Anti-Semitism on Radio National

The reason that there is no ongoing claim in relation to the Jewish refugees who fled from Arab lands is that Israel resettled them. Palestinian Arabs who fled, and their descendants, have not enjoyed any similar benefit. Their Arab brethren have refused to accept responsibility to settle them.

Both Jews and Arabs lived in the British Mandate of Palestine and numerous partition proposals were put forward to accommodate both Indigenous groups. Mr Heywood-Smith’s further submission that Israel removed the Indigenous inhabitants of Palestine from their lands in 1948, suggests that Jews were not Indigenous inhabitants of the land before it became Israel. This is another falsehood, used to make Jews the “other”. The Jewish claim for equal rights and indeed emancipation is twisted into a claim of inequality and exclusion. This tool of propaganda also has its obvious historical forbears.

Mr Heywood-Smith claims not to be engaging in anti-Semitism, but it is a claim that can safely be rejected by reference to the very broadcast in which his denial comes forth hopelessly implausible.

The role of Radio National in airing important issues for public debate is a vital one. In this instance, regrettably what was being aired was the promulgation of recognisable anti-Semitism.