Dreyfus tackles hate
Appearing on a panel with Austral CEO Brendan Thomas, Dreyfus was asked by a journalist if the government considers criticism of Israel to be antisemitic.
Criticism of Israel “absolutely can be” antisemitic, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told the National Press Club last week.
Appearing on a panel with Austral CEO Brendan Thomas, Dreyfus was asked by a journalist if the government considers criticism of Israel to be antisemitic.
“I criticise the government of Israel from time to time, I don’t think I’m antisemitic,” Dreyfus said.
“But when people are singling out Israel and applying a standard to Israel that they do not apply to other countries, then potentially, there’s antisemitism going on.”
Asked by ABC 7:30 chief political correspondent Laura Tingle, who moderated the event, to elaborate, the Attorney-General said, “When people deny to Israel its right to exist. When people pretend that Israel was not created by the United Nations in 1948, and is absolutely a full member of the United Nations, those sorts of things.
“I’d say again, as a matter of principle, when people criticise Israel in a way that they would not dream of applying to another country, then you are at the point of antisemitism.”
Dreyfus also praised the appointment of Jillian Segal as the government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism.
Asked earlier in the proceedings his thoughts on politicians being identified by their religion when discussing the Middle East, he said, “I’m proud to be Jewish. I’m a Jewish Australian.
“I would hope it informs the way I live, that it informs, gives me a moral framework to live by … I don’t think there’s anything per se wrong with identifying people’s religion or identifying that people belong to particular groups or have particular ethnic backgrounds,” he said.
“What’s wrong is when we assume, and this is prejudice, and discrimination, that that is determinative of their views or determinative of the way they’ll vote or determinative of the way that they will behave in society.
“Australia is a much richer place and a much more diverse place than that.”
Addressing Segal’s appointment on ABC Radio later that day, Dreyfus said, “Our government is acting on what has been the largest rise of antisemitism in Australia in my lifetime.
“It’s something that’s concerned all Australians but members of the community of which I’m part, the Jewish community, have felt antisemitism rise appallingly since the attacks in Israel on October 7.”
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