Jewish creatives tell Israel haters: ‘see you in court’

More than 50 Jewish creatives are taking legal action after their private WhatsApp group was doxxed by pro-Palestinian activists who leaked their messages and details.

Jewish musician Joshua Moshe who was sacked from his band 30/70 because of his pro-Israeli views.

More than 50 Jewish creatives are taking legal action after their private WhatsApp group was doxxed by pro-Palestinian activists who leaked their messages and details, causing them to ­receive a torrent of abuse and lose work opportunities.

One of these is musician Joshua Moshe, who says his ­career as a professional musician is in jeopardy after he was dumped and defamed by his band, 30/70, for comments he made on the Jewish WhatsApp group.

More than 50 of the hundreds of members of the WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives who were doxxed have sought legal redress for losses from employers, managers and festival and music directors and distributors who have excluded them from work opportunities as a result of the leaked WhatsApp messages.

Some of these cases have already been settled confidentially: others are in different stages of progress.

Moshe had been a member of 30/70 since 2017, with the band having achieved local and international success, but in late January he was suddenly dumped without warning by his fellow band members after details of the WhatsApp group were leaked.

In the WhatsApp group, Moshe had referred to Nadine Chemali, an occasional SBS contributor, as “wildly anti-Zionist” and offered to take a “deep dive” into her social media posts to see if she had said anything that might breach her contract with SBS.

He did not pursue the idea and did not search Ms Chemali’s previous comments or make any complaint to SBS. However, the leaking of his comments led to allegations that he was among some members of the WhatsApp group who were seeking to ­silence pro-Palestinian activists. It is a claim he denies.

The fallout was immediate, with the band posting on its Facebook and Instagram pages that Moshe was no longer a part of 30/70 in view of his “abhorrent” comments.

“In the last 24 hours we have become aware of comments made by Joshua Moshe, within a Zionist WhatsApp chat group. We are disgusted, deeply shocked and betrayed by what has been involved,” the band’s post said.

“We strongly denounce Israel’s and AUS/USA’s involvement in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people … Josh will no longer be a part of the band as we have come to understand that his actions are incongruent with our core values … Free Palestine.”

Moshe says tat after the leaked WhatsApp messages, he and his wife became the subject of a vitriolic campaign of intimidation and harassment. According to a legal letter sent to band members by his lawyers, Arnold Bloch Leibler, the couple “received death threats, including threats directed against their child, and their business was vandalised and boycotted.”

The abuse forced the couple to close the gift shop they had run in Thornbury in Melbourne’s north for the past seven years. They are now moving to an area of Melbourne where there is a larger Jewish community and where they will not feel so ostracised.

Jewish musician Joshua Moshe, left, was sacked via social media by his band, 30/70, because of his pro-Israeli views.

Moshe says his music opportunities as a saxophone player have dried up since he was sacked and defamed by his former band members. “What they have done to me has had some significant impact, long-term permanent damage on my musical career,“ he said.

ABL has accused the band members of unlawfully sacking Moshe from the band.

Moshe is seeking a “comprehensive public apology” from the band that acknowledges the distress caused by his sacking and the allegations levelled against him. He is also seeking the removal of the hostile post and an undertaking by the band not to repeat those allegations in any public forum.

Moshe is also seeking legal costs of $25,000, which he says he will donate to Melbourne’s Holocaust Museum.

The ABL letter to band members says its termination post about Moshe contains “false and defamatory information” that has caused serious harm to his reputation and standing within the business and music industry.

Members of the band did not respond to queries from The Weekend Australian.

“Many who proclaim the importance of fighting racism are the ones isolating Jews from their spaces,” Moshe said. “Whatever is motivating them doesn’t matter, because Jews are being pushed out of the arts – their shows are being cancelled, they’re being forced out of boardrooms, and in my case, despite 10 years of friendship, my band defamed and expelled me on social media.”

Moshe said he was taking action against the band to fight back against such discrimination and “also on behalf of the Jewish community because this is now happening everywhere in the arts”.

The Australian last week revealed that ARIA-award winning singer and songwriter Deborah Conway had been cancelled by an ABC radio program as well as by several writers festivals as a result of her pro-Israel views.

President of the Zionist Federation of Australia Jeremy Leibler said there should be conse­quences for those who direct hatred and discrimination at Jews.

“Even if you had unimpeachable progressive credentials, and what you thought were close friends, Josh’s case shows that can be all for nothing – because Jews are being libelled and hounded out of the arts simply for being Jews,” he said.

ABL partner Raphael Leibler said: “We’ve been advising the targets of a malignant strain of anti-Semitism that has coursed through our communities since 7 October. People have been ­harassed, doxxed, bullied in their workplaces, and have lost contracts and professional relationships. Some have received credible death threats.”