Michelle Berkon
Michelle Berkon is a Jewish Australian, aspiring mosaic artist, and former teacher. She has always been committed to social justice, environmental sustainability, and animal rights. As a member of Jews Against the Occupation ‘48 for a decade, she has repudiated Zionism and become active in the struggle for Palestinian rights.
Recent articles by Michelle Berkon
14 March 2025
Why is Israel such a big deal?
I'll begin with a reminder, for the Zionists in the audience, of what antisemitism is. I grew up surrounded by adults with blue numbers tattooed on their forearms. My primary school teacher relentlessly picked on the three Jewish kids in her class. My high school refused to discipline a girl who punched me in the nose because I was Jewish. When I was in my 20s, a man beside me on the bus lamented audibly to his friend that it was a pity Hitler didn't burn us all. I know what antisemitism is. And I know what it is not.
29 December 2024
Israel wants to occupy our universities. Not in our name!
The inclusion of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist actions and speech in the definition of antisemitism is a gross infringement on freedom of expression in this country, the group Jews Against the Occupation '48 says in a submission to a government inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities.
29 August 2024
Inquiry into anti-semitism a Trojan Horse for the Israel lobby
In June this year, Liberal MP Julian Leeser introduced a bill in Federal Parliament for a Commission of Inquiry into Anti-semitism at Australian Universities (2024).
29 May 2024
Nova Peris' apologism for colonialism and genocide
In repeating blatant Zionist propaganda to justify her support for Israel, Nova Peris erroneously and harmfully conflates Jewish identity with support for the Zionist project in Palestine, which in effect depicts all Jews as complicit in Israel's criminality. Her abject apologism also betrays all indigenous peoples' struggles against colonial oppression.