Trendy Appointments: Australia’s Special Antisemitism Envoy
Was there any need for this? Australia’s Albanese government, harried by the conservative opposition for going soft on pro-Palestinian protests and the war in Gaza while allegedly wobbling on supporting Israel, has decided to bring a touch of bureaucracy to the show. Australia now has its first antisemitism envoy, a title that sits in that odd constellation of deceptive names that can be misread for darkly comic effect. We see them often: the professor of homelessness who might be confused for encouraging it, or a researcher in genocide studies who might be misunderstood for being a practitioner.
When a government is in trouble, new committees are born, officials appointed, and fresh positions created. An essential lesson in governing is to give the impression of governing, however badly, or ineffectually, it might prove to be. Best to also badge the effort with some lexical trendiness, ever important for the shortsighted and easily distracted.
On this occasion, “social cohesion” is the ephemeral term that saddles the enterprise. In the words of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, “There is no place for violence, hatred or discrimination of any kind in Australia.” As part of the government’s efforts “to promote social cohesion, we have appointed Jillian Segal AO as Special Envoy to combat Antisemitism.”
In a press release, the PM turns social worker and community healer – all in the name of social cohesion, a vapid term which, read a different way, can be construed as not rocking the boat, or upsetting any applecarts. Call it tolerable muzzling, or permissible dissent. “Australians are deeply concerned about this conflict, and many are hurting. In times like this, Australians must come together, not be torn apart.” Having “built our nation’s social cohesion together over generations [Australians] must work together to uphold, defend and preserve it.”
Albanese explains that the appointment of a special office with a singular purpose is nonetheless intended to reflect a universal aspiration. “Every Australian, no matter their race or religion, should be able to feel safe and at home in any community, without prejudice or discrimination.” A noble sentiment. Then, the throwaway line, the gentle flick: “We have advocated for a two-state solution on the world stage, at the United Nations.”
Duly stated, Albanese goes on to speak of the specialised role of Segal, who “will listen and engage with Jewish Australians, the wider Australian community, religious discrimination experts and all levels of government on the most effective way to combat Antisemitism.” She will keep company with “other Special Envoys to combat Antisemitism” in attending the World Jewish Congress to be held in Argentina next week.
The new appointee conveyed the gravity of her appointment. “Antisemitism is an age-old hatred,” Segal explained. “It has the capacity to lie dormant through good times and then in times of crisis like pandemic, which we’ve experienced, economic downturn, war, it awakens, it triggers the very worst instincts in an individual to fear, to blame others for life’s misfortunes and to hate.” Listening to such comments conveys a hermetic impression, one which resists explication on cause and effect. They serve to cauterise the grotesquery of war and obscure the fury it engenders in those who respond.
In what is becoming a force of habit, Albanese’s announcement had the scouring effect on the very cohesion he was praising. While also announcing that a Special Envoy for Islamophobia was in the works, with details to “be announced shortly”, the impression was unmistakable: the concerns and fears of one group had been chronologically privileged and elevated in the pantheon of policy.
The response from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) expressed that very sentiment. The move of appointing “a taxpayer-funded special envoy on antisemitism” was “particularly concerning as it singles out antisemitism for special government investment and attention, while failing to address the increasingly frequent and severe forms of racism experienced by Palestinians, Muslims, First Nations people and other marginalised communities.”
APAN President Nasser Mashni expanded on the theme: “This seems to be yet another example of the Australian Government pandering to pro-Israel groups, and pitting parts of the Jewish community against the Palestinian Muslim communities – and against each other – rather than working to realise equal right and justice for all.” Not too socially cohesive, then.
The organisation also worried that the creation of a dedicated office to combat one form of religious and ethnic prejudice was at odds with current work to combat “existing systemic approaches to anti-racism” being undertaken by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s recently appointed Race Discrimination Commissioner.
