February 2024 doxxing of Jewish Australian creatives and academics

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The 2024 Australian Jewish doxxing incident occurred on 8 February 2024 and involved a leak of a group chat transcript and contact details of over 600 Jewish creatives and academics. The incident led to personal threats and resulted in changes to Australian law regarding doxxing.

Contents

Overview

The incident occurred when a group describing themselves as pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist activists doxxed [1] [2] [3] the members of a private WhatsApp group of over 600 Australian Jews called 'J.E.W.I.S.H creatives and academics', affecting hundreds of Jewish Australians working in academia and creative industries. The WhatsApp group had been established in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 2023 as a space to serve as a "lifeline" for Jewish creatives [4] and to discuss issues related to the Israel-Hamas conflict and antisemitism in Australia. [5] The ostensible justification for the leak was a desire to expose Australian Zionists, who the leakers contended were conspiring in the group chat against pro-Palestinian public figures. The doxxers referred to the WhatsApp group as a "leaked zionist group chat". [2] In August 2024, the source of the leak was identified as New York Times journalist Natasha Frost. [6]

The doxxing was reported on 8 February 2024. [7] The activists leaked the full transcript of the group chat , which totalled around 900 pages [8] , as well as the full names, occupations and the photographs of around 100 members of the group [9] The leakers, adopting the term "Zio600" to refer to the group. described the leak as an act of pro-Palestinian activism. The contents of the group chat were leaked on social media, with several high-profile public figures sharing the material, including the writer Clementine Ford [10] [11] [12] , the children's artist Matt Chun, [13] [14] and Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah. [15] Several of the high-profile individuals involved in leaking the chat subsequently defended their actions in the context of the Israel–Hamas war, stating that they had done so with the participation of "First Nations people and anti-zionist Jews". [16] Although the doxxers termed the WhatsApp group as a "leaked zionist group chat", [2] it reportedly included Jews who did not identify as Zionists [17] and some individuals who identified as Jewish anti-Zionists were also doxxed. [18] One victim of the doxxing told the The Sydney Morning Herald:

“I am not a Zionist, I have never been a Zionist, I am just a Jewish woman trying to go about my life. This is a group of any Jew they know the name of. I can’t believe it is happening.” [2]

Members of the leaked 'J.E.W.I.S.H creatives and academics' groups faced death threats, including threats made against a five-year old child [19] with one family reportedly being forced into hiding. [20] Several victims of the doxxing reported on the personal and professional toll the leak had taken on them, including being forced to close their businesses. [21] [17] Businesses owned by members of the group were vandalised and received threatening phone calls and emails, [17] and companies that employed members of the WhatsApp group received phone calls and emails pressuring them to sack the members. [22]

In August 2024, the source of the leak was identified as New York Times journalist Natasha Frost. [6] Frost stated that she had shared the contents of the WhatsApp chat with a single individual about whom she was writing a story in confidence, and that she was "shocked" at its subsequent dissemination, saying the leak put her and many others at risk and that she "deeply regret[ted]" the fact that it had been made public. [17] In November 2024, one of the leakers was allegedly to have made "vile" threats against Jews on social media. [23] In November 2024, the first arrest related to the leak was made. [24]

Changes to legislation

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese directed Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to bring forward new laws in response to the Privacy Act review in response to the mass doxxing. [25] [15] The Albanese government shortly thereafter announced new laws to combat doxxing, with tougher laws to stop the malicious release of personal information. [26] [27] The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 took effect on 10 December 2024 and introduced several new offences to the federal Criminal Code Act of 1995, introducing criminal penalties for doxxing. [28]

Reactions

The leak was condemned by leaders of Australia's Jewish community, including Alex Ryvchin, the co-CEO for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the peak body for Australian Jews. [29] Ryvchin said he was in "shock …[and] disbelief” that “people are once again drawing up lists of Jews”, calling the tactics “Nazi-like”. [13] and saying that he had "never seen our community so fearful and so shaken". [30] Josh Burns said that the leak had “shaken the Jewish community to its core”. [25] The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, [31] Zionist Federation of Australia head Alon Cassuto [15] and the Jewish Australian Labor Party MP Josh Burns also condemning the leak. [20] Burns stated that members of the doxxed group had faced death threats, including a threat targeted at a five-year old child [32] and that one family had been forced into hiding. [33] Both the governing Australian Labor Party and the opposition Liberal Party of Australia were strongly critical of the publication of the list. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that “[t]he idea that someone should be targeted because of their religion … is just completely unacceptable". [15] Other politicians such as the Liberal Party Senator Dave Sharma and the independent MPs Allegra Spender and Zoe Daniel also condemned the publication of the list. [13]

Other responses

Some sources described the leak as part of growing antisemitic intimidation that had previously been absent in Australia. [5] [34] Megan Goldin wrote in Newsweek that the incident as proof that "antisemitism Down Under [was] turning vicious" and that it reflected "a surge of antisemitism that most Jews thought was relegated to the dark annals of Jewish history". [35] One of the founders of the doxxed group called the doxxers aim to "‘expos[e]’ and purg[e] ‘Zionists', aka any Jews who didn’t denounce Israel to be evilest [sic] of them all", to be reminiscent of Soviet anti-semitism. [36] Professor David Slucki of Monash University noted the problematic terminology used by the doxxers, including the term "Zio", which noted originated as an ethnic slur for Jews popularised by white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan head David Duke. [37]

