Letter
When critique sounds suspiciously like conspiracy
John Menadue’s platform has become a staging ground for increasingly toxic screeds masquerading as foreign policy critique. Two recent pieces — “ Weaponisation of Antisemitism…” and “ We Must Confound the Zionist Lobby”— cross the line from criticism into crude conspiracy.
The claim that antisemitism is “weaponised” to silence debate collapses under scrutiny. Israel is one of the most criticised nations on earth – by the UN, media, academics, and NGOs. If there is a Zionist conspiracy to suppress criticism, it’s doing a remarkably poor job.
Every cause has its advocates, but only Jewish advocacy is routinely framed as shadowy or sinister. APAN openly lobbies and campaigns, yet no one questions its legitimacy. Why is Jewish lobbying uniquely suspect?
To call Israeli actions “genocide” while the Gazan population grows and Israel allows humanitarian aid undermines both credibility and the gravity of real genocides.
This is not critique – it is vilification cloaked in moral language. Singling out Zionist Jews as inherently unworthy of advocacy or belonging is not social justice. It is discrimination. And when mainstream platforms enable it, they corrode the very democratic values they claim to defend.
— Adam Slonim from St Kilda East