{"id":661219,"date":"2026-10-30T02:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T02:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/661219\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T02:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T02:16:10","slug":"antisemitism-envoy-proposes-external-ombudsman-to-monitor-abc-and-sbs-coverage-of-israel-and-middle-east-australian-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/661219\/","title":{"rendered":"Antisemitism envoy proposes \u2018external ombudsman\u2019 to monitor ABC and SBS coverage of Israel and Middle East | Australian media"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government\u2019s antisemitism envoy has proposed an \u201cexternal independent ombudsman\u201d to monitor ABC and SBS<\/a> coverage of the war in Gaza, and a requirement that all visa applicants be screened for \u201cthe risk of holding antisemitic views\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an updated plan released on Friday<\/a>, Jillian Segal said Australia\u2019s two public broadcasters should be subjected to greater oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the extent and seriousness of concerns about subjective, inaccurate and disproportionate reporting in accordance with its own standards, it would be in the public interest for the public broadcasters\u2019 coverage and approach to be the subject of more detailed analysis and independent review,\u201d Segal wrote in the new plan.<\/p>\n

It suggests that a government-appointed panel review the public broadcasters\u2019 previous reporting and states the government should consider \u201ctransferring\u201d responsibilities from the ABC<\/a> and SBS ombudsmen. Those powers would be transferred to an \u201cexternal independent ombudsman consistent with other sectors such as telecommunications and banking\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany in the Jewish community remain concerned that coverage they perceive as one-directional may contribute to a negative \u2013 and even hostile \u2013 view by audiences of those who support Israel, or have sympathy for it,\u201d Segal writes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJewish Australians have reported being abused, harassed and accused of being \u2018baby killers\u2019 or supporters of \u2018genocide\u2019 simply for their belief in the right of Israel to exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat perception of a link between coverage and hostility is itself a matter of public importance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segal said she had received \u201cmany expressions of concern from the Australian Jewish community\u201d about ABC and SBS reporting that was perceived to be \u201cdisproportionate, misleading or inaccurate on issues relating to Israel and the conflict in the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n

The special envoy to combat antisemitism\u2019s initial plan, released in mid-2025<\/a>, said the envoy would \u201cwork with the publicly funded broadcasters to encourage them to develop programs that add to social cohesion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Segal then told the royal commission into antisemitism in mid-2026 she wanted a new \u201coversight\u201d committee<\/a> that could give ABC and SBS coverage a \u201ctick\u201d or \u201cguidance\u201d.<\/p>\n

The broadcasters rejected calls for external oversight.<\/p>\n

The royal commission was established in response to the Bondi beach massacre<\/a> in December when 15 people were killed during a Hanukah celebration.<\/p>\n

Segal appeared before Senate estimates this week, telling senators she held concerns about \u201cthe tone [and] the frequency of reporting about Gaza from the ABC\u201d.<\/p>\n

Visa applicants to to be screened<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s report proposes that all visa applicants wanting to travel to Australia should be assessed for \u201cthe risk of holding antisemitic views\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be disingenuous not to acknowledge that a minority of migrants bring to Australia ingrained antisemitic views. This is often a function of migrating from countries or environments where antisemitism is commonplace and reinforced by political, religious, educational and cultural institutions or leadership,\u201d Segal writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvice from security agencies and relevant third parties should inform the classification of the level of risk of different jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report states the home affairs department should prioritise \u201cthe identification of antisemitic conduct before visa grant, including through new technological capabilities and thorough consideration of information already recorded on a client\u2019s record\u201d.<\/p>\n

Segal suggests publicly funded arts organisations should be able to impose \u201cenforceable conditions\u201d on artists and terminate grants if they promoted antisemitism.<\/p>\n

The arts and universities<\/p>\n

The envoy states that all arts organisations \u2013 private and public \u2013 should develop policies to govern the use of their venues, festivals and stages \u201cor artists\u2019 personal political or ideological activism outside the scope of the advertised show, performance or exhibition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similarly for universities, the envoy\u2019s updated plan proposes allowing grant authorities to impose enforceable conditions on academics, allowing \u201cfor the termination of grant funding \u2026 where the recipient engages in antisemitic speech or conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n

Segal said the proposals outlined in the plan were \u201cnot about silencing criticism of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The report argues that \u201cmodern \u2018progressive\u2019 antisemitism\u201d was the most pervasive form of the prejudice in Australia today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes the hostility of Islamic extremism and far-left antisemitism, together with traditional antisemitic tropes, and gives it a respectable face through the language of social justice and human rights\u201d.<\/p>\n

Segal said Islamic extremism, far-left and far-right antisemitism were prevalent \u201cand they require vigilance and laws that are properly enforced\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the form that is leaving Jewish Australians increasingly anxious and excluded is the one that has taken root in influential institutions, where Jewish Australians are being discriminated against, blamed and vilified for the actions of the government of the state of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comment was being sought from the ABC, SBS, Universities Australia and the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network.<\/p>\n

\u2018Trumpian\u2019<\/p>\n

The progressive Jewish Council of Australia on Friday criticised the envoy\u2019s new plan as \u201cTrumpian\u201d, arguing it was a \u201cdangerous and ideologically driven roadmap that threatens freedom of speech, academic freedom and democratic rights, while failing to meaningfully address the causes of antisemitism\u201d.<\/p>\n

The council said the envoy\u2019s claims about \u201cprogressive antisemitism\u201d verged on \u201cconspiratorial\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bart Shteinman, an executive officer at the JCA, said Friday\u2019s report did \u201clittle to mask a rightwing ideology that will go to incredible lengths to silence those drawing attention to Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza\u201d and that it sought \u201cunprecedented oversight\u201d over media, the arts and other organisations.<\/p>\n

Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told 2GB radio that Segal\u2019s decision to highlight \u201cfar-left antisemitism\u201d was \u201cinsightful and courageous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitism comes from different facets of society, but with the far left, it\u2019s laced in this dishonesty. It\u2019s packaged in the language of human rights, of compassion, and peace, and progressivism, but actually, they repurpose classic neo-Nazi antisemitic tropes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryvchin said he spoke with journalists from the ABC and SBS almost daily \u201cand overwhelmingly, these are good, decent people who are just doing a job\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is a certain culture, there is a certain groupthink, which I think is driven by almost a handful of journalists and executives, who have this kind of political ideology, which they then coach and mentor through the organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said genuine accountability for public broadcasters wasn\u2019t achieved through internal mechanisms but \u201cthrough external accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n

The release of the envoy\u2019s updated plan came two days after Segal appeared at Senate estimates.<\/p>\n

She defended evidence she gave to the royal commission into antisemitism, during which she criticised SBS for quoting death toll figures provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health, saying those figures failed to distinguish combatants from civilians, were \u201cgrossly inflated\u201d and their inflation was \u201cwell known and even accepted by the United Nations\u201d.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the UN secretary general responded at the time: \u201cFor us [the UN], the Ministry of Health in Gaza is a source we, and many others, often cite. Independent validation of subsets of the data has found no significant discrepancies in their numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segal told the estimates hearing this week: \u201cI note the United Nations views. I accept the United Nations views because they are the United Nations but that does not detract from the concerns of the Jewish community as conveyed to me about the way in which the reporting had been done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government\u2019s antisemitism envoy has proposed an \u201cexternal independent ombudsman\u201d to monitor ABC and SBS coverage of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-661219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}