Australian Jews face increasing hostilities from the left: Sydney Writers Festival

Australian Jews are facing increasing hostility not just from groups such as neo-Nazis but also from people on the left, a Sydney Writers Festival panel discussing anti-Semitism has heard.

Australian Jews are facing increasing hostility not just from groups such as neo-Nazis but also from people on the left, a Sydney Writers Festival panel discussing anti-Semitism has heard.

Veteran journalist Michael Gawenda, who is Jewish, also told the talk at Carriageworks on Friday that following the October 7 attacks he could no longer get published in major Nine Network publication The Age – despite being its former editor – probably because of what he has written on Israel.

The panel was held a day after two Israelis were gunned down in Washington DC and after controversy at the festival, including over its decision to invite a Palestinian writer who used the term “cancerous growth” when discussing Israel and its former chair, Australian Jewish woman Kathy Shand, quitting over disagreements with other organisers.

Veteran Australian journalist Michael Gawenda, who is Jewish, says he can no longer get published in The Age – despite working for the masthead for 40 years.

Mr Gawenda told the panel he was not into “hierarchies” over who suffers the most, but that increasingly people on the left had acted hostile towards Jews lately.

“I do believe there has been an increase over 10 years or 15 years, there has been an increase in hostilities to Jews across the political spectrum, it’s not just neo-Nazi anti-Semitism or right wing anti-Semitism or right wing hostilities to Jews – but on the left there has also,” Mr Gawenda said.

“I’ve experienced it personally with friends and people, who I thought were colleagues, who could not abide with having a relationship with me unless I was prepared to say Zionism was evil and Israel is a state that should never have existed.”

Businesswoman Kathy Shand, pictured left, quit as chair of the Sydney Writers Festival following disagreements with other staff.

Mr Gawenda also said a memoir of his was published just before the October 7 attacks in 2023 but that since then he has been unable to get published in The Age newspaper – despite editing it for years.

He said that was probably something to do with his position on Israel.

“I worked for The Age for 40 years, I ended up editor in chief, three days before October 7, my book was launched, it could have been half of the staff of The Age that came to the launch of my book, old colleagues came – since October 7, I have not been published in The Age,” Mr Gawenda said.

“I don’t know, we’ve talked, the editor and I, I know there are journalists who have argued for me to be published, but I have not been published in The Age.

“I don’t know why not, I can’t tell you exactly why not, but it seems to me that it’s pretty obvious that it has something to do with whatever I wrote in my book about my position on Israel.”

Mr Gawenda said animosity towards Jewish Australians was occurring in the arts and university communities.

He mentioned University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott apologising to Jewish students and staff over the organisation’s handling of a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

Originally published as Australian Jews face increasing hostilities from the left: Sydney Writers Festival