Questions about ABC platforming ‘radical fringe Jewish voice’

Jewish groups have questioned why the national broadcaster has chosen to platform and ‘mainstream’ a Jewish ‘radical fringe voice’, in its coverage of anti-Semitic events in Sydney.

Sarah Schwartz, who leads the left-wing Jewish Council of Australia. Picture: Instagram

Jewish groups have questioned why the national broadcaster has chosen to platform and “mainstream” a Jewish “radical fringe voice”, who spoke at a controversial anti-racism symposium last week, in its coverage of anti-Semitic events in Sydney.

Sarah Schwartz, a Melbourne lawyer who leads the left-wing Jewish Council of Australia, was recently criticised for ridiculing “Dutton’s Jew” at the Queensland University of Technology event, later explaining she was referring “to the way that Peter Dutton conceives of Jewish people and uses us as political footballs to push his own agenda, not actual Jewish people”.

The anti-racism event led QUT vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil to apologise, and University of Melbourne senior academic Marcia Langton, writing in The Australian that a claim the address was satirical was “deluded” and Ms Schwartz’s comments were “objectively anti-Semitic” – a claim Ms Schwartz strongly rejected.

On Thursday, Ms Schwartz was interviewed on the national broadcaster for her reaction following a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney, including the discovery of an abandoned caravan laden with enough explosives to level a 40m blast zone, and a home neighbouring a Jewish primary school scrawled with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Her comments expressed how “terrifying” the attacks were, and outlined the “clear escalation” in anti-Semitic incidents, before she defended her QUT speech. About four minutes into the interview, Ms Schwartz said: “I don’t speak for the Jewish community, no one can speak for the Jewish community”.

Jewish groups have questioned why the ABC has platformed Ms Schwartz given the last week’s controversy.

The ABC refused to comment, including on whether it should have introduced context about Ms Schwartz’ appearance at the QUT event and the Jewish Council at the top of the interview.

Chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dvir Abramovich said it was “profoundly troubling that the ABC has chosen to platform Sarah Schwartz and the Jewish Council of Australia as a representative voice for the Australian Jews”.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich. Picture: Josie Hayden

Jeremy Leibler. Picture: Yusuke Sato

“Its track record, including the recent shameful and widely condemned ‘Dutton’s Jew’ slide presented at the QUT conference should have had the alarm bells going at the ABC. For our national broadcaster to fail to disclose this context from the outset, instead allowing Sarah Schwartz to appear as a legitimate spokesperson for Jewish Australians, is a dereliction of journalistic responsibility.

“Imagine watching as an unendorsed, unrepresentative group is elevated on national television while those with true legitimacy — are sidelined,” Mr Abramovich said.

“This is a slap in the face to every Jewish Australian and a disservice to the broader public, who rely on the ABC for accurate and responsible reporting. This is a moment of reckoning for the ABC.”

President of the Zionist Federation of Australia Jeremy Leibler said that “while Jews face the worst explosion of antisemitic terror in living memory, the ABC chooses to platform a radical fringe voice to misrepresent our community. This isn’t journalism — it’s gaslighting”.

Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council Executive Manager Joel Burnie also criticised the ABC.

“It is bad enough that, over recent months, the ABC has pointedly promoted the views of the tiny JCA – a group of contrarian gadflies that formed post-October 7 for no other apparent reason than to distance themselves from Israel as it fought back against Hamas’ atrocities,” he said.

“The ABC must be aware of how Schwartz has been widely condemned … in a supposed ‘comedy’ routine at a Queensland conference last week.”

Ms Schwartz said the NewsCorp articles about her speech at QUT were “based on an entirely fabricated, deliberate misconstruction” of what she said.

“The very personal campaign by NewsCorp and Israel lobby groups reveals the extent to which these groups will go to silence any Jewish person who does not fit into their racist and monolithic portrayal of the Jewish community,” she said.

“The Jewish community is diverse and individuals hold a wide range of views on the issues of our time.”

She said unlike groups like the ZFA, and the anti-defamation league, the Jewish Council “does not claim to speak on behalf of the entire Jewish community, no single group can”.