On misinformation, groups like AJA must do better by their communities

On October 9, two days after Hamas launched its attack on Israel, pro-Palestine protesters converged on the Sydney Opera House. They were there to demonstrate against the NSW government’s decision to light up the building’s iconic “sails” in blue and white in support of Israel. 

I am a Jewish Israeli-Australian who stands in solidarity with Palestinians calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israel’s occupation. I did not attend this protest, although there was a proud Jewish contingent — as there is at every pro-Palestine rally. From this protest, multiple confirmed reports surfaced of some members of the crowd shouting anti-Semitic chants (one of the rally’s organisers would later address the media to condemn the chants and say that those responsible weren’t welcome in the movement).

The morning after the protest, a video emerged of a group of attendees shouting a sentence over and over again for a few seconds. The video was circulated on Twitter/X by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) with the caption “Muslim mob of 100s chant ‘gas the Jews’”. 

The AJA is an Australian Zionist organisation that even other Zionist community leaders seek to disassociate from.

The video went viral almost immediately and had a serious impact. Months later, it is often cited in media reporting and underpins claims that the streets of Australia are unsafe for Jews. NSW Premier Chris Minns used the video to try to ban future pro-Palestine rallies, a cynical move that pits Jewish safety in direct opposition with Palestine solidarity.

The fact that this video circulated in the days after October 7 is significant. Not only did it result in the NSW premier and police trying to prevent other protests from happening, and resulted in some Palestinian organisers being questioned by police, but it also sowed fear in the Jewish community, a community that was understandably shaken by hearing that “gas the Jews” was chanted. The video circulated the world, with outlets in the USA, Israel and the UK reporting on it without scrutiny. 

But now, as reported by journalists Cam Wilson and Antoinette Lattouf in Crikey, there are legitimate questions raised by forensic audio and verification experts about the video in question. 

Reading that experts — supported by testimonies from people who attended the rally — have cast doubt on the authenticity of the original recording left me feeling angry. Angry that the AJA, which claims to be an organisation “for the Australian Jewish community”, had no qualms about circulating confronting footage allegedly of a “Muslim mob of 100s chant[ing] ‘gas the Jews’” without first verifying its authenticity. 

I’m angry because telling the Jewish community that a “mob of 100s” chanting “gas the Jews” can truly strike fear in a community when tensions are already high, when people are already afraid and uncertain. I’m angry because anti-Semitism has possibly been weaponised by Jews against other Jews. It also left me wondering what sense of responsibility the AJA has for the community it claims to represent, such that it had no issue about circulating footage that — knowingly — would make Jews feel unsafe. It is possible that the AJA shared this video to foment division between “Muslims” and “Jews”, and between Jews and the Palestine solidarity movement, but in doing so it acted with recklessness that has real-life consequences. 

Perhaps, as some argue, it doesn’t matter what the phrase is. They would say that whether the chant was “where’s the Jews”, “fuck the Jews”, or “gas the Jews”, it is still anti-Semitic (although I disagree — invoking a form of murder notorious for its use in the Holocaust is an incitement to violence different from asking “where’s the Jews”, especially given there is a criminal distinction).

But my point, ultimately, is that the damage is done. That the video was circulated without scrutiny and verification, firstly by the AJA and subsequently by countless media organisations, has had grave impacts on the Palestinian solidarity movement that was tarnished as anti-Semitic and saw protesters and organisers vilified. It feeds into harmful stereotypes about Arab-Australians and reinforces the ahistorical idea that the conflict between Palestine and Israel is about the annihilation of Jews, rather than colonisation and dispossession.

I have no doubt that in the next weeks and months we will learn more about the words chanted in the protest. But my concern is that this video was circulated by a Zionist group without verification, knowing that it will generate fear in the Jewish community. Doing so has had dire, real-life implications on people. I know, because I’ve felt them. 

Over the recent months I’ve had conversations (or arguments) with people from the Australian Jewish community who hold different political views to mine. In these conversations, some have accused me of holding dangerous views that put Jews in danger. To support their accusations, people cited the AJA video as evidence and used it to claim that the Palestine solidarity movement is anti-Semitic. In their eyes, I am supporting an anti-Semitic movement, and being used as a Jew by those who want to cause harm to myself and other Jews. 

These allegations were made by people close to me, people I care deeply about. I take these allegations to heart. Consequently, a rift has formed between us. This division, a personal one, is replicated throughout the Jewish community at large. Many Jewish people witnessed Israel’s response to the Hamas attack on October 7 with profound horror. We’re struck by the extent of devastation in Gaza, and also by the deafening silence from peak Jewish bodies, synagogues, and community and religious leaders who remain mute when it comes to the suffering of Palestinians. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the Jewish community is divided, and this division has seen families sever bonds with each other and longtime friendships crumble. 

I know this because people — at times total strangers — have reached out to me to express how isolated they feel. To share that they feel betrayed by the people in their congregation, their rabbis, families and communities. Betrayed because their views are silenced and marginalised, while Zionist views are elevated and given room. 

Many of us in the left-wing Jewish community feel unrepresented by so-called community leaders and peak bodies that turn a blind eye to the horrors that Israel is inflicting upon Palestinians and justify Israel’s war crimes as “self-defence”. We’ve started building communities with each other in response.   

A surge of organising on the left — spearheaded by groups like IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace in North America, and Loud Jew Collective, Jews Against the Occupation ’48 and Tzedek Collective in Australia — has responded to the war by calling for a ceasefire and organising alongside the Palestine solidarity movement. Correspondingly, on the right, Zionist lobby groups and individuals made claims that calling for a ceasefire is anti-Semitic, which uses the dangerous logic that Jewish safety is contingent on the oppression of Palestinians. 

These groups claim that any critique of Israel is anti-Semitic, which has grave implications for Palestinians, Jews and other allies. The absurdity and even danger of this position should be plain to see. It treats Jews as a monolith and, worse, implicates Jews everywhere with the state of Israel — a state many of us stand against. In recent months, Jewish blocs in pro-Palestine protests have grown week by week with new members and supporters. We resist the flattening of Jewish identity and values that right-wing Zionist groups impose on us. And we continue to speak out for Palestine despite families turning against us, despite friends disappearing. In this current climate, the consequences for speaking up about Palestine have never been higher. 

On a personal level, the video circulated by AJA without verification contributed to a deepening chasm in the Jewish community, which sees some of us on one side, and our families and friends on the other. At this time of heightened emotions and impulsive reactions, media and civil society groups need to do better by the communities they claim to serve — communities that are already volatile, fearful and precarious. The very least groups such as AJA can do is verify inflammatory claims. As it stands, they now seem to be backing away from them.

Regardless, the damage is done. The Australian Jewish community is ruptured. And despite allegations levelled against us, a growing number of Jews reject the mainstream Zionist narrative and call for Palestinian liberation.