Readers may recall a piece published here on Pearls and Irritations (J’accuse!… the Jew who accuses his fellow Jews of being antisemites on 23 February, 2025 — in which I wrote about an offensive tweet Mark Leibler (lawyer and leader of AIJAC) posted on X — in which, amongst other things, he described those Jews criticising Israel as “vicious antisemites”.

The decision in the Federal Court last week in the case of Antoinette Lattouf against the ABC shone a light on the actions of the Israel lobby in influencing the ABC to wrongly, as the judge found, terminating the short-term employment of Lattouf.

The bully-boy and intimidatory tactics and pressure sought to be deployed by the Israel lobby is nothing new! As far back as 2004, then premier Bob Carr publicly detailed the pressure which was put on him arising from the NSW University Peace Prize being awarded to Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi. Carr did not buckle and he is on record as saying that he had not faced such unrelenting pressure like that in respect of any other matter or issue during his premiership. In his book, in 2006, “My Israel Question” Antony Loewenstein dealt extensively with the tactics and behaviour of the Israel lobby in Australia.

Criticise Israel and the automatic response from the likes of the AIJAC, the Zionist Federation, the ECAJ or people like prominent lawyer and rusted-on supporter of Israel, no matter what, Mark Leibler (who heads AIJAC), will be to accuse the publisher, writer, speaker, broadcaster or organisation of antisemitism and/or being anti-Israel or anti-Zionist. A Jew criticising Israel will be labelled as a self-hating Jew or even, bizarrely, an antisemite. Leibler even went so far in his offensive tweet to shamefully invoke the Holocaust by tweeting that those Jews who had lost family in the Holocaust would see them turning in their graves if they knew that their family was calling out Israel for its genocidal conduct.

The Leibler tweet led to some 20 complainants taking Leibler to the Australian Human Rights Commission, culminating in a conciliation last month. Consistent with the usual bully-boy tactics of the lobby, Leibler retained a KC, and his junior, for the conciliation and brought along another lawyer from his legal firm – to line up against non-lawyer complainants!

In the end Leibler agreed to publish/post an apology on X in which he states, inter alia, “The language I used, referring to these persons as ‘repulsive and revolting human beings’ and ‘vicious antisemites’ was however, intemperate. I acknowledge I should have worded my tweet differently and apologise for any offence I have caused by the use of that language.”

This less than fulsome apology belies a bigger picture here: that the Leiblers of this world, and organisations like ECAJ, AIJAC and the Zionist Federation, are so unashamedly supporters of and apologists for Israel… and indifferent to international law and any degree of humanity in the light of the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, of whom, disproportionally most are women and children.

Well-respected organisations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Israeli human rights organisations such as B’Tselem and scholars of the Holocaust (again, both in and outside Israel) accuse Israel of engaging in genocide and ethnic cleansing, yet the rusted-on supporters of Israel demonstrate absolutely no moral compass, decency or humanity in failing to be critical of Israel in any shape or form. Worse still, this lobby uses its financial muscle to initiate totally unwarranted proceedings in the Federal Court such as the one against well-known journalist and former broadcaster Mary Kostakidis. It’s intimidation pure and simple! Tie them up in knots and force them to spend time, effort and money in defending a totally unmeritorious claim.

What can be learnt from the foregoing? Everyone, of whatever religion or background, should support the Jewish Council of Australia in its excellent efforts to present the voice of Jews who are not part of the Leibler-type brigade challenging their narrative to justify Israel’s genocide and their constant false claims such as that the IDF never targets civilians. The latest news out of Israel clearly shows otherwise. Hopefully, those members of the Jewish community who have felt intimidated by being accused of being antisemitic or anti-Zionist will now feel free to speak out and challenge the Leiblers of this world and the sort of Jewish organisations made up of members like him. The general community needs to know that whilst Netanyahu claims Israel “represents” and speaks for Jews around the world, it does not.

Surveys clearly show that the majority of Australians and those overseas have negative views of Israel and do not accept what Israel is doing in Gaza. It is hard to see how anyone rational could see the ongoing death and destruction as being OK, let alone justified.

Our prime minister and Foreign Minister Wong — and even the deputy prime minister, whose position appears to be that whatever Israel or the US do can somehow be explained away or even justified — need to do more than putting out mealy-mouthed statements in relation to Israel. The time has come for strong condemnation of Israel for engaging in the death and destruction of Palestinians, and their culture, in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Additionally our leaders and all businesses and organisations need to stop fearing the Israel lobby and being intimidated by it. The decision in the Lattouf case clearly shows that whoever is under a barrage from the Israel lobby should ignore it if it is of an intimidatory nature. And Jews should continue to speak out for what they see as Israel’s unconscionable and illegal actions. Relevantly, Jews not in the Israel lobby camp say enough is enough and Australia should act decisively and loudly in not giving Israel a leave-pass in relation to whatever it does – however egregious!

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.