Australian anti-Israel campaigners publish ‘Jew list’

Australian Jewish leaders have condemned anti-Israel activists for publishing a list of Jews.

On Wednesday, the names and personal details of 600 people from the creative industries who had joined a private WhatsApp group were published by pro-Palestine campaigners. 

In a spreadsheet shared widely online, they listed the names of Australian Jews alongside links to their social media accounts and a photo gallery with pictures of 100 people.

While some members of the group had lobbied media organisations to reprimand journalists they percieved to have been antisemitic, others insist they were not using the chat for activism.

The WhatsApp chat, anti-Israel campaigners claimed, was created to coordinate pro-Israel activism.

"This is a group of ‘creatives’ working to silence voices calling for Palestinian liberation,” said feminist writer Clementine Ford as she shared a link to the list on Instagram.

"Knowing that I will likely see some of these people at industry events is sickening - but not quite as sickening as knowing how many more peers I’ll run into who have maintained silence on Palestine AND the people trying to harm others because of it.”

Artist Matt Chun wrote: "The purpose of this group chat was to plan co-ordinated attacks against Palestinians and their allies, while infiltrating a wide range of institutions and industries with pro-occupation and pro genocide propaganda...

"We already know that zionists are parasitic upon progressive spaces. It is under the guise of progressivism that zionists launder their genocidal colonialism, while weaponising their influence to amplify occupation propaganda and streer cultural narratives away from Palestinian liberation."

Chun added: "Every single person in this leaked chat is a Zionist, even if they sat by in silent complicity while others conspired."

At least one person included in the document, however, was a Jewish non-Zionist.

“I have been vocally critical of Israel, was not added to the group and specially said I didn’t want to be in that group, and my name is on the spreadsheet,” a Melbourne-based journalist told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I am not a Zionist, I have never been a Zionist, I am just a Jewish woman trying to go about my life. This is a group of any Jew they know the name of. I can’t believe it is happening.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin described the document as a “Jew list” designed to target those speaking out against antisemitism.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald: “These people have painstakingly collected the names, faces, professions and other personal information of a group of Australians whose sole common trait is that they are Jews.

“They are telling those who chant ‘Where’s the Jews?’ exactly who and where the Jews are.

“It is a ‘Jew list’ drawn up and published in a menacing manner intended to inflict maximum emotional damage and professional loss.”

Police in the Australian state of Victoria said they were: “Investigating following reports the personal details of a number of people, who belong to a private social media chat group, appear to have been released online,”