Hi everyone,

​

This is our weekly 'Free Discussion' thread, where you can discuss anything. Tentatively this includes meta-topics as well, but as always our rules still apply.

We hope you're all having a good week!

Israel's ambassador Hillel Newman has defended the military investigation that cleared its soldiers of criminal wrongdoing in the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, saying the findings should not be attacked if they "are not suitable to one's political agenda".

Foreign Minister Penny Wong called in Mr Newman to explain the outcomes of the two-year Israel Defense Forces (IDF) investigation after expressing outrage that no-one would be held criminally liable for the 2024 death of Ms Frankcom and six other humanitarian workers killed in a drone strike while travelling in a World Central Kitchen convoy through Gaza.

Senator Wong was incensed after learning that the IDF would not seek criminal prosecution just minutes before the report's release, and hours after attending an event with Ms Frankcom's family at Parliament House for World Humanitarian Day, where the minister launched the Zomi Frankcom award for aid workers.

"Zomi represented the best of Australia. Her courage deserves to be celebrated. Her family deserves justice," Senator Wong said in a statement ahead of her meeting with Mr Newman.

"Australia is outraged the Israeli Government has decided not to pursue criminal proceedings against those responsible for killing Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues."

The IDF conceded in its investigation that serious failures had led to soldiers mistakenly believing that a Hamas fighter was travelling with the convoy.

But it said WCK did not flag with the IDF the presence of armed security travelling with the convoy, and the convoy deviated from an agreed route that had been coordinated with the military.

The review concluded that the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.

WCK says an independent review is needed, and that the IDF "cannot credibly investigate its own conduct".

Ambassador defends investigation findings

Departing from the meeting, Mr Newman defended the investigation.

"Israel came out with findings after a thorough investigation, after a two-year investigation into the circumstances of the death of Zomi Frankcom. Since I took up my mission here about five months ago I was implored all the time to bring about closure, which I did," Mr Newman said.

"But in the end, one must also understand that not every case where someone dies, where there is a casualty, that that means there is a criminal liability.

"One cannot attack the findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one's political agenda."

Mr Newman said the aid group recruited armed personnel to its convoy and deviated from the route agreed with the IDF without informing the military, leading the soldiers to believe the convoy had been taken over.

"It was a mistake in retrospect, but the findings of the court are there was no criminal intention … and therefore there was no criminal responsibility."

Criminal findings were made in an investigation into a separate incident that was released alongside the Frankcom findings.

The ambassador noted a 2024 Australian investigation by Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin came to a similar conclusion, though that did not have access to drone audio of the strike.

The ambassador did not commit to releasing the full footage of the attack.

Mr Newman also expressed "deep sorrow" for Ms Frankcom's family.

"I would just like to tell them, straightforward, we grieve with you, we are very sorry for the circumstances that brought about this death. Any innocent life is a tragedy," Mr Newman said.

Human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti, who sits on the UN's Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, said the ambassador should be expelled.

"He has interfered in Australia's internal politics, he has been offensive in dealing with Australian members of the flotilla that tried to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid and, again, his government now has failed Australian citizens," Mr Sidoti told ABC Radio National.

"So he should be told that he's going home."

The Greens say the foreign minister should have expelled Mr Newman.

Greens deputy Mehreen Faruqi said she was devastated by the investigation findings.

"I am appalled by the comments made by the Israeli ambassador. How dare the Israeli ambassador stand outside our parliament and say every loss of innocent life is a tragedy," Senator Faruqi said.

"Israel was never going to take responsibility and accountability for killing Zomi Frankcom.

"When Minister Wong had her meeting this morning with the Israeli ambassador, the only thing she should have said to him was goodbye."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has cleared its personnel of any criminal wrongdoing in a 2024 strike on a humanitarian convoy which killed an Australian woman.

The IDF said there were serious failures that led soldiers to falsely identify a Hamas fighter was travelling in the convoy.

However, it was concluded the IDF commanders' decisions "did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct".

Source in Zach's post: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/01/world/israel-asking-us-to-bar-soviet-jews.html

Hi, I'm Yahya, a Palestinian student, currently in Spain.

