Mind the mentality: not every rejection is antisemitism

Australian Jews have reason to feel troubled. Since October 7 2023, our community has lived through some of the worst times in the history of Jewish life in this country, with rising antisemitism culminating in the Bondi massacre. 

But antisemitism is not the whole story of Australian Jewish life – and the extent to which some elements of our community have started to embrace a culture of perennial victimhood and grievance is beginning to distort the reality of our vibrant community. 

Of late, when something doesn’t go our way, there is an almost immediate rush to the media and a gut reaction to label it antisemitism. 

Consider the recent coverage of the documentary Cancelled, about Jewish artists who feel that they have been cancelled since October 7. Some stories about this documentary focused on the fact that it had not been accepted by Australia’s major film festivals or public broadcasters, suggesting a film about Jews being cancelled was itself being cancelled. 

But not all documentaries, even really deserving ones, get accepted into festivals or by the public broadcaster. Sometimes an excellent and really deserving book doesn’t get published. Sometimes you can be a talented artist, and your work still isn’t exhibited. 

We need to be careful not to internalise every absent invitation or ordinary rejection as evidence of Jewish exclusion. There is a difference between standing up for ourselves and constantly positioning ourselves as victims. 

In 2025, Jewish community author and former editor of The Age, Michael Gawenda, felt he had been excluded from the Adelaide Writers’ Festival and argued that his exclusion was an example of the exclusion of pro-Israel voices.