Why aren't Jewish concerns addressed at the Media Inquiry?

Can someone explain why have organisations and lay-leaders of our community - especially those who regularly criticise sections of the local media for anti-Israel bias and mis/disinformation - not made submissions about this to the current Independent Media Inquiry?

Wouldn't this have been an outstanding opportunity  to publicise the frequent anti-Israel slant of the usual suspects, eg, the Canberra Times, the SMH, The Age, SBS and the ABC?

We may have missed it whilst browsing the free on-line edition of the AJN, but we cannot recall any comment or criticism by it about this bungled and missed opportunity.

Where are they all? AIJAC, ECAJ, ZFA, JCCV and all the other acronyms that claim to be representing the interests of Israel and the local Jewish community? Not sure why our fearless MP, Mr Michael Danby isn't there. Maybe being a parliamentarian has something to do with it. But where are all the others? Has there been a massive slip-up? Or what?

(At the same time, members of the Orthodox community and especially the Chabad leadership should have considered raising their concerns on the history of biased and unjust articles published in the Jewish News when reporting on the observant community.)

Michael Danby - getting up Bob Brown's goat

Michael Danby is obviously doing darn good job. He recent comments about refusing to give his preferences to the Greens in the future - as well as his exposure of some of the nastier and anti-Israel tactics by Green politicians has now totally upset their leader, Bob Brown, who is resorting with threats and abuse.

In reply to Michael calling them "watermelon greens" Brown's angry reply is "lettuce".

Well, let us - lettuce see, Senator Brown. AJNWatch won't be surprised if after the despicable behaviour of so many Greens politicians - especially the BDS-promoting execrable Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne and the deplorable Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon - with their shameless anti-Israel views, the Greens vote will drop substantially in all areas. Not only Jewish voters, but most fair-minded decent Australians will be dumping this left-wing rabble.

Meanwhile, all of us living in Melbourne Ports have a duty to support and ensure that Michael Danby retains this seat - with an increased majority - for many elections to come. We should forget party-partisan politics and remember that Michael has been one of our community's strongest and bravest advocates ever and deserves our 100% unwavering support.

THE AGE:  Brown blasts 'nasty' Danby
Michelle Grattan

GREENS leader Bob Brown has fiercely attacked the Labor member for Melbourne Ports, Michael Danby, threatening the Greens could have him out of Parliament and ''growing lettuces''.

Senator Brown struck back after assaults by Mr Danby on the Greens, including at the weekend when he repeated he would have them pushed down the ticket in Melbourne Ports because of their policies.

Senator Brown told The Age his advice to the Greens in Mr Danby's seat ''would be to look at not directing preferences next time - and he'll go''.

''He needs to know that he's not some sort of arbiter of Liberal-Labor consensus on how to get rid of Greens. He might find himself going out the back door faster than he thinks … He'll find himself growing lettuces.''

The Green candidate in Melbourne Ports at the 2010 election, Sue Plowright, had received a ''huge'' vote, Senator Brown said.

At the last election Mr Danby had a primary vote just over 38 per cent, while the Liberal candidate received nearly 38 per cent and the Greens nearly 21 per cent. He received Green preferences. While most Green voters give preferences to Labor anyway, in a close election getting formal support could be critical.

Senator Brown said some of Mr Danby's recent comments had been ''really nasty and uncalled for''. Mr Danby recently likened the controversial Green from NSW, Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon, to Elena Ceausescu, the wife of the brutal Romanian dictator.

The incoming senator has advocated an Israeli boycott. Mr Danby, who is Jewish and represents an area with a big Jewish presence, is strongly pro-Israel.

The Greens decide on preferences at a local rather than a national level. Senator Brown said he would not be directing the locals but advising them.

Mr Danby said last night: ''I won't be bowing to this pressure''.

He was very surprised at Senator Brown's comments - he did not think Senator Brown would join with Senator-elect Rhiannon in making what were effectively political threats.

''I won't be backing down in saying some of the Greens' policies are too extreme'', such as their advocacy of death duties and the reduction of aid to non-government schools.

He believed he could survive without Green preferences. ''The Greens will find me like the wombat on the Hume Highway - the wheels will bounce every time.''