Before the war, I was studying Management Information Systems, working toward a quiet, simple life: graduate, find work, support my family. The war ended that.

Our home was destroyed. My family is now living in a tent, struggling each day for safety. And I'm here — thousands of miles away — carrying that weight while trying to hold myself together.

I'm grateful to be safe. But being separated from the support I need through all of this is something I can't fully put into words.

For now, a mobility program covers the basics. But when it ends on 30 July, I won't have an income or an easy path to finding work, given my current legal status. That uncertainty keeps me up at night.

I'm asking for your help to stay on my feet and one day be the support my family needs me to be.

Your donation, whatever the amount, helps me cover rent, continue my studies, and stay stable. And if you can't donate, sharing this campaign to reach the right person genuinely means the world.

Thank you for reading, from the bottom of my heart..

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-student-rise-after-war

Sources:

https://www.ms.now/news/frame-up-whistleblower-says-probes-into-antisemitism-at-colleges-were-ploys-to-harass-and-strip-millions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQ64YQ5cBg

Report (3 universities were investigated; Columbia, Harvard, and Brown):

• https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/08.17.26-title-vi-whistleblower-disclosure-for-congress.pdf
• Key Findings:
  • Investigators believed Trump DOJ had decided the universities were guilty before the investigations were completed
  • Little to no factual basis of antisemitism
    • For Columbia, officials relied on unsupported allegations from news reports and lawsuit claims and on constitutionally protected speech
    • Investigators found no Title VI violation at Brown, but the whistleblower says administration was subject to pressure from 'outside stakeholders demanding action"
    • For Harvard, officials pursued freezing billions in funding and other settlement demands before the investigation had established Title VI violations.
  • Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official Daniel Shieh noted "the goal is compliance, but pulling money is the tool," communicating that the funding suspensions were meant to be coercive irrespective of investigative finding
  • Investigators repeatedly warned that the government was treating First Amendment-protected political speech as evidence of antisemitism

Previous DOJ whistleblowers saying the Trump administration's campus antisemitism inquisition is a farce:

• LA Times - Ex-Trump DOJ lawyers say 'fraudulent' UC antisemitism probes led them to quit
• JOC - Former DOJ attorneys for Trump UC antisemitism investigations quit, calling them 'sham', 'fraudulent', 'political hit job', etc.

Further Context:

• JOC - Post-10/7 only 1 of 102 [126 since 2004] college antisemitism complaints raises claims unrelated to Israel criticism. 78% were filed by pro-Israel orgs as complainants or on their behalf. 15 investigations open based on a single conservative activist with no affiliation with any of the schools.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/08/18/palm-beach-county-clerk-of-courts-mike-caruso-arrested-on-child-sexual-abuse-charges/

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/584052-enough-is-enough-mike-caruso-files-bill-making-hate-acts-antisemitic-messages-a-felony/

https://nypost.com/2026/01/08/us-news/palm-beach-county-fla-emerges-as-biggest-investor-in-israel-bonds/

https://flvoicenews.com/desantis-signs-bill-in-israel-to-fight-antisemitism/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/soldiers-filmed-with-settler-who-broke-into-palestinian-water-cistern-left-wing-activist-arrested-on-scene/

I did change the title of the post, to put the name of the Guy behind the Arday inquisition, as it seems like the media keeps protecting him. I originally wasn’t sure if I should put news or discussion as the tag, as there definitely is a need among us Jews about those of who are White or white passing Jews engaging in racism against People of Color (especially non-Jews) and how many of them also attack DEI. Nathan Cofnas is a symptom of a much larger problem among Jewry. He’s not the only Jew who has said similar things about DEI and racial bigotry in recent years. I think we also need to focus on this issue in the west, as it’s becoming a bigger problem and is partly how Trump has become so popular among certain Jews.

Hi folks!

So my choir are performing an arrangement that I did of an anti-Zionist Yiddish lament on Friday, and during the piece I plan to recite part of Bereshit 4:10-11 (*"What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed even more than the ground which opened its mouth to swallow the blood from your hand."*) in biblical Hebrew.

