Published: 9 September 2024
Last updated: 1 October 2024
Listen below
Bonus content
Listen to the full Tensions Transplanted interviews with:
- Mark Spiro, who was arrested for carrying an Israeli flag outside the Sydney Opera House
- Lebanese Sydneysider Joe
- Renowned wordsmith Kel Richards
- Lebanese Australian Hala Abdelnour
- Sam Cairnduff, cultural management specialist
- Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler
- The Green Institute executive director Tim Hollo
Comments4
Jeremy Epstein5 October at 07:08 am
Well done Uncle Rob and team TJI, I believe you were largely successful in the extremely difficult task of producing a (much-needed) balanced, sensitive, and well-researched podcast on this topic. I’ve always been politically left-leaning, I’ve never identified as a Zionist (despite being proudly Jewish), I’ve always been critical of goings-on in Israel (particularly of the illegal settlements in the occupied territories), and I’m in favour of Palestinian statehood. I’ve more commonly argued with fellow Jews (including with my own family) than with non-Jews about Israel. Nevertheless, what you discussed in Tensions Transplanted really hit home for me: despite my views, those tables have turned for me of late (including heated discussions with some close friends of mine). And I’ve stood in the Sydney CBD, and I’ve heard the approaching mob, and I’ve seen the flags waving, and, like others, I’ve felt threatened. I was sorry to hear you recount the personal stories of many Aussie Jews who have clearly suffered more than I, on account of all this. I think all we can do for now, is to try and stay cool-headed, try and be empathetic and respectful to all, and wait for the storm to pass. In time, wider Australia will remember that there are many many issues that are closer to home and that are actually much more pressing than this one. Personally, I always have and I will continue to support the Greens, despite their extreme stance on Israel, because they’re the only major political force in Australia that actually cares about climate change, habitat conservation, renewable energy, asylum seekers, and Indigenous affairs, to name a few causes. This current situation of over-the-top and ill-informed “stop the genocide” / “from the river” rhetoric stampeding over every other concern, it’s not forever, we must be patient.
Deborah Stone30 September at 08:06 am
Sarah refused permission for her interview to be aired because she objected to our interviewing another person. Nothing in that interview concerned the issues mentioned in Sarah’s comment. We stand by our decision to listen to a diverse range of voices on this important podcast.
Sarah Schwartz29 September at 05:06 am
In this podcast, the host, Rob Kaldor, makes the misleading comment that I didn’t give permission for an interview to be aired, but doesn’t say why.
It’s not because I don’t want to engage, I do, and did an interview despite Rob’s line of attack (which he didn’t apply to other subjects). But I had to withdraw because the podcast uncritically platformed someone who has been engaging in an unhinged online campaign of racially motivated abuse, harassment and targeting of me as an individual. This includes dozens of posts referring to my family, childhood, and making violent memes of me being attacked and on a train to concentration camps. The podcast calls this person a “strong woman” and promotes her social media.
To me, platforming this behaviour is antithetical to respectful debate and amounts to promoting an account actively making me unsafe, which, as I said, is where I draw the line.
It’s pretty worrying to me that this type of online behaviour is being normalised even within so-called progressive parts of the Jewish community.
Tienne Simons11 September at 06:17 am
What a great idea Rob, I look forward to listening.