To show that such concerns were not confined to non-Jewish voices, Sarah Schwartz of the Jewish Council of Australia’s executive office saw the appointment as needlessly provocative. “We are concerned that an anti-Semitism envoy in Australia … will increase racism and division by pitting Jewish communities against Palestinian, Muslim and other racialised communities.”
While Segal’s appointment has already disturbed the policy waters, the looming question is what tangible effect it will have. Having now named an official for the specific task of combating a phenomenon time immemorial, the assumption is that it can be drawn out and struck down in isolation.
This raises a host of concerns. At what point, for instance, does criticism of Israel’s particularly brutal Gaza campaign veer into the fetid swamps of antisemitic indulgence? Will pro-Palestinian protestors, activists and advocates have reason to fear even greater scrutiny, in public fora or the universities? The latter question has already interested the opposition for some months, hungry for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into claims of antisemitism on Australian university campuses.
In this case, the government may well have inflated a specific problem by creating an office to combat it. Well-wishers will say that this is necessary to combat a monstrous blight that, if not addressed, infects the polity. But those left out in the naming game of social cohesion are already gnashing their teeth and demanding their own representatives.
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
21 comments
Login here Register here-
Terence Mills -
THOMAS BROOKES -
old bloke -
old bloke -
Perry Gretton -
Bert -
corvusboreus -
Harry Lime -
Kerri -
Win Jeavons -
New England Cocky -
Douglas Pritchard -
Cool Pete -
Terence Mills -
Kerri -
ajogrady -
Terence Mills -
John C -
GL -
Terence Mills -
Clakka
Return to home pageMs Segal is reported to have said that :
“There can be no ceasefire until every hostage has been released.”
I’m not sure if she is part of the solution to the Gaza conflict or part of the problem.
How much worse can this obvious pro-Israevil support get. Segal a Jewish lawyer, who has obviously no ethics or morals, has been a supporter of Israevils genocide, including her publicly supporting Israel’s bombing of Palestinian hospitals and other attrocities.
Segal, was a director of the National Australia Bank (NAB) from 2004-16, during which numerous appalling instances of systemic criminal misconduct occurred that led to the Banking Royal Commission, which Labor pushed so hard for its establishment. This now seems to have been conveniently forgotten, as it takes another step of the Australian Labor Government officially pandering to pro-Israel groups.
It was stated in establishing this anti semitism envoy, that “Jews are living in fear”.
Well booo hoo hoo. Now jews know how Palestinians have felt for the last 50 years, since Israevil started breaching The Balfour Declaration which corruptly established a jewish homeland, but clearly states “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
What did the Jews do? with 12 months they murdered and displaced over 700,000 Palestinians from Palestine. They pushed them literally into the sea.
If you want to know why Israel and Jews are hated? It started right there and the ethnic cleansing has continued to this day.
Senator Payman exercised her right of conscience and crossed the floor in the senate. I shall exercise my right of conscience and not vote this current Labor government, even though I have been a lifelong Labor voter. I will look for a suitable independent at the ballot box and if none is obvious, will vote informal. I have informed my local Labor member and received a copy and paste reply which did not in any way address my concerns. Bugger them.
It could be said that I should vote Labor so that the coalition cannot win the upcoming election. I don’t want to vote AGAINST anything; I want to vote For something.
I wonder how much she is being paid for this unnecessary position, as well as for her office.
Deplorably, the focus on the Gaza conflict seems to be on October 7, no sense of history.
It is almost agreeing that all Palestinians are terrorists.
Remaining hostages?
How many Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons for no other reason than being Palestinian?
Stop taking sides but seek humanitarian solutions which recognise human rights as enshrined in the UN declaration of human rights.
I keep beating that drum, but is no one listening?
Anti-Semitism.
Hate for Jews, contempt of Arabs, anti-Akkadian sentiments, racist jokes targetting Phoenicians, even reggae songs raging against Babylon, all are forms of antagonistic expression directed against ‘descendents of Shem’, and thus, definitionally, “anti-semitism’.
In short, this appears to be a pointless appointment wrapped in gibberish terminology.