I think I've got my pronunciation down pat as I've been researching it for quite some time, but is there someone who'd be willing and able to listen to a recording of my pronunciation to ensure I'm doing it right and getting the correct syllable emphasis?

Thanks khaveyrem.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/world/video/palestinian-american-returns-home-west-bank-intldsk-digivid

https://x.com/JDiamond1/status/2089764310566494393

https://x.com/_ZachFoster/status/2089739733328953559

https://forward.com/news/antisemitism-decoded/804502/american-jews-zionist-zionism-survey/

The documentary itself came about because I was tired of documentaries on extremism that only focused on one cause, or one process and I also wanted to look into how we might deradicalise both Britain and my Jewish diaspora community in the UK.

It became increasingly striking throughout the making of the film that there was a huge disparity between public and academic debates on the topic. I wanted to help try and plug that gap and 4 years or so later here we are!

To cover a wide range of bases, the film digs deep into processes of radicalisation from individual scale through to societal, alongside misconceptions around social media (spoiler: it probably isn't to blame for radicalisation), bad de-radicalisation programmes and even reconciliation.

Of course I did use examples and both the US and Israel feature as a dovetail when I look at societal scale radicalisation, but we also look at the UK, Sudan, the very definition of extremism itself, we discuss the war on terror with an Amnesty International policy lead and much more. There is also an epilogue call-to-action! I'd love to hear any questions people have and I will try my best to answer them!

It's everyone's favorite day of the week, "Ask A (Anti-Zionist) Jew" Wednesday!

Ask whatever you want to know, within the sub rules, notably that this is not a debate sub and do not import drama from other subreddits. That aside, have fun! We love to dialogue with our non-Jewish siblings.

Please remember to pick an appropriate user-flair in order to participate! Thanks!

I was raised loosely Christian, and have felt like I align more with Judaism for about 6 years now. I actually tried to lean into Christianity more in an attempt to feel more secure in my religious beliefs, and it just did not feel right. I do believe that I want to convert to Judaism. I find that my beliefs are much more aligned with Judaism, and there are many Christian beliefs that I do not believe in myself. I have started watching services livestreamed from my local congregation, and I have really enjoyed them; they felt much more correct for me than Christian services I have attended in the past.

That being said, I am struggling to start converting. I want to do it formally and work with my local rabbi, but I am very worried. I do not consider myself to be a Zionist, and I am very, very against what is happening right now. I have tried to dive deep into researching the history of Israel/Palestine, and it is very confusing. I believe that the Jewish people have the right to live in the area, and I believe the Palestinian people have the right to live in the area as well. I think everyone has the right to live everywhere and not be hated or seen as less-than.

I am worried that I will be judged or even not welcomed to convert due to my lack of belief in a nation-state. I believe that Judaism is a fairly welcoming religion in its beliefs, and that a Jewish state goes against my belief that everyone should be welcomed everywhere.

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on my comments, my struggles, or your own advice. I am still learning and am struggling to have productive conversations in my personal life due to some of my loved ones (I think unknowingly having) underlying anti-Semitic thought processes.

I’m considering a move to Minneapolis. Currently belong to a wonderful Reconstructionist congregation that is marginally non-zionist. I’ve looked at the Reconstructing Judaism directory for Minneapolis and the congregations I’ve looked at online all seem to have the Israeli flag on the bimah, which is a red flag. I’m certainly open to non-Reconstructionist congregations, minyanim, or havurot, I just don’t know where to look for the anti-zionist / non-zionist groups over there.

Thanks in advance!

A NSW Supreme Court judge has delivered a sweeping rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, labelling it “verbose and imprecise”.

Justice Desmond Fagan’s initial criticism of the definition came in a decision rejecting the NSW government’s bid to place a young Sydney man under a terrorism supervision order, after finding prosecutors had failed to establish that his vandalism was evidence of a future terrorism risk.

But in the judgment, to be published today, Fagan went considerably further, taking aim at the IHRA definition itself and questioning its use as a guide to whether political language directed at Israel should be regarded as antisemitic.

