The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), Australia’s leading organisation fighting hatred in all its forms, has denounced ABC’s Q&A for allowing a tweet that compares Israel to ISIS to appear and to remain on its Twitter feed for two days. A post by user Simon Black stated, “Any young radical who joins Isis or Israel should not be allowed into Australia.”
Dr. Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“Q& A should know better than to allow such hateful and anti-Semitic tweets to be posted on its Twitter account and to remain on its feed for two days. By permitting these viciously bigoted remarks to remain on their page and by not removing them, Q&A is running the risk of legitimizing such disturbing sentiments and conveying the impression that it’s OK to vilify and malign Israel and Jews. We urge Q&A and the ABC to put in place effective mechanisms to ensure that such abhorrent sentiments are not posted, and if they are, to be immediately removed before they are viewed by more users and spread virally across the net. The national broadcaster must show leadership and good judgement by acting responsibly and not enable its social media platforms to be hijacked and to become a powerful tool that is used to spread such vile equations. We have all seen the sharp spike in prejudice and intolerance against the Jewish community and the global effort to radicalise and recruit young people, and in such a time, all media outlasts must embrace a zero-tolerance approach to this burgeoning threat and to cancerous hate speech and incitement. It’s really time for Q&A to walk the walk.”
The Anti-Defamation Commission, founded in 1979, is Australia’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through educational programs that combat bigotry, prejudice and all forms of hatred.
For further information please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on (03) 9272 5677