"When composing his cartoon, Martyn Turner, we can safely say, felt himself not only to be on firm moral ground, but backed by the crowd. He drew sympathy away from the victims of Bondi Beach by creating a resoundingly false equivalence – a falsity to which he and his readers are wholly blind. And so he led them away from an uncomfortable sympathy, a complexity of feelings, into the arms of a comforting fiction."
Turner is pathetic. THIS is deserving of our main news articles and commentary, Donal. It's a tragedy that none in the media see sense to replace folk lile yourself with that coward- or at LEAST put you on a level platform.
I don't know Martyn Turner or his work, but I was reminded of Matti Friedman's work on media coverage of Israel, and how, irrespective of the issue or incident, Israel Is The Story. Even, as in the case of Bondi, over the bodies of more dead Jews.
Sadly, such gross moral relativism is sadly par for the course for the infantilising view of the Western liberal commentariat of agency with respect to Islamist terrorism and the Palestinians.
Thanks Alan. Yes, agree. There's also a sense in which somebody like Turner is just an operative in an information war, whether he realises it or not. Attention on Bondi? Reverse it to blame Israel somehow, anyhow.
It strikes me that these types in the media do indeed know their role and see themselves as vanguards of “truth”. What I always find wild is the claims that people make along lines of “Israel controls the media/narrative”, when that is comically false relative to the incessant perma-victimhood portrayal of Muslims and Palestinians in the media.
So, imaging some bogeyman of “Zionist” influence in the media, journalists in outlets like the Irish Times, Guardian, NYT, see their role as a counterpoint to the phantom influence they’ve dreamed up, and without fail, will make the story about Israel.
What was vile about Bondi was how quickly this occurred, as if the primary concern was “backlash” against Muslims. It’s grotesque.
To quote the Friedman essay:
“Many of the people deciding what you will read and see from here view their role not as explanatory but as political. Coverage is a weapon to be placed at the disposal of the side they like.”
Thank you, Donal for an excellent article that takes Martyn Turner to task for his antisemitism! His cartoon distorts history and makes a false equivalency. Israel never committed any genocide in Gaza, that is Hamas propaganda and nowhere close to true. The IDF in the Gaza War has the lowest combatant to civilian killed ratio in the history of warfare. They managed to do that in a congested urban environment. Nor did Israel seek to commit genocide against Palestinians. They were going after the terrorist organization who did October 7th, Hamas. By the way, 40% of those killed by Israel in Gaza were Hamas fighters not civilians. The Pakistani Islamist shooters who slaughtered Jews at Bondi Beach in Australia specifically sought to kill Jews, men, women and children. There is no comparing these two events. Mr. Turner fancies himself a moralist. He is the exact opposite. Running cover for terrorists and ignoring those who were murdered in October 7th while pushing a blatantly false narrative that Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians.
Sadly, antisemitism has a long history in Ireland. Mr. Turner’s hateful and disgusting cartoon is far from the first time something like this has happened. In 1079, the first ever Jews on Irish soil was recorded, when five Jewish merchants from Normandy arrived on the shores of the Emerald Isle and petitioned for admission and were rejected. In 1290, with Britain expelling its Jews those few Jews living in Ireland were also expelled. It wasn’t until late in the 15th Century that a Jewish community in Ireland would be reinstated. Even then the population would only be a handful for the next 300 years, most of whom immigrated out of the country due to persecution. The Irish government refused to extend citizenship to Jews. As small Jewish communities start to pop up after a small influx of Jewish immigrants from Germany, Poland and England in places like Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, and Londonderry, Catholic clergy in Ireland became wary of the small but significant number of Jews arriving in Ireland.
