Antony Loewenstein on the Hanukkah Massacre in Sydney & the Muslim Food Vendor Who Saved Lives

At least 15 people were fatally shot during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach this Saturday, and at least another 42 people were injured, marking Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades. Victims included a 10-year-old girl, two rabbis and a Holocaust survivor who died while shielding his wife from bullets. After Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu blamed Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state for the shooting, Antony Loewenstein, member of the Jewish Council of Australia, says the shooting is “being weaponized by the worst people imaginable to support incredibly draconian policies.”

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Blaming Palestine solidarity for the Bondi massacre helps, not curbs, antisemitism - Overland literary journal

Despite this dominant narrative, within the movement there is a clear assuredness that tackling antisemitism is a shared responsibility that is interconnected with the political project of anticolonial liberation, a task that is integrated within the culture of resistance, not separate or outside of the work to free Palestine. Addressing antisemitism is a core business of the solidarity movement.

Overland literary journal
The "convenient" distraction of Palestine after Bondi killings - Antony Loewenstein

There’s been messy and frankly ugly politics after the Bondi Beach massacre by blaming the pro-Palestine movement. My interview with the UK outlet, Middle East Eye:   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Middle East Eye (@middleeasteye)

Antony Loewenstein