Julia Gillard is truly a rachmonus. Imagine your life or career depending on the support of such a rabble.

Mesirah - a plague in our midst

Klal Yisrael always viewed, not only actual mosrim, but even those who only threatened to inform on others to the police or authorities with loathing and revulsion. The most horrible epithet one throw at another was “Moser”. “Dobbers'’ were, throughout our history, considered to be the lowest of the low. Vermin. The Shulchan Aruch actually permits eradicating such a person - even on Yom Kippur adding: "vechol hakodem lehargoy - zacha" !!

To the best of our knowledge there is no such an allowance or ruling for any other major or minor infraction – not “bein adam laMakom” not “bein adam lechaveiro”.

It is therefore extremely painful to see this mesireh phenomenon become a 'normal' occurrence in our community, with the regular appearance of signed and unsigned letters and notices which explicitly and implicitly make threats of 'reporting' and ‘going to the authorities’ against organizations and the people who work tirelessly for them. Sadly, even in cases where the target is 100% in the clear – some of the mud sticks and time, money and effort that would be spent in building and improving is wasted in cleaning up the mess that has been created.

Do these contemptible and vile YBR parents who went running to the Age and the Jewish News realise that they have lost their “Chelek le’olam haba”? Was it really worth it? And what about the enormous Chilul Hashem they caused?

If these people have even a minuscule level of Yiras Shamayim, they must soon realise what a terrible state their neshamos are.

We at AJN Watch have no idea who the offenders are, but have no doubt (by the pattern of previous incidents) that these mosrim probably pay zero or minimal tuition fees for their children and have never lifted a finger to assist the schools in any way. A nasty collection of whingers, whiners, complainers, takers and users who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

It is time that the RCV and individual rabbis came out strongly against this plague of mesireh which has affected a number of our communities. It is also obvious that many – especially BTs - have no idea of the gravity of this aveirah.

Rabbis should undertake to educate their congregants about these laws - before they too are affected by the actions of some unknowing member of their Shul. Outreach-Kiruv workers should be trained to impart these important Halachot to all who wish to become part of the community of Shomrei Torah uMitzvot. They should be clearly told: “Mesireh is assur – no less than pork”.

Wake up rabbis, before this snake bites you!

For those who wish to study these halachot – see Choshen Mishpat 388.

Meanwhile we reproduce a few of the main laws: (Click to enlarge)

From Friday's Age:

A JEWISH school in St Kilda East is being investigated following a complaint alleging the misuse of a $2 million grant under the federal school building stimulus program.

Yeshivah and Beth Rivkah Colleges received the $2 million grant under the program for a multi-purpose hall.

The complaint, obtained by The Age, alleged the grant was used by Chabad Youth - described on its website as a community-based organisation established to disseminate Judaism worldwide - for a building ''totally separate and distinct from the school''. It says Chabad Youth is not a school and therefore not entitled to receive any funding.

The complainant, who uses the pseudonym ''John Smith'' and is believed to be a parent at the school, also alleged the building's primary purpose was religious worship, in breach of the program's guidelines. ''It is imperative that the Australian government ensures that taxpayer funds are applied in accordance with the intention of the schemes … and that persons do not act in a fraudulent manner to obtain a benefit contrary to the provisions,'' he said in an email to the school building stimulus taskforce, which is investigating the complaint.

A federal Education Department spokesman confirmed the taskforce was investigating. ''The primary purpose of BER [Building the Education Revolution] facilities is educational,'' he said. ''BER guidelines outline that funding cannot be used for the building or refurbishment of any facility which has religious worship as its primary purpose.''

The general manager of Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges, Nechama Bendet, said Yeshivah College was confident that it had fully complied with all the guidelines and requirements of the grant.

But parents, who spoke to The Age on condition of anonymity, said they believed the building would be mainly used by Chabad Youth for Jewish social functions and worship on the Sabbath rather than the education of children at Yeshivah College. ''They took away our children's playground and put up a building which has nothing to do with our children's school,'' a mother tearfully told The Age.

In 2008, Chabad Youth was granted a planning permit by Glen Eira Council to build a three-storey education centre to be used in association with Yeshivah College.