The 1904-06 Limerick Boycott is probably the most infamous antisemitic incident in Irish history. It was lead by Redemptionist Priest Father John Creagh, who long before the Nazis came around, preached antisemitic sermons and urged Catholics to boycott Jewish traders. This lead not only to an economic boycott but violence against Jewish families and neighborhoods. Economically stifled and physical and verbal abuse threatening their lives, most of the Jews of Limerick left the country. Despite all the bigotry they faced, Irish Jews were generally sympathetic to the cause of independence and supported Irish nationalism. Many Jews sheltered rebels in their homes during the 1916 Easter Rising. The first Jewish Mayor of Dublin, Robert Briscoe was himself a member of the IRA. Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland Dr. Isaac Herzog was good friends with Eamon de Valera. A Jewish lawyer Michael Noyk, defended members of the Irish Republican Sinn Fein Party and was friends with Michael Collins.
The Irish Constitution of 1937 finally recognized Jews as a minority group and guaranteed them freedom from discrimination. But this didn’t end antisemitism in Ireland. With the advent of World War II, Ireland at the international conference at Evian-Les-Bains, officially shut its doors to Jewish refugees fleeing the European Holocaust. The Irish Department of Justice reasoned that Jews couldn’t assimilate to Irish society as readily as other immigrants could. It also stated that a large increase in their numbers would be dangerous to the social order in Ireland. The IRA loved Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party and made common cause with them. They figured since the Nazis hated Britain too, the enemy of the enemy is my friend. Not to mention Eamon de Valera was one of only two world leaders to send the German ambassador his condolences upon Hitler’s death in April 1945.
Antizionism and hatred for Israel in Ireland has a long history as well. Ireland did NOT recognize Israel in 1948 and didn’t extend de jure recognition to Israel in 1963. Nor would diplomatic relations between the two countries be established until 1975. Ireland condemned Israel’s bombing of Ba’athist Iraq’s nuclear facilities in 1981. An officially Israeli embassy wouldn’t be opened in Ireland until 1996. The Irish government made up lies in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s that the IDF was mistreating Irish peacekeepers. There is zero evidence of this and it’s not like the Irish soldiers in UNIFIL were doing much of anything anyway. They did muting to stop Lebanon under Hezbollah from shooting missiles at Israeli civilians. Ireland has condemned Israel too many times to count for everything under the sun. All of it either unfounded or not placed in its proper context. Not to mention the IRA’s well known alliance with animals in the PLO. Taking all this into consideration, Mr. Turner’s abhorrent cartoon is not surprising in the least, it’s yet another chapter in Ireland’s long history of hate.
“The Irish government refused to extend citizenship to Jews.”
Can you provide a source for this? It seems like a curious anomaly. Irish citizenship came into being in 1935 and, as you rightly say, the 1937 Constitution recognised the place of Jews in Ireland.
Are you suggesting that for two years, Jews couldn't get citizenship but then could in 1937?
Thank you for calling out facile, dishonest propaganda designed to dehumanise Jews, even after the worst terror attack in Australian history. Right now in Australia, the left (including our government) is rejecting widespread public demands for a national Royal Commission into this atrocity. I believe the govt's reluctance is due to the fear of a voter backlash in Labor electorates with high Muslim populations and also, fear of threatening 'social cohesion'. It's all quite Orwellian and surreal.
Thank you very much, Delia. I really hope the Royal Commission goes ahead. I was heartened by the open letter by Australian sporting legends like Lleyton Hewitt, Dawn Fraser and Michael Clarke. This strong intervention by mainstream figures will hopefully have an impact.
It's heartening that there are so many diverse, non-partisan calls for a Royal Commission into Bondi. The only people against it seem to be far-left Labor stalwarts (out in force on X) and our government.
"When composing his cartoon, Martyn Turner, we can safely say, felt himself not only to be on firm moral ground, but backed by the crowd. He drew sympathy away from the victims of Bondi Beach by creating a resoundingly false equivalence – a falsity to which he and his readers are wholly blind. And so he led them away from an uncomfortable sympathy, a complexity of feelings, into the arms of a comforting fiction."
