Last December I attended the Gaza Freedom March in Cairo to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
For the last months I’ve worked on a radio documentary feature for ABC Radio National’s 360 program, Australia’s finest space for long-form radio work and the equivalent of NPR. I aimed to create an essay that discussed both the event itself and wider issues about Zionism and Judaism.
The march was chaotic, inspiring, frustrating and positive. Never before had so many come from so far to stress the importance of ending Israel’s siege on Palestine. Times were changing and I wanted to be a part of it.
This documentary examines the rise in Jewish dissent globally, the importance of questioning traditional Jewish identity and the failings of Zionism to even moderately address the profound inequalities in the Jewish state.
My photographs from Gaza and Cairo are also published by the ABC.
Here’s the blurb for the show:
Antony Loewenstein joins the Gaza Freedom March in Cairo to test his ideas about dissent and Jewish identity.
Antony was one of 1,400 activists who met in Cairo to protest against the Israeli siege on the Gaza strip, but their plans were thwarted by the Egyptian government.
Antony has spent a number of years publicly challenging the actions of Israel. For these attitudes he’s been called a ’self-hating Jew’ and an ‘anti-Semite’.
In A Different Kind of Jew Antony examines the role of Judaism in the modern age and the religion’s relationship to the contested Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
