A Jewish human rights lawyer has been labelled a traitor and “Hitler’s Jew” in what she describes as an online harassment campaign by pro-Israel and neo-Nazi groups because of her advocacy for Palestinian people.
The Jewish Council of Australia was established in the wake of the Israeli attacks on Gaza following the deadly Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, with the organisation saying it represents about 2,500 Jewish people who support Palestinians.
The council’s Sarah Schwartz today fronted the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which has been examining the prevalence and regulation of online hate.
Ms Schwartz said she received online abuse with a neo-Nazi flavour in the days after she was named the organisation’s executive director.
She told the commission she had also been subjected to a “voluminous” number of offensive messages from people she described as high-profile, pro-Israel actors.
“These are messages that refer to me as self-hating, as a traitor, there have been memes circulated about me … images of me as a rat,”
she said.
Sarah Schwartz says her “Jewishness” has been called into question. (ABC News: Abbey Haberecht)
Ms Schwartz said she had been described as “Hitler’s Jew” and been sent images of herself depicted wearing a yellow star and riding a train to a concentration camp in Nazi Germany.
“It’s incredibly alarming and concerning to have images of Jewish persecution used against me as a Jewish person,” she said.
Ms Schwartz said she believed the abuse was directly linked to her advocacy for Palestinian rights and her criticism of the Israeli government.
“It’s incredibly disturbing and distressing and I think it sends a chilling message to other Jewish people when they want to speak out [about the Israeli government],” she said.
Ms Schwartz said it was not unusual for Jewish people who criticised the Israeli government to have their “Jewishness” questioned.
She said consultation with interfaith communities was a key function of the council, claiming work had at times been made difficult by government responses to antisemitism.
“A lot of government and policy responses to antisemitism have focused on antisemitism as being primarily sourced within the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement,” she said.
“There is a focus on the policing of protesters, protest chants … on political Palestinian expressions such as ‘from the river to sea’.
“I think that it’s incredibly dangerous for government responses to be focused only on Palestinian and Muslim communities and responses.
“It makes it a lot more difficult to engage in interfaith work.”
Abuse published in newspaper
Sarah Schwartz says she was abused because of her advocacy for Palestinian rights and her criticism of the Israeli government. (ABC News)
The human rights lawyer, who grew up in a tight-knit Jewish community in Sydney, told the commission she had approached Victoria Police after she became concerned about her personal information being obtained by neo-Nazi and far right groups.
She said that without her knowledge, police made an application for a personal protection order on her behalf in response to comments made by one individual.
Ms Schwartz said she only became aware of the order when a journalist from The Australian contacted her about a story that was running in the newspaper the following day.
She said the subsequent front-page story claimed she had taken out the order in an attempt to suppress free speech, with the article also republishing some of the slurs and offensive images Ms Schwartz had received.
Ms Schwartz said she subsequently asked that Victoria Police drop the protection order because she was concerned about further online harassment.
“This was becoming a media circus and actually having reported this to police … was something that was going to make me less safe,”
she said.
Ms Schwartz said during a live interview on an ABC program, a pro-Israel guest described her as an “anti-Jew” and the phrase was subsequently used repeatedly online.
“I don’t have any criticism of the ABC interviewer in that particular moment because I think that people are generally unaware of this sort of discourse that is occurring,” she said.
“I do think it’s incredibly important for the media to be aware of this discourse and not to amplify it.”
The royal commission hearing is continuing and is also set to hear from senior NSW Police officers and eSafety Commissioner Julia Inman Grant.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