Turner is pathetic. THIS is deserving of our main news articles and commentary, Donal. It's a tragedy that none in the media see sense to replace folk lile yourself with that coward- or at LEAST put you on a level platform.
Fair. Play. 🐋👍
Appreciate that, Valentine. Delighted you liked the essay.
Another great essay, Donal.
I don't know Martyn Turner or his work, but I was reminded of Matti Friedman's work on media coverage of Israel, and how, irrespective of the issue or incident, Israel Is The Story. Even, as in the case of Bondi, over the bodies of more dead Jews.
Sadly, such gross moral relativism is sadly par for the course for the infantilising view of the Western liberal commentariat of agency with respect to Islamist terrorism and the Palestinians.
Thanks Alan. Yes, agree. There's also a sense in which somebody like Turner is just an operative in an information war, whether he realises it or not. Attention on Bondi? Reverse it to blame Israel somehow, anyhow.
It strikes me that these types in the media do indeed know their role and see themselves as vanguards of “truth”. What I always find wild is the claims that people make along lines of “Israel controls the media/narrative”, when that is comically false relative to the incessant perma-victimhood portrayal of Muslims and Palestinians in the media.
So, imaging some bogeyman of “Zionist” influence in the media, journalists in outlets like the Irish Times, Guardian, NYT, see their role as a counterpoint to the phantom influence they’ve dreamed up, and without fail, will make the story about Israel.
What was vile about Bondi was how quickly this occurred, as if the primary concern was “backlash” against Muslims. It’s grotesque.
To quote the Friedman essay:
“Many of the people deciding what you will read and see from here view their role not as explanatory but as political. Coverage is a weapon to be placed at the disposal of the side they like.”
If you haven’t already read it:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide
I hadn't read that piece in Tablet. Looking forward to it, thank you.
Your backlash remark reminds me of the Norm Macdonald (RIP) joke:
https://x.com/normmacdonald/status/809637479674281984?lang=en
That Norm Macdonald quote is absolutely priceless (and timeless).
Enjoy the Friedman piece.
That Norm Macdonald quote is absolutely priceless (and timeless).
Enjoy the Friedman piece.
That Norm Macdonald quote is absolutely priceless (and timeless).
Enjoy the Friedman piece.
Thank you, Donal for an excellent article that takes Martyn Turner to task for his antisemitism! His cartoon distorts history and makes a false equivalency. Israel never committed any genocide in Gaza, that is Hamas propaganda and nowhere close to true. The IDF in the Gaza War has the lowest combatant to civilian killed ratio in the history of warfare. They managed to do that in a congested urban environment. Nor did Israel seek to commit genocide against Palestinians. They were going after the terrorist organization who did October 7th, Hamas. By the way, 40% of those killed by Israel in Gaza were Hamas fighters not civilians. The Pakistani Islamist shooters who slaughtered Jews at Bondi Beach in Australia specifically sought to kill Jews, men, women and children. There is no comparing these two events. Mr. Turner fancies himself a moralist. He is the exact opposite. Running cover for terrorists and ignoring those who were murdered in October 7th while pushing a blatantly false narrative that Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians.
Sadly, antisemitism has a long history in Ireland. Mr. Turner’s hateful and disgusting cartoon is far from the first time something like this has happened. In 1079, the first ever Jews on Irish soil was recorded, when five Jewish merchants from Normandy arrived on the shores of the Emerald Isle and petitioned for admission and were rejected. In 1290, with Britain expelling its Jews those few Jews living in Ireland were also expelled. It wasn’t until late in the 15th Century that a Jewish community in Ireland would be reinstated. Even then the population would only be a handful for the next 300 years, most of whom immigrated out of the country due to persecution. The Irish government refused to extend citizenship to Jews. As small Jewish communities start to pop up after a small influx of Jewish immigrants from Germany, Poland and England in places like Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, and Londonderry, Catholic clergy in Ireland became wary of the small but significant number of Jews arriving in Ireland.
