Jewish musicians faced abuse over Zionist beliefs, royal commisssion told

Jewish musicians have told a royal commission hearing that their views on Zionism made them the targets of vilification and boycotting.

The royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion heard from Deborah Conway and Joshua Moshe on Monday: both were members of a Whatsapp group for Jewish creatives and academics, the contents of which was leaked by the media and some of the members’ personal information made public.

Conway, who became a household name in the 1980s as a singer-songwriter, says she faced backlash for publicly declaring herself as a Zionist even before the group was leaked.

She described Zionism as central to being Jewish, explaining the belief that Jews have a right to exist in Israel as their ancestral homeland.

Conway stressed Zionism did not imply a support for the Israeli government, but despite this says she has faced vicious abuse online and was targeted by protesters at events.

Conway told the commission: “I think that idea of anti-Zionism is, in fact, a genocidal impulse”.

She also testified: “I think it’s really important to say that I support Israel’s right to exist, I don’t support all of the Israeli government’s ways of prosecuting the war.

“I want there to be peace, I want there to be a two-state solution… but unfortunately… at this present time, we’re not living in the land of unicorns and rainbows.”

Moshe described the backlash he faced for being a Zionist as completely unrelated to the reality of his associations with Israel.

As well as being publicly denounced and dumped by his former band, Moshe and his wife faced a torrent of online abuse and the targeting and boycotting of the business they ran together, which was ultimately forced to relocate.

“One version of Zionism, or the one I subscribe to ... is that Jews deserve a home in some part of their ancestral homeland,” Moshe said.

Moshe said he was all but abandoned by others in the music industry, including losing performance opportunities, and having other musicians decline to collaborate on projects.

The commission opened its second week of public hearings on Monday examining different definitions of antisemitism.

Julie Nathan, appearing before the commission in her capacity as research director for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said criticism of Israel was not inherently antisemitic, “even though a lot of it is incredibly offensive”.

But Nathan argued criticism that invoked Nazi Germany or anti-Jewish tropes should be considered antisemitic.

“For example, if it uses older anti-Jewish tropes, you know, such as the blood libel, or Jews are Satanic … they might say ‘Israel is satanic’. So then that kind of feeds into that.”

She said “no other country in the world is compared to Nazi Germany, only Israel”.

Nathan said pro-Palestinian protest material, such as posters and stickers, were not inherently antisemitic, but could be considered examples of Jew-hatred dependent on context.