Ms Bendet said the school gratefully received a $2 million grant to build a multipurpose hall the following year. ''To comply with the short time frames associated with the BER funding, existing permits were utilised by the school to build the hall,'' Ms Bendet said. She said an extra $3 million was raised by the community.

''The hall will be utilised by the school for assemblies, indoor sport, study areas, lectures, professional development, debating, large performances, parent-teacher meetings and staff meetings,'' Ms Bendet said. ''In accordance with BER guidelines, the hall will be made available to the local community after school hours and on weekends for after-school clubs and other recreational, cultural, sporting, and social activities.''

Menachem Vorschheimer in the news again

Today's Age has a very interesting piece written by their well-know crime reporters Andrew Rule and John Silvester (aka "Sly of the Underworld") regarding the Vorschheimer affair.

Seeing that many in our community no longer subscribe to the Age, and after having recently criticised Menachem's blog effort, we feel it is only fair to post this article to show what the upset is all about.

THERE'S the strange case of the policeman accused of long-term bullying who has been on fully paid leave for two years. It seems he's lucky enough to have a doctor willing to declare his ''patient'' unfit to face questions about the alleged offences. We hope the (alleged) bully's victims are being looked after nearly as well.

Then there is the case of the fortunate Leading Senior Constable Terrence Moore. He used to be a plain senior constable, but has been promoted since - or despite - being revealed as the driver of a minibus full of louts who assaulted a man for objecting to their racist abuse. Promoted, in fact, despite being the subject of an internal inquiry by the force's ethical standards unit. He, too, seems lucky.

Either the police force is an extraordinarily forgiving employer - or the police union is too tough to mess with. Like the 250-kilogram pet gorilla in the old joke, it sits anywhere it bloody well wants to and gets called ''Sir'': the sort of ''pet'' that makes senior police and their political masters nervous, especially before elections.

Advertisement: Story continues below But Menachem Vorchheimer is neither a politician nor a senior policeman and he's not nervous - of the police union, the chief commissioner's office or the government, it seems.

Vorchheimer hit the news in the spring of 2006, when the then off-duty Constable Moore was driving a minibus full of country footballers home from Caulfield races through East St Kilda towards the road to Geelong. The constable was not subsequently breathalysed - so he gets the benefit of any doubt about that - but being more sober than his passengers didn't help him to stop them from racially abusing Jewish people walking home from weekly worship.

Our heroes, from Ocean Grove footy club, were mostly young and mostly drunk, which explains some of their tasteless and offensive behaviour but does not excuse it - especially when it turned violent.

One genius yelled an obscene sexual suggestion to a Jewish mother of five. Another wit mimed machinegun fire as his mates jeered ''Go the Nazis'' and ''F… the Jews''.

Hilarious.

But, being almost as full as the bus was, the footballers made a couple of tactical mistakes. One was to yell insults just before the bus stopped at a red light. The other was to pick on someone who would fight back - the aforesaid Menachem Vorchheimer, who was walking his two small children home from the nearby synagogue.

Incensed by the abuse, Vorchheimer ran to the bus driver's door and demanded to know who was in charge.

The driver (he says) was surly and refused to identify himself, the group, or anyone in it. It might have ended there but a passenger snatched Vorchheimer's hat and yarmulke (religious skull cap) through an open window.

A passing motorist who saw this blocked the bus by parking his car in front of it. The bus driver wasn't happy. In fact, he allegedly tried to reverse and drive off. What might be called ''doing a runner''. One of the footballers tossed Vorchheimer's felt hat on to the ground but they still had his skull cap. When he demanded it back, someone in the bus punched him in the face, giving him a black eye. It was a mistake. Vorchheimer promptly sat in front of the bus.
Meanwhile, passers-by gathered around. Despite the driver's demands not to call the police, someone did.

Three cars came from St Kilda police station. The officers soon learnt an inconvenient truth: the driver was an off-duty ''member''. Not that anyone was shouting it from the rooftops. In fact, if a reporter hadn't dug it up days later, maybe no one outside ''the job'' would ever have known.

The policewoman taking notes recorded an interesting fact about her off-duty colleague's actions, later recorded in a carefully worded statement. When Vorchheimer said that whoever punched him was wearing a pink tie, Moore got on to the bus and spoke to his passengers and within seconds all of them removed their ties. It was then impossible for Vorchheimer to clearly identify his attacker.