Global warming ,record ocean heating,approval of more climate killing fossil fuel projects,including outrageous subsidies,forfeiture of sovereignty..AUCKUS,..genocide in Gaza,aided and abetted by our ‘great friend’,international corporations screwing us blind,etc.etc.etc….what to do?I know, lets appoint a rabid zionist as special envoy for’antisemitism’…then we can move on to the next dismal failure of imagination and leadership.Albo is proving to be an inconsequential dud.
“the most effective way to combat Antisemitism.” ???? Maybe a vocal criticism of the actions of a renegade Israeli government in its solemn pledge to destroy Gaza and all people within it?
Anti invasion is not anti semitism.
Anti occupation is not anti semitism.
Anti humiliation is not anti semitism.
Anti apartheid is not anti semitism.
Anti racism is not anti semitism.
Anti vilification is not anti semitism.
Anti war is not anti semitism.
Anti slaughter is not anti semitism.
Anti bombs is not anti semitism.
Anti destruction is not anti semitism.
Anti breaking the rules of war is not anti semitism.
Anti genocide is not anti semitism.
Anti two state solution is not anti semitism.
Your god says the land is yours. That only works for those who choose to believe your god. If you regard your god as a higher being than another god and thereby yourself to be a higher being than another, then you clearly have no concept of religious faith or simple humanity. And you cannot claim to support a two state solution when you refuse to recognise more than one state.
#Old Bloke well said.
l understand the original concept was ” a land without people for a people without land” . So the lie started there ! This land always had people , not always Jews , and including Christians from 2 millenia ago. A nation claiming special rights in God’s name is arrogant and unable to bring independent evidence to prove their case. The specious claim dates from a time when Israelites originally invaded, robbed and murdered for this space . Then used deity to justify .
Anti-semitism is NOT anti-Jewish because there are more semitic peoples than only Jewish people.
Anti-ZIONISM is not anti-Jewish because Zionism is a late 19th century political movement started in Middle Europe to combat anti-Jewish feeling in Austria, and in Germany where Bismarck granted religious freedom in 1870, while the Jewish people became leaders in retailing and professions which offended the Indigenous population.
ANTI-ZION@ZI is not anti-Jewish because the current ZION@ZI government in Israel has a publicly stated policy to ”drive ALL Palestinians into the sea”, the policy that Bibi the ZION@ZI Butcher and the amoral ZION@ZI IDF are implementing by causing the deaths of 37,000+ Palestinian mainly women & children. This strategy aims to displace and dispossess the Indigenous Palestinians so that after the conflict is over, the international carpet-baggers will clear the rubble and re-build new residential housing for fresh waves of ZION@ZI colonist settlers escaping from the Russian conscription, American chaos or European indifference.
As a demonstration of a parliament radiating truth, and honesty to the population we need to carry out a minor change in the superstructure on the building.
It would be appropriate to mount an enormous candelabra to replace that vague pyramid, and above this should be flown the flag with the blue star in the centre.
Double wrap those of the Jewish faith in layers of cotton wool.
Then sit back knowing we have done our duty as good little Goys.
Potty Boy Dutton has been the stoker of pro-Israevil. One of the issues that people need to remember is that Israel grants citizenship to somebody of the Jewish faith without them ever actually living in Israel, if they apply for it.
The other day, Prue McSween was carrying on like a secondhand lawnmower claiming that what is happening in Australia today is reminiscent of Nazi Germany. For starters, the Australian Government is not trying to encourage Jewish people to leave Australia, but at the same time making it difficult. It does not have brown shirt-clad thugs armed with rifles standing outside Jewish shops and businesses. It has not passed laws banning Jews from practicing law or medicine. And it is not committing genocide against Jews. There may have been a few instances of vandalism with graffiti on Jewish shops, or a few protestors who have said some things, but that is incomparable to Nazi Germany.
Anger towards Israel and anti-Zionism cannot be equated with anti-Semitism.
Perhaps Senator Payman should be appointed the envoy for Muslims : seriously, if we are going to go down this route of sectional envoys – which I consider a mistake – then the Muslim community need a strong voice.
