Vivienne Porzsolt is an anti-racist Jewish Australian human rights and peace activist. According to “Overland”: “Vivienne Porzsolt is a secular Jew, the daughter of refugees from Nazism and grew up in New Zealand. She has been active for many years for a just resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and is spokesperson for Jews against the Occupation Sydney. She took part in the Gaza freedom March December 2009/January 2010 and hopes to sail on the next flotilla to seek to break the illegal blockade of Gaza.” (see: http://overland.org.au/blogs/author/vivienne-porzsolt/ ).
Vivienne Porzsolt on Zionist violation of the humanist Jewish tradition (2012): “I have always been disgusted by the bystander to inhuman acts, even more than by the perpetrator who must be accountable for what he or she does… I mourn the occlusion of the rich progressive humanist Jewish traditions which were so strong among Jews before the Nazi Holocaust. These have been virtually banished by the shrill adherence to Zionism and preoccupation with Israel as the heart of Jewish identity. This preoccupation has drained Jewish worldwide of feeling, of humanity, of hope for a better world. It has been replaced by fear, by aggression and harsh ethnocentricity – a shocking and ironic posthumous victory for Hitler. Yet progressive humanism has not disappeared , and already we see signs of a rebirth of that spirit… I draw strength from my deep hope and belief in the possibility of a better future for both Palestinians and Israelis , where the past can be acknowledged and, where possible, remedied or compensated for, where reconciliation can occur on the basis of international law, justice and mutual respect and where the two peoples can flourish side by side.” [1, 2].
Vivienne Porzsolt (of Jews against the Occupation which organised an Open Letter signed by 164 anti-racist Jewish Australian protesting the mass killing in Gaza by Israel; see “An appeal from Australian Jews to the Australian Jewish community: “We cannot remain silent””, Green Left Weekly, 15 August 2014: https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/57093 ): “Silence is consent and as Jews, we must oppose atrocities taken in our name. Our public stand demonstrates that many Jews reject the brutal occupation of the Palestinians by Israel. The outrage that all people of humanity feel at the conduct of the State of Israel against the Palestinians can too easily be directed to Jews in general. As we have seen with the ugly cartoon by Le Lievre and the antisemitic attack on the Jewish children on a Bondi bus, old antisemitic tropes re-emerge, fuelled by the atrocities committed by Israel. No racism, including anti-Semitism, is ever excusable. However, the Jewish community leadership promotes the identification of Jews with Israel and all its actions. They label Jewish critics of Israel as ‘self-hating’ and ‘not real Jews’. They debase the charge of anti-Semitism by applying it to all criticism of Israel. It is not surprising then that some may hold Jews in general responsible for Israel's actions.” [3].
[1]. Vivienne Porzsolt, “A secular Jew from the end of the earth” in “Beyond Tribal Loyalties. Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists”, edited by Avigail Abarbanel (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012) (pp 50, 53-54).
[2]. Vivienne Porzsolt quoted in Gideon Polya, “Book Review: “Beyond Tribal Loyalties”. Stories of anti-racist Jews”, MWC News, 18 January 2012: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/24184-gideonpolya-beyond-tribal-loyalties.html .
[3]. Vivienne Porzsolt, quoted in “An appeal from Australian Jews to the Australian Jewish community: “We cannot remain silent””, Green Left Weekly, 15 August 2014: https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/57093 .