The bus was blocking traffic, no one was volunteering information and, in any case, statements from intoxicated people do not fly in court, so the police allowed the culprits to leave. One policeman gave Vorchheimer his telephone number and assured him ''justice would be done''.

Since then, Vorchheimer and his legal advisers have tried to make sure that happened. Three footballers were subsequently fined for offensive language but none was found for the assault. Worse, he says, he didn't get a sincere apology - except from AFL boss Andrew Demetriou, who made one on behalf of the football community in a way that made the Ocean Grove club look flatfooted and ungracious, at best.

As Vorchheimer sees it, he didn't get much joy from the police hierarchy, either. After a barrister advised him to study relevant law and police regulations, he concluded that Senior Constable Terry Moore had failed his sworn duty to uphold the law.

Not only had Moore failed to prevent his passengers from committing the original offences but he was suspected of tipping off an assault suspect to remove his tie to confuse detection. And he had tried to drive off after asking witnesses not to call the police.

But when Vorchheimer pressed these points with Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe, the meeting ended abruptly with Walshe insisting that Moore would not be suspended.

The top cop was as good as his word.

Early this year, a truck sideswiped a car on the Western Ring Road, spinning into a barrier and back on to the freeway, where oncoming traffic narrowly avoided it. The driver, a 25-year-old woman, was lucky to survive the ordeal. As her battered car spun to a halt, she saw the truck slow down, then speed off. She didn't get its registration number.

Police appealed for witnesses but none came forward. One policeman from the Brimbank Traffic Management Unit was so concerned he even spoke to a local newspaper about it.

"It is an offence to not stop at an accident or render assistance if someone was injured," the policeman said. "In a lot of instances trucks don't know they have hit a car, but he would have known. It is disappointing he didn't stop.''

The speaker? None other than Terry Moore, basking in his promotion to leading senior constable. A policeman's lot can be a happy one, after all.

Or, to quote another lyric, ''You don't get me, I'm part of the union.''

Oy, did you get it wrong, Lawrence!

[Click to enlarge]

It's "AJN Watch" not "AJN News"!  (“AJN News” would be a tautology…)

Now had you checked out our “header” you would have learned that:
“AJN WATCH - the on-line voice of Australian Orthodox Jewry observes and comments on matters of interest to that community. We particularly monitor prejudice and monopolistic abuse of influence in the pages of the Australian Jewish News - the main source of information to and about Australian Jewry. We spotlight errors, expose misrepresentations and vigorously advocate our community's positions.”

Actually, the AJN, ie, the Australian Jewish News, after originally threatening to ‘watch’ us, seems to have placed a ban on even mentioning our name. Ah, well, we’ll just have to rely on The Age…

Anyway, right or wrong name, we appreciate the publicity. For obvious reasons, AJN Watch hardly gets any hits on an average Saturday. Today, however, was different, as quite a few Age readers seem to have followed up that item with a peek at our blog. Even when putting in an incorrect name Google likes us. We searched “AJN News Menachem” and got this result:

Even when we dropped the “Menachem” the response was quite respectable:

So thanks for that Lawrence. (And despite what we generally think of the Age, LM is a well-liked journo in the community, and we even have your mug shot here.)

Time to pull your head in, Menachem

Chabadnik posts:
I am not sure how many members of our community still read the Age, but those who did so yesterday would have been disturbed and appalled at Menachem Vorchheimer's latest attempt at self-promotion and notoriety.

His incessant public besmirching the Yeshiva leadership is bad enough and we are sick and tired of it. But this effort at bashing John Brumby,  the premier of Victoria, who, besides being a decent, hard-working and honorable human being, is well-known to be a good friend of the Jewish community, is despicable.

(I am in no way taking sides here in the electoral battle between Mr Brumby and his equally decent opponent - Ted Ballieu. He too is, BH, a good friend of ours.

Victorian, and indeed Australian, Jewry is most fortunate to be in a situation where all leaders of the major parties are friends of ours and supportive of Israel.)

I sure hope that John Brumby ignores that pathetic blog of a wannabe rabble-rouser - who has absolutely no support or following in our community.