@Terence Mills.
Good point!
I was thinking Rasha Abbas.
Can the Albanese Labor government get anymore pathetic. Albanese dumps a rolled gold Zionist sympathiser on Australian taxpayers a made up , highly paid position of an unegalitarian antisemitic envoy.
As a 50 plus year loyal Labor voter I stand with Fatima Payman for her principled stance and strong values. For the Albanese Labor government, Payman breaching caucus rules is worse than Zionist Israel committing systemic ethnic cleansing bordering on genocide, committing war crimes recognised by the ICJ and the ICC plus the blatant trashing of international law.
Unlike the Albanese Labor government, Fatima Payman is a Labor true believer and stands for Labor values of justice, fairness; a fair go for all, equality and above all dignity through human rights. Tom Uren would roll over in his grave seeing the spinelessness of the Albanese Labor government. Many Labor true believers are looking to take their vote else where. AUKUS and the Albanese Labor government’s wholesale sell out of Australia’s sovereignty to the US was the beginning of the end for many Labor voters. Albanese’s fool hardy complicit compliance and expensive unwavering support for nuclear powered AUKUS submarines has left the door wide open for nuclear power to be a viable electricity supplier that Dutton can mount a credible argument for. How can 8 already obsolete Albanese AUKUS nuclear powered subs cost more then the L/NP’s 8 nuclear power stations or Labor’s renewables revolution?
Albanese Labors weak and pathetic stance on the rogue pariah state of Israel, that has broken international law, the Geneva Convention and law of common decency, was the last straw for many Labor voters . Not even a deliberate targeted IDF missile strike on a young Australian aid worker could shake the Albanese Labor government’s pathetic unwavering support for fascist Zionist Israel.
The Israel experiment has proven to be a terrible mistake and a gross failure.
Not only have Zionists stolen Palestinian land but the Zionists stole the Jewish religion to do it. Zionists have forever shamed the Jewish religion.
The Zionists genocidal war on Palestinians is not just a war on Palestinians. It is a Zionist war on humanity, Christian values, international law, common decency, freedom and the Jewish religion itself.
The manufactured and contrived outrage by Zionists use of anti sematism to censor debate is the last refuge of the demented scoundrels. The cynica, contrivedl and contemptuous use of antisemitism by the Zionist propagandist demeans and devalues the pain and suffering experienced by those of the Jewish faith at the hands of German Nazis. How is it the responsibility of the Palestinian people to right the wrongs of the atrocities of Nazi Germans upon the Jewish people.
I see that Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s Bendigo electorate office has been vandalised overnight, with windows smashed and spray painted. It’s the third time the office has been targeted. The Animal Liberation Front has taken credit for attacking her Bendigo headquarters. The last time it was targeted by pro-Palestinian activists in February.
I think we urgently need Albo to appoint an animal rights envoy or could we appoint a General Naughtiness Envoy to save money – do envoys multi-task ?
Albo, are you trying to help Dutton take your job? Another complete waste of taxpayer’s money. An ‘envoy’ on Islamophobia makes much more sense than one for Jew phobia when we truthfully look at what is happening. Why were they not appointed at the same time, showing equality rather than who you apparently prefer to protect. While they’re at it let’s appoint an ‘envoy’ for every other type of religion that they recognise too. A good one for Catholics would be an ‘envoy’ on paedophilia in the church. Now that is an appointment that I would support 100%!!
Albanese has almost become a nodding sock puppet for the Spud.
John C
Why were they not appointed at the same time………..
The reason given by the PM’s office was that “Ms Segal will attend the World Jewish Congress in Argentina next week in her role as Special Envoy, alongside other Special Envoys to combat Antisemitism from around the world”.
So she was hurried through so that she could get an all expenses paid trip to Argentina courtesy of the taxpayer.
Make of that what you will !
