The Royal Commission Heard My Testimony. Then Came The Abuse.
Written by Jeremy Stowe-Lindner, Principal
Two weeks ago I appeared before the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social cohesion to give evidence on behalf of my school, our students and their families.
The experience felt cathartic. I outlined the hundreds of instances of hateful rhetoric my school has received online, as well as the dozens of security incidents around our perimeter - from Nazi salutes to people yelling F- the Jews, to passersby making a shooting gun gesture and the appearance of fascist and threatening stickers and posters outside our gates.
I recounted instances of our children being spat on, screamed at in public and asked to leave public transport. I described inter-school sports matches in which our students were racially abused – separate from the shouting of political slogans – and even parents at other schools engaging in intimidating behaviour.
And I outlined some of the security measures I have had to take in response to personal abuse directed at me.
I thought my testimony would be the end of it. Instead, in the days following my testimony, the torrent of online abuse intensified.
Since appearing before the Royal Commission, I have been called a paedophile, a monster, a supporter of baby killing, an idiot, a parasite, a warmongerer, an evil specimen, a child eater, a butcher, a Nazi, a normaliser of genocide, stupid and a c#nt. Much of this posted directly on the school’s Facebook page.
I appreciate that by writing this I am ignoring the advice of one particular commentator, who described me as a “f-cking parasite” and suggested that I stop “whining”.
In fact, I refuse to “F-ck off idiot”.
Reflecting on both the scale and content of the abuse, several features are striking.
The first is that most of the commenters are perfectly happy to attach their names to what they write. Their transparency of thought and identity is initially surprising, unless of course they believe the views they espouse and the way they espouse them is sufficiently normalised that concealment is unnecessary.
The second is that the particular aspects of antisemitism that they articulate are a direct response to the very concerns raised before the Royal Commission. Appeals for civility, nuance and basic human decency have been reciprocated with hate, vilification and abuse.
What follows is a snapshot of what I have received.
In my testimony I explained that accusing Jews of behaving like Nazis is particularly painful for a community significantly descended from Holocaust survivors. The response arrived precisely in that form: I am an “anaemic-complexioned AshkeNAZI fake”.
The Royal Commission also heard testimony that many Jews feel unable to describe the experiences of Australian Jewish children without first issuing ritual disclaimers about the suffering of Palestinians. In my case I am informed that I have “no feelings for palastinian (sic) children, monster”.
Witnesses before the Royal Commission spoke about the centrality of Israel (or Zion, as the bible calls it) to Jewish culture, identity and faith. Zion is the land that Jews have prayed towards, sung about, mourned for and lived in across millennia. We ask for the dignity afforded to other minorities across Australia, and indeed the world, to be afforded to us: the right to define our own identity rather than have it dictated by others.
Recent online commenters, though, have explained to me that “Judaism is not Zionism”, that “Zionism is antisemitic” and that “Zionism is violent genocidal colonialism.” One commenter helpfully suggested that acceptance into society could be obtained, and that I “only have to amputate that part of your personality.”
Indeed, the Commission heard that many Jews increasingly feel that social acceptance is conditional upon publicly distancing themselves from Israel. Or, as one commenter advised, I should “denounce Israel and the barbarism into which it is sunk”. This is presumably because, in the words of another, “Any Zionist not loudly and explicitly condemning Israel has blood on their hands.”
One accused me of “Normalising Genocide” and another asked “How many Palestinian kids have you been butchering in the past few years?” The reality, aside from “none”, is that the last Palestinian kids I met were in a Side by Side school in Israel, in which Jewish and Muslim children studied together.
The hearings also explored how broader social anxieties are increasingly projected onto Australia’s Jewish community, which constitutes around 0.4% of the population. In my case, I am a “child-eating pedophile (sic) Zionist” whilst another informed me that “killing people is central to (my) identity”.
And of course the familiar conspiracy tropes remain alive and well. One commenter says, “There needs to be a Royal commission into Israel’s influence on Australian Governments, politics and business”, a level of influence which, judging by recent events, Jews appear to be exercising remarkably poorly.
One commenter at least balanced hatred with irony. Displaying what appeared to be a profile picture of a white Australian presumably living on Aboriginal land, he is a self- described supporter of “decolonialisation of Australia”. Presumably, anti-Zionism offers a more comfortable avenue for moral absolution than confronting his own place (and existence) in in the history of this country.
I take heart, though, in the words of one commentator: “It’s amazing you got that much stupid in one head.”
Having read all the responses to my Royal Commission testimony, I can only agree.