And to you Menachem, a request on behalf of all of us: Pull your head in!

A meshugaas in our community. Why do Jewish parents give their kids weird names?

We have long wondered why so many Jewish parents think it is “cool” to humiliate and discomfit their children by subjecting them to outlandish and peculiar names. And this, despite being Jewish – which gives them twice as many opportunities to find a respectable 'normal' name for their newborn – from the vast array available for Australians and Jews.

Week-after-week birth notices in the AJN include strange, weird, odd, bizarre and sometimes absolutely idiotic names embossed upon the life of a tiny innocent baby who will have to hide, explain or change it at some stage(s) of his/her life. Why are so many parents subjecting their offspring to such an unnecessary burden? Isn't life complicated enough for the young ones? Why add to their issues?

One wonders if and what those parents were drinking or smoking when they came up with the inspiration to tag their child this way.

Here's our message to all new parents: You have a meshugaas for nutty names? Fine. Change your own and that of your spouse. But please, leave the little kids alone!

And what about all those 'androgynous' names, where one cannot make out if the newborn is a male or female!? 

Meanwhile to give you some of idea of the unusual names acquired by the newest members of Melbourne's Jewish community, here's a selection from the most recent edition of the AJN: Sienna, Coco, Winter Star, Hudson, Eden-Eddie (for a girl), Eden Mikey (for a boy).

We invite readers to add their favourite strange names from future and past issues (especially Sydneysiders, as we rarely see that edition of the AJN), via the comments area.

We found that the following article, by one of our favourite journalists, Lawrence Money of The Age, very pertinent to our theme. (BTW, what's a sensible chap like him doing at THAT paper?)

Welcome to the nutty name generation

Lawrence Money  THE AGE

When playing the nutty name game, spare a thought for the one who will carry it for life.

'IS THAT a misspelling or did your parents make a blue?'' I asked Micheal, a waiter at Melbourne's RACV Club. He glanced at his brass name badge and smiled a smile that told of a lifetime of torment. ''Parents,'' he said. ''I think mum must have still been feeling the effects of the anaesthetic.'' Micheal was not sure if his mum wanted ''Michael'' but he's been Micheal for 30 years now, a veritable pioneer of the nutty name generation.

Thirty years ago nutty names were an oddity, now they are almost compulsory. You get your nutty spellings of standard names (Filip, Robburrt, Peetar) and then you get your nutty spellings of nutty names (Gharddio, Wawldogger, Mooneigh). You can only imagine what waiters' name badges will look like when this generational wave comes through.

Look, it's understandable, I guess. Excited first-time parents, enthused by the latest name fad. But they don't appreciate that here is a decision that will stretch on long after they themselves are gone. That poor 50-something Lillbetgh Smith may feel some small animosity at the funeral of her dear papa after half a century of hell and a possible 40 or more to go? (Why, dad, why??)

Years ago as In Black and White columnist on the old afternoon Herald, I found that nutty names were of a different nature. Rather than crazy spelling they were often vocationally weird. For example, the systems manager of the Melbourne Fire Brigade in the early 1980s was a bloke named Bernd Pohl. Mr Oosting was a Dutch-born beekeeper in Tasmania. I came across a bloke named William Clyde Main, a Ringwood sewerage contractor. He was listed in the Yellow Pages as W. C. Main.             [More here]

AJN v. The Age: The pot calling the kettle black!

Anyone remember the terrifying threat against us made at the time that this blog was created?  AJN's page-2 bore Adam Kamien warned us declaring: "Shmooze is looking at you!”

Meanwhile almost a year has passed and we have never, ever heard from him again.

Why?

Either everything that has been posted here has found favour in Kamien's beady little eyes or the most probably reason, someone slightly brainier than him whispered in his ear that giving publicity – any publicity - to your critics isn't really such a great idea.

But one can never be certain and we still shiver in our boots every week as we check out his page of sleaze and drivel. After all, who knows what little Adam – the AJN Watch watcher - has found wrong with this blog.

Of course we here at AJN Watch dom’t have any qualms about giving all types free publicity and thus we reproduce a piece, in fact a rare G-rated snippet - in last week’s issue. Yep, a snippet that you may actually allows kids under 15 to read.

