weapons and armoury found in UNRWA buildings and headquarters and schools; the ongoing rockets being fired into Israel from both Gaza and the North from Lebanon.

The irresponsible media continues to seek commentary from non-representative and unelected Jewish anti Zionists who support Hamas and platform their supporters. They give succor to these irrelevant but dangerous nobodies who represent a fringe group of malcontents. Those who are informed know that  this gaggle of nobodies who have about 600 members which amount to about one half of a percent of the Jewish community does not represent any kind of a mainstream view within the spectrum of views that exist within the community.

The irresponsible media seek commentary from those who would deny the 7 October pogroms, either in part or in full, for example denying the rapes and other sexual violence.

The irresponsible media always seemingly accept death numbers as thrown out by Hamas, but always question those stated by Israel.

The media has a role: it is to inform us. It is not, I would argue, to propagate misinformation or incite hatred.

There have been of course some exceptions. Some media have gone out of their way to expose what is going on. Some media have recently published articles about the so called feminists and human rights advocates who somehow think it is acceptable to deny the rapes of Jewish women. The #believeallwomen doesn’t apply if you’re a Jew.  At least for some .

Some of the biggest offenders have been these so called self appointed human rights and women’s rights advocates. Advocates for hate really. For when it comes to Jews they really advocate the hate.

It is perfectly acceptable to call for ethnic cleansing of Jews now. No matter that close to 1 million Jews were ethnically cleansed from Arab lands post 1948. No matter than the roughly 700000 Arabs in mandate Palestine now number over 2 million in Israel. No matter that the population of Gaza has increased from a few hundred thousand to millions since 2005 when Israel withdrew. Facts no longer matter.  Facts are irrelevant to the narrative, that being that Israel is a malignancy that must be expunged. Bad luck about its citizens. They don’t count.

So yes I accuse. I accuse in the name of the dead who cannot . I accuse in the name of the hostages who cannot. I accuse in the name of all of us who despair when reading yet another biased inflammatory article that defames and dehumanises us or simply gaslights us.

Are we not human? Do we not bleed? The quality of mercy is surely strained, for when it comes to us, we stand accused of original sin.

But we should not be the ones in the dock. For we are the ones who are calling out, both the living and the ghosts of the murdered, “ I accuse”.