Age article clearly antisemitism

The Age has crossed the line from fair comment on Israel to antisemitism, the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission said today.

In an article published on Saturday, commentator Michael Backman blamed Israel for global terrorism, the Bali bombing and even the attack on the World Trade Centre. Backman went on to regurgitate ancient antisemitic canards about Jews as loud, mean and money-grubbing and to imply that all problems between the west and the world’s Muslims are entirely due to Israel.

ADC acting chairman Mr Alain Grossbard said the entire Jewish community was distressed beyond words by the publication of the article.

“It’s quite extraordinary that any media in that 21st century would disseminate such material without recognising the antisemitic mythology embedded in Backman’s comments.

“He is essentially saying Jews control the world. Jews are rude and mean. Jews are the secret force behind all wars and problems. These are opinions that would have been entirely acceptable in Nazi propoganda. “They are not acceptable in Australia in the 21st century.

“We call on The Age to apologize to the Jewish community for the publication of this offensive article.”

The Jewish community has approached The Age for a meeting to address the paper’s attitude to Israel coverage and how such an article could have been published.