I thought the timing of his announcement was reactive, negative and all-round appalling, particularly given the dismal after-thought follow-on (ignored subtext) of a mooted ‘islamophobia envoy’. Then, (11/7) I read this 10/7 article (below), and was enraged by Albo’s stupidity. Further on 10/7, Crikey articles rightly belted the crap out of Labor.
From Crikey:
JILLIAN SEGAL IS AN ENVOY FOR ISRAEL, BANKING MISCONDUCT, AND NOT MUCH ELSE
Jillian Segal has criticised ceasefire calls in Gaza and defended bombing hospitals. That, and her record at NAB, makes her a poor choice for a government role.
BY *BERNARD KEANE, CRIKEY, JULY 10, 2024
On what planet does Labor think Jillian Segal is right for a high-profile government role, particularly one as sensitive as an “envoy for antisemitism”? (The “envoy for Islamophobia” is yet to be announced, but one is promised by the prime minister.)
“Envoys” are stunt roles, made for announcement and little else. But it’s unusual to see someone with Segal’s history handed such a gig. As immediate past president of the ardently pro-Israel Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Segal last November savaged Labor for daring to criticise Israel for bombing hospitals, calling such criticism a “libel” in a joint statement with the right-wing Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler.
“ … we refer to the minister’s [Penny Wong’s] assertion that the hospitals and medical facilities that Hamas burrows itself into are protected under international law and her call for Israel to ‘cease the attacking of hospitals’.
“We remind the government that Article 19 of the Geneva Convention explicitly states that hospitals lose their protection if they are used for military purposes. It is incontrovertible that Hamas uses Shifa and other hospitals for military purposes. There is no evidence that Israel is not observing the laws of armed conflict.
“The libel that any Israeli attack on Gazan hospitals from which Hamas operates would amount to war crimes only serve to demonise the state of Israel and its supporters. These libels are central to Hamas’ objectives as a terrorist organisation, and are reverberating across the world in a new wave of antisemitism. The government of Australia should not be lending any credibility to this false and harmful narrative.”
The word “libel” may have been used to invoke suggestions of the infamous “blood libel” to which Jews have been subjected for a millennium. An investigation by The Washington Post in May found that just four of 36 hospitals in Gaza had not been bombed, assaulted or abandoned by the Israel Defense Forces, prompting calls for the investigation of Israel’s destruction of the Gazan healthcare system as a war crime.
The Executive Council also criticised Australia’s support for a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire. Segal’s opposition to the call for a ceasefire and her insistence there can be no legitimate criticism of Israel’s hospital bombing campaign surely makes her position as the holder of any government appointment untenable. Imagine the outcry if Anthony Albanese’s mooted “Islamophobia envoy” had endorsed Hamas’ atrocities or defended the killing of Israeli civilians.
Beyond her support for Israel’s bombing of hospitals, there’s another reason why Segal’s appointment by Labor raises eyebrows: her corporate history.
Segal, who was born in South Africa, was a director of the National Australia Bank from 2004-16, during which time numerous instances of misconduct occurred as part of a widespread pattern of banking scandals that led to the banking royal commission. NAB had already been forcedin 2015 to start remediating victims of its wealth management arm, before the royal commission, for misconduct dating back to 2009.
The royal commission revealed astonishing abuse of NAB’s “Introducer” program, which it hid from the corporate regulator, involving bribery and forgery.
NAB eventually admitted to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that it had charged customers more than $600 million in fees for no service between 2009-18 — nearly all of which was during Segal’s time on the NAB board. NAB was also fined in the UK for mis-selling insurance via its UK arm in 2015. As of the end of 2022, NAB had forked out nearly $1.5 billion in compensation to its victims as a result of activities that substantially occurred while Segal was a director of the bank.
In the annals of corporate misconduct in Australia, NAB looms large. How is Segal an appropriate appointee for Labor given its history of championing victims of bad financial advice and banking misconduct throughout the 2010s?
*Bernard Keane is Crikey’s political editor. Before that he was Crikey’s Canberra press gallery correspondent, covering politics, national security and economics.