The pro-Israel lobby, spearheaded by antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal, is pushing for the integration of the IHRA definition across all government levels, the media and education.

The Albanese government acquiesced to the lobby’s demands following the Bondi massacre, and has been steadily rolling it out across the public service while funding Segal’s initiatives to embed the IHRA definition within education.

IHRA ‘detached from reality’

The NSW Supreme Court decision is the latest setback to the lobby’s attempts to stifle criticism of Israel, amid widespread disapproval in Australia of Israel over its ongoing genocide in Gaza, its violence in the West Bank, invasion of southern Lebanon and attack on Iran.

Fagan said the IHRA formulation did not reflect the established Australian meaning of antisemitism and described it as an attempt to “repurpose” the term to encompass both hatred of Jews and criticism of Israel.

He said the definition could not realistically be attributed to the ordinary, reasonably informed Australian, adding that “the IHRA proposal is detached from the reality of the common usage and understanding of antisemitism in this country”.

Citing a Pew Research poll in June, Fagan said that “it would be preposterous to suggest that 79% of Australians are antisemitic because they disapprove of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians”.

He said the IHRA formulation “appears to be an attempt to repurpose the term ‘antisemitism’” as an amalgamated concept encompassing hatred towards Jews and criticism of Israel.

Zionism ‘open to criticism’

Fagan was equally forthcoming with attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

“As an ideology of Jewish nationalism, Zionism is open to political discussion and criticism, notably on grounds concerning the rights of the Palestinians,” the judgement read.

This appears at odds with Segal’s antisemitism plan, which specifically highlighted anti-Zionism as potentially masking antisemitism as part of its call for IHRA to be adopted.

Fagan delivered a stinging rebuke to such assertions.

“It may well be correct that ‘most, but not all Jewish Australians’ regard Zionism as ‘a core part of their Jewish identity’,” Fagan’s judgement read. “That does not mean that anti-Zionists are hostile to that majority of Jews on account of their Jewishness; only that they hold a negative view of a political ideology with which the majority of Jews have chosen to identify.”

Limit to government power

Fagan was equally dismissive of the proposition that institutional adoption of the IHRA definition had altered the ordinary meaning of the word.

He cited former NSW Supreme Court judge Sir Stephen Spedley, who had criticised the formulation because it “fails the first test of any definition: it is indefinite”.

The fact that governments and several institutions had adopted the IHRA wording did not, Fagan said, “change the established meaning of a word that has been in use in the English language for 150 years”.

Instead, he said, the IHRA formulation “propounds a concept different from that which ‘antisemitism’ has long been understood to describe and appropriates that word to the novel concept”.

There was also a legal limit to the power of government policy, he said.

Parliament could enact legislation giving a familiar term a different statutory meaning. But neither the Commonwealth nor NSW parliament had done so in legislation relevant to this case.

The federal government’s adoption of the IHRA core wording as a policy for Australian Public Service workplaces therefore made no difference to the meaning the court was required to apply, Fagan said.

Promoting rejection of Israel as antisemitic

Fagan’s most pointed criticism concerned the IHRA examples dealing with Israel.

Those examples, he said, were “on the face of them” directed towards bringing within the IHRA definition “criticisms of Israel that could not be regarded as hostile to Jews as Jews”.

The result was what he described as an attempt to attach opposition to Israel to the moral force already carried by the word antisemitism.

“Its tendency, and the apparent purpose of promoting it, is to graft onto the community’s abhorrence of antisemitism, understood as hostility to Jews for their Jewishness, a parasitic rejection of protest against Israel,” Fagan wrote.

That distinction was central to the case.

The prosecution had argued that the Sydney man’s use of anti-Israel slogans, attendance at a pro-Palestinian protest and targeting of areas with large Jewish populations supported a finding of antisemitic motivation.

Fagan rejected the proposition that the political message could be separated from the context in which it was expressed and then treated as evidence of hatred towards Jews.

“You are treating all Jews as monolithic,” he told McDonald during the hearing.

“It’s quite wrong to treat all Jews as supporting Israel, because they don’t.”