Harassment of Jerry Seinfeld and Josh Burns leave no excuses for the ‘River to the Sea’ brigade | David Penberthy

The bigotry on display against Jerry Seinfeld across Australia and a despicable attack on a Labor MP leave no more room for excuses, writes David Penberthy.

Comedy is often the best weapon.

It’s a weapon against depression. It’s a weapon against priggishness and authoritarianism.

It’s also a weapon against bigotry.

After he enjoyed the success that rightly comes with being the greatest comedian who ever lived, Groucho Marx moved with his wife and young family into up-market Beverly Hills.

It was a resolutely WASPish community, white Anglo-Saxon protestant, as Groucho was reminded when he tried to enrol his daughter for lessons at the local swimming pool.

The managers wrote back explaining that regrettably his daughter would not be allowed to join on account of being Jewish.

“She’s only half Jewish,” Groucho replied. “Maybe she can go in up to her waist?”

It is fitting that the man who co-wrote such masterworks as Duck Soup and A Day at the Races would also deliver one of the most devastating comic indictments of the utter stupidity of prejudice.

Racism and sectarianism are innately dumb.

They have caused the world more hardship than any other human failings and continue to do so today.

Jerry Seinfeld was called a “hack” and a “fraud” by pro-Palestinian protesters interrupting his second show in Sydney. Picture: Supplied,

Legendary comedian Groucho Marx.

We saw this on full display last week with the hounding of another great Jewish America comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, this time on our own shores as his Australia tour was marred by near-nightly pop-ups courtesy of the “River to the Sea” brigade.

Like Groucho before him, Seinfeld responded with humour and sangfroid when confronted by this bigotry.

“Ladies and gentlemen we have a genius in the crowd!” he exclaimed over the chanting. “He’s solved the problems of the Middle East!”

I say Seinfeld was confronted by bigotry for this is exactly what it was.

As far as I can gather, Seinfeld is not some far-right advocate for Benjamin Netanyahu. He believes two things that any decent person should agree with.

First, that the most persecuted people in human history have the right to have a state.

Second, that the murder, kidnapping and rape of more than 1200 civilians should never be seen as an act of resistance, an equitable response to a territorial dispute, or a valid means to advance any political cause.

Seinfeld was shouted at because he is a Jew.

Being shouted at in a theatre is one thing. Being Federal Labor MP Josh Burns is something else.

For months now, Josh Burns and his staff have been subjected to an appalling campaign of intimidation and fear as they go about their business at his Victorian electoral office.

Just to set the broader scene here.

Burns is a member of a government which has serious qualms about the manner in which Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to the October 7 Hamas atrocity.

Burns is part of a government which has publicly and privately admonished Israel in plain language about the unacceptable civilian death toll on innocent Palestinians.

He’s part of a government that (I would say rightly) supports a two-state solution; that is, it believes that Israel must relinquish some of the land it occupies to give the Palestinians their own home.

He’s part of a government that has been criticised for taking the awkward step of arguing that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency should be allowed to resume its aid work in Gaza, despite independent intelligence reports showing around 10 per cent of its staff have links to Hamas and may have taken part in the killings.

He’s part of a government that’s been accused by its critics of soft-pedalling against anti-Semitism for fear of losing Muslim voters in western Sydney.

A government that is not remotely hawkish in its support of Israel.

Despite all this, Burns and his staff have faced repeated attacks at his St Kilda electoral office which reached a new low on June 19, when instead of the usual vandalism and graffiti a bunch of so-called pro-Palestinian activists set the building on fire.

Burns – whose job it is to attend his office to represent his constituents – has now declared neither he nor his staff will return until it is deemed safe to do so.

“It’s been a pretty distressing morning, this was really ugly behaviour,” he said on the day of the arson attack.

“It’s a reflection of eight months of my team turning up to work and being abused and screamed at.

“I’ve got really good people working for me. They are hardworking, decent, kind people, who have no role in a conflict on the other side of the world.

“And their place of work has just been smashed in by really dangerous idiots.

“I’m nervous about someone getting hurt, or worse.”

Federal MP Josh Burns speaks to the media about attacks on his office. Picture: David Crosling

The office of Federal MP Josh Burns vandalised in St Kilda. Picture: David Crosling

When you remove the above caveats about Labor’s position on the war in Gaza, what are you left with?

You are left with one fact and one fact only.

That fact is that Josh Burns is a Jew.

That’s why he’s being targeted. Not because of any policy position. No grand theme of geopolitics. No sincere anguish about the loss of civilian life.

Just plain, unadorned hatred.

The arson attack on Josh Burns’ office is not an act of cogent political expression. It is a pogrom.

I put the words pro-Palestinian in quote marks above as the people who did this aren’t pro-Palestinian at all.

They’re the enemies of Palestinian statehood and freedom, as all they do is diminish themselves and their cause. And based on the delusional stylings of the look-at-me lefties at our university campuses, I’d be surprised if they are even Palestinian, rather middle-class white folks engaging in a bit of radical chic.

It’s neither radical nor chic, but the oldest thing in the world, racism against a group of people who know more about racism than anyone. Despite the admirable comic efforts of Groucho Marx and Jerry Seinfeld, it really is no laughing matter.

Originally published as Harassment of Jerry Seinfeld and Josh Burns leave no excuses for the ‘River to the Sea’ brigade | David Penberthy