Jewish Musicians Testify at Australian Inquiry That Zionist Views Led to Career and Business Boycotts

Jewish musicians Deborah Conway and Joshua Moshe told Australia's royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion on Monday that their Zionist beliefs led to vilification, boycotts and damaged careers after the contents of a WhatsApp group for Jewish creatives and academics were leaked by the media and some members’ personal information was made public.

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

She described Zionism as central to being Jewish and the belief that Jews have a right to exist in Israel as their ancestral homeland. Conway stressed that Zionism did not imply support for the Israeli government. ” 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.

Moshe was publicly denounced and dumped by his former band because he is a Zionist. He and his wife faced a torrent of online abuse and the targeting and boycotting of the business they ran together, which was 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.

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 royal commission opened its second week of public hearings on Monday examining different definitions of antisemitism. The public hearings are being held before commissioner Virginia Bell in Sydney.

Julie Nathan, 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”. She said criticism that invoked Nazi Germany or anti-Jewish tropes should be considered antisemitic. “No other country in the world is compared to Nazi Germany, only Israel,” Nathan told the commission.

She added that pro-Palestinian protest material such as posters and stickers were not inherently antisemitic but could become examples of Jew-hatred depending on context, such as when placed on a synagogue or outside a Jewish school. ” The Guardian reported all of the testimony delivered before commissioner Virginia Bell on the opening day of the commission’s second week of hearings.