Kamien pokes fun at the Age editing and proofreading standards as we see here:

But as readers realised when perusing the next page, maybe the AJN itself would be better off employing a few rabbits (or monkeys) themselves. On condition that these animals can count till 7.
Cast your eyes on this page three article where 3 times the AJN states that Rudd met with "6 (Jewish community representatives)" and lists all 7 of them!
 

This will damage The Age (and Fairfax) far more than subscription cancellations...

FROM AJN WATCH'S BUSINESS REPORTER

Rivals may cut Fairfax Media's ad revenue

• Michael Bodey  The Australian
• April 19, 2010

FAIRFAX Media could lose tens of millions of revenue with the introduction of two major media properties in the southern capital this month.

Today, new radio station MTR 1377, the joint venture between John Singleton's Macquarie Radio Network and Pacific Star Network, launches on the Melbourne radio market, with insiders hopeful it will break even in its first month. And on Wednesday week, former The Age property editor and senior marketing executive Antony Catalano delivers the free newspaper The Weekly Review to 200,000 of the more affluent homes in Melbourne.

The newly formed Metro Media Publishing will launch The Weekly Review on April 28 with the backing of more than 20 leading real estate agents. The mass exodus of major Melbourne real estate agencies, including Hocking Stuart, Bennison Mackinnon, RT Edgar, Jellis Craig, Kay & Burton and Marshall White, has been reported to have taken a $10-$15 million chunk of advertising from Fairfax Media's free Melbourne Weekly Magazine and potentially The Age and website domain.com.au.

Insiders tell Media that figure is more likely to be beyond $20m.

In a letter to a number of real estate agents on Tuesday, and published in Crikey last week, Fairfax's chief executive and publisher of Melbourne Publishing Don Churchill asked whether the agencies had shareholdings or financial interests in the new magazine and whether they would continue to advertise in Fairfax publications.

As if to emphasise his company's blindsiding by Catalano's industry-backed venture, Churchill also asked when the new publication "will first be published", even as the April 28 date was circling within the industry.

"It would be inappropriate at this stage to comment on our direct or commercial dealings with the real estate agents," Mr Churchill told Media. "It is unfortunate one of them has chosen to leak a private letter." He added The Melbourne Weekly would continue to be a strong brand supported by the Fairfax company, The Age and domain.com.au.

He declined to comment on "a competitor that is yet to publish, other than to say Fairfax always takes its competitors seriously".

Fairfax Media's revenue hole on the property front has been exacerbated by a lesser grab of radio ad revenue from its 3AW by new rival MTR1377.

Fairfax Media has also had to undertake a major advertising spend for 3AW, the first promotional campaign in its short ownership history, in anticipation of the rival talk station.

Catalano has already aligned with MTR1377, where he will present a weekly real estate show on Saturday mornings, using access to RP Data's property price database and talking to agents. He will also appear regularly on Steve Vizard's MTR1377 program, as will some other writers from The Weekly Review, including former The Australian journalist Corrie Perkin.

AJN hypocrisy

Charming to see the AJN commenting that the Age's irrelevant mention of the Leifer affair.

This is from the same newspaper that beat up the original story into a appalling and lurid sensation. And long after the rest of the Australian media stopped mentioning it, the AJN continued to rehash it week after week – ad nauseum.

Pity that there isn’t a Walkley Award for hypocrisy – the Jewish News would be the front runner.

Guest Post: The thoughts of a long-time AJN reader

AJN Watch is proud to publish our first guest post.
We invite our readers to submit their posts and comments.

GUEST POST
by Old-Timer

I thank the blogmasters for allowing me to join them as an irregular poster here and look forward to offering my thoughts about the standards of reporting in the AJN.

As my name divulges, I have been around for a long time and despite my general repulsion of much what I see in that newspaper, I am a news junkie and just cannot help myself reading it weekly. Belive me, it pains me that I am financially supporting the hand that so often strikes me and those close to me. A few good slaps back at them are long overdue. So thank you AJN Watch.

There is much to be said about the huge difference in AJN’s reporting (or more often non-reporting) of scandals and negative occurrences in the community. When these relate to religious Jews the AJN carries on mercilessly. However when rich and important figures who are not well known for their observance of our faith it may get a few lines, or in many cases not a single word.

