Against purity tests for Zionists and anti-Zionists alike

Over the past two years, Australian Jews have spent hundreds of hours talking about the exclusion of Aussie Jewish and Zionist voices from cultural festivals and arts panels, and have howled about the censorship of Jewish voices and stories in Australia’s publishing industry.

As a community, we have objected in the strongest possible terms when Zionist voices have been excluded from panels because of their views on Israel, when Jewish academics, artists and writers have been disinvited from events because of their Zionism, and when Zionist Jews have been judged as unacceptable based on which organisations they are affiliated with. The protest from our community has been especially loud when Jewish voices, who hold Zionist views are cancelled or disinvited when they were going to speak about topics that have nothing to do with Israel.

So, I have been appalled, but not shocked, to watch the hypocrisy of the same dynamic play out within our own community, this time directed at fellow Jews.

The latest controversy centres on Limmud Oz in Sydney. Originally partnering with Adamama, the Jewish urban farm, and Shalom Collective, Limmud invited a Melbourne-based Jewish comedian and educator who, has been associated with the Jewish Council of Australia. The session he is due to talk about is not about Israel, Zionism or the Jewish Council, rather it is about Yiddish and Jewish comedy.

So, when Limmud released its speaker biographies last week, and his association with the Jewish Council of Australia was not included, some members of our community felt this omission was misleading, while others objected to his inclusion in the program altogether, notwithstanding the fact that he was not speaking about anything related to his political views. After Limmud declined to remove him from the program, Adamama and Shalom Collective cancelled their participation as partners in the event. Limmud stood its ground and refused to disinvite him.