I find it appalling that Jewish groups around the Western world push for hate speech laws but never seek to apply these laws to their own tradition, which has some anti-Gentile animus. If you are a Jew and you want to censor hate speech, you should first demand that your own group start censoring the Torah, the Talmud and the ongoing rabbinic tradition. If you are unwilling to apply your anti-hate speech legislation first to your own group, you should not seek to apply it to other groups. <\/p>\n
What we need is a group of Jews for Consistency<\/a>.<\/p>\n JTA<\/a>: SYDNEY, Australia \u2013 Jewish community leaders welcomed the Australian government\u2019s decision to scrap plans to repeal parts of the nation\u2019s race-hate laws<\/p>\n Prime Minister Tony Abbott had pledged to dilute sections of the Racial Discrimination Act in a bid to safeguard freedom of speech, but when the government asked for community consultation, it received a chorus of condemnation, led by the Jewish community.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Abbott announced the government\u2019s plans are \u201coff the table.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLeadership is about preserving national unity on the essentials and that is why I have taken this position,\u201d Abbott told reporters in Canberra. \u201cI\u2019m a passionate supporter of free speech and if we were starting from scratch with section 18c we wouldn\u2019t have words such as \u2018offend\u2019 and \u2018insult\u2019 in the legislation,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we aren\u2019t starting from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n During the debate, Attorney-General George Brandis infamously stated in parliament that Australians \u201chave a right to be bigots,\u201d a comment widely criticized within the Jewish community.<\/p>\n Jewish leaders have previously used section 18c of the law to litigate successfully against Holocaust deniers, anti-Semites and religious extremists, and lobbied heavily against the government\u2019s proposed changes.<\/p>\n Peter Wertheim, executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said Tuesday:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Prime Minister has made a wise decision. The extraordinarily large number of written submissions received by the federal government opposing its proposed changes indicate that most Australians understand that racial vilification laws are a necessary last resort for the targets of race hate to defend themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Wertheim added: \u201cAlthough we were disturbed by the possibility of our legal protections being diminished, the extended public debate about the legislation has had a salutary educative effect in the wider community, and this can only be for the good in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Liberal government is staunchly pro-Israel, this issue \u2013 now neutralized \u2013 was the one bone of contention with the Jewish community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I find it appalling that Jewish groups around the Western world push for hate speech laws but never seek to apply these laws to their own tradition, which has some anti-Gentile animus. If you are a Jew and you want … Continue reading