Cast your memory back to about 7-8 years ago when a certain former president of a frum Shul was in the news, Who can forget the nasty and vicious coverage the AJN gave that story which at the same time guaranteed that every single Jew who ever had anything to do with that Shul community felt that he/she was being personally smeared by the relentless and disgusting articles – week after week.

It was around that time that a person of major note in the community, but with no claims to religiosity, was being featured in the general media with some truly ‘juicy’ personal scandal. There isn’t the slightest comparison of that personage to the humble ex-shul head. But did the AJN sensationalise the revelations of this person? Of course not. Not a single line in their paper.

Or take the case of another important and well-known communal figure who was charged and found guilty of offences involving hundreds of millions of dollars – lost by investors large and small. This story too, featured on the news and finance pages of every newspaper in the country…except the AJN. Not a SINGLE word. The charges against Rabbi Engel are a zilch compared to what this gentleman was found guilty of. But anyone reading our Jewish ‘newspaper of record’ would never had known. In that case, in addition to not being (at least knowin to be) part of the frum community, the other great advatagge for this individual wasl that the AJN was owned and run by close relatives. They obviously had no intention to add shame to the family. And that would be very understandable – had they had such feelings for the families of other members of the community who happen to have a relative in trouble. But the AJN has no such concerns at all for families of religious Jews and often hurts their families and even entire communities.

This type of ‘religious-anti-Semitism’ actually warrants a proper examination by some major media investigative source, eg, The Age or the TV program Media Watch. But until that happens I appreciative this new AJN Watch blog, which hopefully will – if not achieve in keeping the AJN bastards honest – at least expose their hypocrisy and double standards and their targeting of a certain powerless segment of Australian Jewry.

To help achieve this, visitors to this site should spread the word and the link – especially to any connections to the wider media.

Letters to the editor re "Charged" front page

Here's a selection of 'Letters to the editor' in last week's AJN by readers who are obviously as upset as we are.

Last week’s cover

IS there no other news to print on the front page of the newspaper (AJN 19/06)?Do we have to display so openly events that bring us nothing but shame and disgrace?A large number of our community, myself included, are greatly disgusted both with the Adelaide rabbi’s actions and with the current display of that ugly event on the first page of The AJN.Many of the Elsternwick newsagents – not exactly friends of ours – pointed out this page with their great pleasure to their customers.A smaller article inside the newspaper would have been more than sufficient.

HELEN LEPERERE
Elsternwick, Vic

Not page one worthy

WHAT is your aim in showing us a full front page of newspaper devoted to a photograph of a disgraced rabbi (AJN 19/06)? How does this help us as a community? Certainly it is newsworthy, but it should be in small print inside the paper. Surely there are more important items for the front page, hopefully more than one item of interest, from our vibrant community at home and overseas. Your decision reeks of self-centred sensationalism, and I would have hoped your ethics and aims were higher than that that your priorities in evaluating the portrayal of different items would have thought of encouraging collective pride and highlighting opportunities for improvement, never forgetting the impact of the newspaper on our non-Jewish neighbours, friends and foes. The AJN has been a great newspaper for a long time, and I expect it to go forward, not backward, and reflect good journalism with balance and sensitivity.

ELIZABETH LEVY
Bellevue Hill, NSW

Preferring The Age

SHOULD The Jewish News be better referred to as “the Anti-Jewish News”? The front page gleefully shouts “Charged” about Rabbi Engel of Adelaide, surely a serial killer, or so one might think. Then a full-page article on brit milah, a mitzvah held dear by the majority of Jews, which is headlined: “Mitzvah or mutilation?” I believe we (Jews) would be better treated by even, dare I say, The Age?

ELLA BLESOFSKY
St Kilda East, Vic

Sensationalism

WE were absolutely disgusted by the sensationalism your paper indulged in by splashing Adelaide Rabbi Yossi Engel’s photo and caption across the front page of this week’s AJN (19/06). Surely more fuel for anti-Semitism. Surely your editors realise that the paper is seen by all and sundry in the numerous newsagencies that stock it. It is not a paper that relies purely on subscription and home delivery.

FRANKIE AND RAYMOND GARFIELD
North Bondi, NSW