Sharri Markson of Sky News Australia has exposed the antisemitism of Hilal Yassine, a director of the Islamophobia Register of Australia, a body that has received AUD$1.1 million in funding from the Australian government:
I would add a few things to what Sharri said.
Firstly, the idea Hassine perpetuates that “Zionists” see themselves as a”Chosen Race” is not a blood libel, per se, but it is antisemitic, and is clearly based on the Jewish belief of the “Chosen People” (which has nothing to do with racial supremacy and everything to do with the responsibility of bringing ethical Monotheism to the world). I am not sure why Hassine uses the word “race” instead of “people”, but perhaps it is to reinforce the “racial supremacy” libel. Alternatively, he realizes “Chosen People” is a Jewish, not Zionist, concept, so using that phrase is too on the nose with its antisemitism. Either way, years ago he did use the phrase “Chosen People” derogatarily:
Note here how this is a clapback to the idea that Israeli civilians have to go to bomb shelters because terrorists fire missiles at us. Yassine uses the reality that Israelis have bomb shelters and palestinian Arabs don’t as proof we see ourselves as superior! But the reason for this is that the Israeli government invests in bomb shelters for all its civilians (including Arabs and other non Jews), while Hamas has not done so for its civilians.
Regarding Yassine’s response that there are Jews in Australia who oppose Zionism, including the Jewish Council of Australia and Louise Adler, these anti-Zionist Jews perhaps represent 100s of the approximately 120,000 Jews in Australia. Just to give some more perspective on the ridiculousness of this “some of my best friends are Jewish” alibi.
I should also point out that since this exposure, Yassine has changed his LinkedIn Account name from Hilal Yasine to Hilal Y, and – perhaps even more tellingly – the Islamophobia Register of Australia has scrubbed their Board Members page:
The Wayback Machine confirms this is how it looked just days ago:
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