A false suggestion by columnist Hillary Bray of the political webzine Crikey.com (July 21) that AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein was the "original author" of Federal Communications Minister Richard Alston’s recent report on ABC bias was well in keeping with the website’s apparent obsession with Jews and Australia’s supposed Jewish lobby. The same column suggested a sinister cover-up of a supposed meeting between Rubenstein and ABC Managing Director Russell Balding that never occurred.

On July 23, to its credit, Crikey did post responses from both Dr Rubenstein and Alston Press Secretary Simon Troeth, claiming "any non-publication of earlier letters was by oversight" and also posted an earlier letter from Dr Rubenstein. Crikey then took the opportunity to provide a link to a web site that "shows that some members of the Jewish community have put a lot of effort into complaining about the ABC" (July 21). Rubenstein has also previously been labelled "Mossad’s man in Australia" (Sept. 15, 2002) and Crikey also suggested (Jan. 29, 2003) that the media should stop using him as a commentator because of ABC Media Watch’s (misleading and unfair) attack on us last year.

Dr Rubenstein is not the only casualty of Crikey’s obsession with the supposed Jewish lobby. Michael Gawenda, editor-in-chief of Melbourne’s Age, has also copped it for supposedly submitting himself to the local Elders of Zion. At issue is Gawenda’s May 2002 refusal to publish a cartoon comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. Says Crikey "There is certainly a debate to be had as to whether Gawenda is unduly influenced by the Israel lobby and given that he wields considerable power as Age editor in our community, I think it is entirely reasonable for it to be explored as an issue by a media watchdog like Crikey" (May 7, 2002). Crikey believes that Gawenda is so susceptible to the influence because he happens to be Jewish, "Crikey accepts that you should not make gratuitous references to someone’s religion, but in this instance believes that it is relevant to point out that Michael Gawenda is Jewish." Crikey bases its assessment in part on the fact that Gawenda committed to writing businessman Joe Gutnick’s biography, the same Gutnick who supports Netanyahu. Apparently this makes Gawenda a right-winger too. (Ed. Note: Anyone who knows anything about Gawenda, or has read his editorials in The Age, knows this is completely untrue.) Crikey asserts it cannot be accused of racism, it is merely exploring "whether Gawenda is unduly influenced by the Israel lobby". Crikey’s editor (May 8, 2002) goes on to say he is "sympathetic to the Jewish cause (and [has] more Jewish friends) in this debate, but this is really a debate about disclosure, relevance and publishing guidelines." Some of Crikey’s best friends are Jewish — is that the defence it really wants to mount?

Predictably, Crikey concerned itself with pro-Israel Jews who supported the war in Iraq. Responding to a legal opinion supporting military intervention against Saddam Hussein, published in March in The Australian, Crikey responded: "Whilst Crikey is not going to start searching through this list of lawyers to point out which are pro-Israel (as though this would disqualify them from comment), we believe that people such as Mark Leibler, who are openly associated with the Israel cause, should not try to paint themselves as independent commentators or jurists," (March 18, 2003).

Another favourite target is the Australian Jewish News, which, bizarrely, it seems to think is the representative of the Jewish lobby. (Actually, any Jewish individual or source it disagrees with appears to be seen this way.) Following an AJN editorial criticising multicultural broadcaster SBS’s decision to cut Jewish programming by a third, Crikey flamed: "…the Jewish lobby is sure to continue pressuring the multicultural broadcaster and it will be interesting to see how it responds."