Published: 17 April 2025
Last updated: 17 April 2025
I am the grandson and great-grandson of Shmuel and Yaacov Inslicht—proud Jewish, left-wing Zionists from Galicia, in what is now Western Ukraine. They lived through the rise and fall of empires, pogroms, the rise of communism and fascism and, for Shmuel, the unimaginable horror of the Shoah. He lost his first wife at Auschwitz. And yet he lived on. So do we.
In 1905, amid the political ferment of Lviv—then Lemberg—Yaacov and Shmuel helped lead a Jewish revolt. When Zionist Jews demanded formal national recognition from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the local assimilationist, anti-Zionist Jewish leadership tried to shut them down. At a packed counter-conference in Lemberg’s Jewish Community Centre, Yaacov, representing the Tlumacz community, rose to condemn the establishment. He was dragged out by police on the request of other Jews—along with his son—for daring to speak the truth.
It has never been easy to be a Jew. It has never been easy to be a Zionist, not in Shmuel and Yaacov’s time, when they were among the minority to attend the first World Zionist Congress of 1897 and in the former’s case edited Poale Zion’s Vienna version of Der Yidisher Arbeyter.
Comments7
Sam Salcman OAM24 April at 11:11 pm
Nick you are absolutely correct. The Jewish Community despite feeling disappointment and anger at the actions of the Albanese government cannot afford to abandon Josh Burns in McNamara. Josh throughout his parliamentary career stood up for Israel and the Jewish community. But even if that were not reason to vote for him, the alternative, the possible victory by the hateful Greens who have do so much to stoke the tidal wave of antisemitism in this country both before and after October 7th will be an untenable proposition. So vote for Josh and stick it up to Bandt the modern day Goebbels.
Ian Grinblat21 April at 12:40 pm
Oh Nick,
For whom and or from what do your think we should save Josh?
The ALP is a living organism; it changes constantly. Right now, it is not the place for a Jew, although it may in time change back to the party it was. But all that kvetching about “working from the inside” is tired and hasn’t worked for some time now. While Josh stays in the party, and mark Dreyfus too, it gives the party cover – “Look! We have Jewish members.”
Yes, the Greens may very well take Macnamara, but in three years time there will be another election and we can reconsider.
Deborah Reed20 April at 06:12 am
Thank you for a reasoned, practical and worthwhile response to many who are thinking of voting reactively and not being aware of the significant implications of their vote.
RICHARD CODRON18 April at 05:24 am
He is just plain wrong. Benson is the best candidate by far. Josh Burns is weak and ineffective and does not deserve to win. You and others are trying to blackmail Jews into voting for Burns. Benson will win the primary vote and needs a segment of Labor voters to preference him if Burns is 3rd. This is the message 1. Saulo 2. Burns. If Greens 3rd then let their preferences decide the outcome.
Peter Scott17 April at 05:34 pm
If Josh Burns was so “principled”, he would have specifically directed his 2nd preferences against the Greens. This open ticket thing is a pathetic cop out.
Mordechai17 April at 10:25 am
The author somehow forgot to mention that one of the main reasons for this situation is that labor, including Josh himself, refused to change their preferences despite very strong and numerous request from our communities.
And who said that Liberals or let say One Nation can’t win this election?
Ian Grinblat17 April at 07:50 am
Nick,
It is not revenge to vota against Labor, it is not even as serious as divorce because we get to vote again in 3 years’ time and we can change our minds.
Sometimes, bad things have to happen before people wake up. When all the hip voters in Macnamara are smarting because their gas stoves won’t work and their 4WDs have been confiscated (or taxed beyond endurance), even they will hesitate to vote Green again.
Better still, we could go back to ‘first-past-the-post’ voting – just imagine the candidate with the most votes winning (as opposed to preferential voting which is designed to exclude the candidate that most people don’t want).
As for the scare story that the Liberals cannot win, it is not engraved in stone. It is called demographic change – fortunately we live in a society that is allowed to grow and in which we are all free to change our minds. (Remember when John Howard lost his seat? That Labor star turned out to be a total fizzer and was not returned at the next election.) Right now, Labor is on the nose, our duly elected and rightful PM is the smell in the room. I am not going to hold my nose and vote for Josh Burns (aka Sweet Fanny Adams) for what you think would be a show of Jewish solidarity. Burns needs a really deep re-think (it is impossible to be a Jew in today’s Labor party) and a bloody good kick in the pants to set him thinking – I don’t want to hear about his burnt office – the PM’s electorate office was also vandalised and blockaded.