Michael Gawenda opens up on anti-Zionism, the Left, and his personal journey

In his new memoir, the former editor of The Age writes that the Left’s hostility towards Israel leaves no place for Jews. MARK DAPIN talks to him about stereotypes, conspiracies, and God.

Anybody with an internet connection knows that Jews control the media, which is why we always receive such favourable coverage and everybody else loves and understands us.

The only mystery is how we manage to pull this off in Australia, where so few of us are journalists, TV producers or media proprietors.

At last, the former editor of The Age, Michael Gawenda, once the most high-profile Jew in Australian media, has given the answer to the question on the curled lips of every antisemite.

What is the secret to our breathtakingly successful manipulation of public opinion?

“Superpowers,” jokes Gawenda. “Our powers are almost magical.”

Gawenda’s memoir, My Life as a Jew, addresses the issue of Jewish manipulation of politics and the media, but is more sharply focused on problems that actually exist, such as the increasingly fractious relationship between left-wing Jews and the rest of the Left.

Gawenda has come to believe that there is no place on the Left for Jews who will not renounce Israel’s right to exist. He hears antisemitism (although he prefers to call it “anti-Jewish” feeling) in much anti-Zionist rhetoric, and he is saddened and appalled. Gawenda says people like him fear being rendered politically homeless, as their one-time allies in anti-fascism have become their enemies in intersectionality.

None of this is new, and much of it has already been said by the British author David Baddiel in his recent book and film, Jews Don’t Count.