Seeing that Zwartz was involved with the Age’s front page (and page 2) story on Leifer at the time, I presume that it is his contribution to the Rotenberg story.

Totally irrelevant, but then so was 3/4 of the original Leifer story where they depicted the Adass community as a cross between a cannibal tribe in New Guinea and the Exclusive Brethren.

(Though admittedly The Age only had the Leifer story for one day – while the Jewish News dragged it out for 3 or 4 weeks.)

From Galus Australis: the identity and contact details of this commenter have been disclosed to the editors.

From Galus Australis: Read Gary Mallin’s follow-up post here.

From The Hasid: Thank you, eli.

Tristian McPharwick, who was in Australia on holiday from the British Isles, was killed in a traffic accident. Mr McPharwick’s wife is a citizen of Austria, a rather peculiar country in central Europe. Austria was in the headlines last year when one of its citizens, Joseph Fritzl, kept his own daughter a prisoner in his basement for several years, raping her, and fathering…

I just can’t see The Age reporting the death of the fictional Tristian McPharwick as per the above.

I wonder when it was changed, and by whom?

DW – Yes, the corruption arrests were generally covered quite poorly. It’s a trickier situation though, because the rabbis involved used the privilege and trust conferred by their religious vocation to facilitate their crimes. So reporting on their Jewishness is somewhat relevant – it then becomes a question as to what extent it should be emphasised, and how. The line is subtle indeed and it’s very easy to cross it into conspiracy-land. It’s a similar situation to when someone tells a vaguely distasteful, misogynistic [or racist, insert discrimination of choice here] joke. If you’re offended by it, you must not have a sense of humour and you’re “overreacting”.

There should be a reasonable test for what news is “surprising and curious”. How many times in the last year have the attackers been Moslems, and how many times have they been Jewish? As Jackie Mason says: “nobody ever crossed the street to avoid a group of Jewish accountants”

“Indeed, an Aussie woman was attacked by a Jewish mob this month in Jerusalem. Journalist Anne Barker – who is the ABC’s Middle East correspondent – recounts her ordeal when she attempted to use her microphone and recorder to report on a local protest.

The protest in question was against the local council’s decision to allow a car-park to open on Saturdays, “to accommodate the increasing number of tourists visiting Jerusalem’s Old City”. This decision would encourage people to drive, which in turn breaks the rules of the Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.

This journalist claims that she dressed conservatively but her recorder unleashed the fury of the mob of ultra-Orthodox Jews who allegedly targeted her for desecrating the Shabbat when ultra-Orthodox Jews believe modern technologies should not be used, although non-Jews should be exempt from this. Barker was sprayed with verbal abuse and saturated with saliva from the spitting attackers…

…If Barker’s published ordeal was carried out by Muslim attackers it becomes more palatable as a familiar dish: in an Islamic setting the outrage seems obvious. But because the spitting came from Jewish mouths, we are supposed to be surprised and curious.”

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2633291.htm