The 1904-06 Limerick Boycott is probably the most infamous antisemitic incident in Irish history. It was lead by Redemptionist Priest Father John Creagh, who long before the Nazis came around, preached antisemitic sermons and urged Catholics to boycott Jewish traders. This lead not only to an economic boycott but violence against Jewish families and neighborhoods. Economically stifled and physical and verbal abuse threatening their lives, most of the Jews of Limerick left the country. Despite all the bigotry they faced, Irish Jews were generally sympathetic to the cause of independence and supported Irish nationalism. Many Jews sheltered rebels in their homes during the 1916 Easter Rising. The first Jewish Mayor of Dublin, Robert Briscoe was himself a member of the IRA. Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland Dr. Isaac Herzog was good friends with Eamon de Valera. A Jewish lawyer Michael Noyk, defended members of the Irish Republican Sinn Fein Party and was friends with Michael Collins.
The Irish Constitution of 1937 finally recognized Jews as a minority group and guaranteed them freedom from discrimination. But this didn’t end antisemitism in Ireland. With the advent of World War II, Ireland at the international conference at Evian-Les-Bains, officially shut its doors to Jewish refugees fleeing the European Holocaust. The Irish Department of Justice reasoned that Jews couldn’t assimilate to Irish society as readily as other immigrants could. It also stated that a large increase in their numbers would be dangerous to the social order in Ireland. The IRA loved Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party and made common cause with them. They figured since the Nazis hated Britain too, the enemy of the enemy is my friend. Not to mention Eamon de Valera was one of only two world leaders to send the German ambassador his condolences upon Hitler’s death in April 1945.
Antizionism and hatred for Israel in Ireland has a long history as well. Ireland did NOT recognize Israel in 1948 and didn’t extend de jure recognition to Israel in 1963. Nor would diplomatic relations between the two countries be established until 1975. Ireland condemned Israel’s bombing of Ba’athist Iraq’s nuclear facilities in 1981. An officially Israeli embassy wouldn’t be opened in Ireland until 1996. The Irish government made up lies in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s that the IDF was mistreating Irish peacekeepers. There is zero evidence of this and it’s not like the Irish soldiers in UNIFIL were doing much of anything anyway. They did muting to stop Lebanon under Hezbollah from shooting missiles at Israeli civilians. Ireland has condemned Israel too many times to count for everything under the sun. All of it either unfounded or not placed in its proper context. Not to mention the IRA’s well known alliance with animals in the PLO. Taking all this into consideration, Mr. Turner’s abhorrent cartoon is not surprising in the least, it’s yet another chapter in Ireland’s long history of hate.
Thank you very much, Noah.
“The Irish government refused to extend citizenship to Jews.”
Can you provide a source for this? It seems like a curious anomaly. Irish citizenship came into being in 1935 and, as you rightly say, the 1937 Constitution recognised the place of Jews in Ireland.
Are you suggesting that for two years, Jews couldn't get citizenship but then could in 1937?
An excellent essay. I remember when Martyn Turner was good.
Thank you for calling out facile, dishonest propaganda designed to dehumanise Jews, even after the worst terror attack in Australian history. Right now in Australia, the left (including our government) is rejecting widespread public demands for a national Royal Commission into this atrocity. I believe the govt's reluctance is due to the fear of a voter backlash in Labor electorates with high Muslim populations and also, fear of threatening 'social cohesion'. It's all quite Orwellian and surreal.
Thank you very much, Delia. I really hope the Royal Commission goes ahead. I was heartened by the open letter by Australian sporting legends like Lleyton Hewitt, Dawn Fraser and Michael Clarke. This strong intervention by mainstream figures will hopefully have an impact.
It's heartening that there are so many diverse, non-partisan calls for a Royal Commission into Bondi. The only people against it seem to be far-left Labor stalwarts (out in force on X) and our government.