Avi Yemini: The Australian Jewish News does not represent us

The AJN do not speak for most Jews

By Avi Yemini
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August 19, 2021

Avi Yemini: The Australian Jewish News does not represent us

By Avi Yemini

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In 2017, the Australian Jewish News (AJN) ran a headline, 'Yemini doesn't represent us'. Four years on, I can confidently answer, the AJN don't represent the majority of the orthodox Jewish community.

What unfolded this week is an example of why:

On Monday, the AJN broke a story on Victoria Police investigating an engagement party in Caulfield that allegedly breached current Covid restrictions.

In their post, they wrote it was "attended by dozens of members of the Jewish community".

When the mainstream media picked up the story, that became the focus and every journalist I spoke to pointed at the AJN story as their source.

Hours after my video confronting journalists outside the Jewish couple's home, in which journalists pointed to the AJN as their source, the leftwing publication made a statement saying they didn't name the couple or their families.

The problem is, they made it a Jewish story. And a day earlier, they seemed to be calling on Rabbis and congregants, breaking the restrictions to be named and shamed.

Then they acted shocked when a wave of anti-semitism dominated the internet.

In what I believe was an attempt to demonise the ultra-orthodox once again, the AJN unintentionally turned many on the entire Jewish community.

Daniel Andrews capitalised on the situation, implying the engagement party was why he had to impose a curfew.

Andrews didn't even have to reference the couple's religion because, thanks to the AJN, it was already widely reported as a Jewish event.

Instead of the Victorian community blaming the premier for imposing another unscientific curfew, most of the hate was directed at the Jewish community.

And just like the AJN, the next day, Andrews' condemned the explosion of anti-semitic hatred overnight.

Spare us your crocodile tears, Dan. We get it; you successfully shifted the blame. You're very good at that.

While some in the Jewish community can't see it, many do.

And most orthodox Jews certainly see it and blame the Australian Jewish News.