Conversely, pro-Palestinian individuals defended the leak as being in the public interest, with one source describing the leaking of the contents of the WhatsApp group as an example of whistleblowing rather than doxing. [38]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Breakey, Hugh (14 February 2024). "Doxing or in the public interest? Free speech, 'cancelling' and the ethics of the Jewish creatives' WhatsApp group leak". The Conversation.
  2. 1 2 3 4 le Grand, Chip (8 February 2024). "Hundreds of Jewish creatives have names, details published online following Whatsapp leak". Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ↑ Visontay, Michael (6 January 2025). "Funding doxer is a stain on Creative Australia". The Jewish Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  4. ↑ Sanadze, Nina (11 January 2025). "My cancellation only made me more determined to speak out". The Australian. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  5. 1 2 Koval, Ramona (13 February 2024). "I'm Jewish. I'm a creative. I was doxxed. How could this happen in Australia?". The Age.
  6. 1 2 "NYT reporter responsible for doxxing of 600 Australian Jews, action to be taken - report". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2024-08-18. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  7. ↑ Le Grand, Chip (8 February 2024). "Hundreds of Jewish creatives have names, details taken in leak, published online". The Age. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  8. ↑ "NYT must investigate chat leak further, says Jewish Australian lawyer". Australian Financial Review. 2024-08-19. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  9. ↑ Douglas, Carly (9 February 2024). "Vic employees on Jewish hit list urged not to bow down to 'hateful extremists'". The Herald Sun.
  10. ↑ John Ferguson. "Theatre board splits over Clementine Ford booking." The Australian . 23 February 2024. Accessed 1 March 2024.
  11. ↑ Alexi Demetriadi. "Political and Jewish leaders raise Clementine Ford curatorship red flag after creatives doxxing". The Australian . 16 February 2024. Accessed 1 March 2024.
  12. ↑ Lehmann, Claire (16 February 2024). "'I'm no anti-Semite', but Clementine Ford's social media bile says otherwise". The Australian. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 Demetriadi, Alexi (9 February 2024). "Grant-funded author 'led leak of 600 Jewish creatives' details'". The Australian.
  14. ↑ Yim, Noah (26 December 2024). "Revealed: the $42,000 taxpayer grant given to anti-Israel artistbehind Jewish WhatsApp group leak". The Australian. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Demetriadi, Alexi; Ferguson, John (15 February 2024). "Anti-Israel activists: These are the faces of a hideous hatred that has no place in our country". The Australian.
  16. ↑ "Australian Jews alarmed after list of 'Zionists' publicized, fueling harassment". The Times of Israel . Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Bruell, Alexandra (15 August 2024). "How a Leak by a New York Times Reporter Led to anAnti-Doxing Uproar in Australia". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 January 2025. The WhatsApp group whose contents Frost leaked was created in late October 2023, andwas intended to provide support in an environment of heightened antisemitism followingthe Oct. 7 attacks. It is made up of people with varying political, cultural and religiousleanings. Some consider themselves Zionists, a word often used to describe Jews whoare staunch supporters of Israel, while others don't, according to members. Frost, whowas invited to the group in early November, was among its earliest members.
  18. ↑ Stillman, Larry (12 February 2024). "Too much trauma, not enough compassion". The Jewish Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  19. ↑ "Australian Jews alarmed after list of 'Zionists' publicized, fueling harassment". The Times of Israel . Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  20. 1 2 Taylor, Josh (9 February 2024). "Publication of Jewish creatives WhatsApp group led to death threats, MP says". The Guardian.
  21. ↑ Le Grand, Chip (10 February 2024). "'This isn't advocacy': Social posts on distant conflict tear at close community". Sydney Morning Herald.
  22. ↑ Ferguson, John (9 February 2024). "Leaders and business savage Australia's rising anti-Semitism". The Australian. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  23. ↑ Demetriadi, Alexi (8 November 2024). "Activist Zee Mazloum posted vile Jewish threats". The Australian.
  24. ↑ Demetriadi, Alexi (19 November 2024). "Woman arrested in Jewish doxxing investigation". The Australian. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  25. 1 2 Gailberger, Jade (12 February 2024). "Melbourne-based actor joins calls to ban doxxing after pro-Palestine activists target Jewish artists". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  26. ↑ Crowe, David (14 February 2024). "'Doxxing' laws to be brought forward after Jewish WhatsApp leak". Sydney Morning Herald.
  27. ↑ "Australia introduces new hate crime and anti-doxxing legislation amid rising antisemitism". Jerusalem Post. 12 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  28. ↑ Goitom, Hanibal (16 December 2024). "Australia: New Privacy Legislation Criminalizes Doxxing". Global Legal Monitor. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  29. ↑ le Grand, Chip (8 February 2024). "Hundreds of Jewish creatives have names, details published online following Whatsapp leak". Sydney Morning Herald.
  30. ↑ Kaltmann, Nomi (16 March 2024). "Post-Oct. 7 antisemitism upends an Australian Jewish community with Holocaust history". The Times of Israel.
  31. ↑ Greyman-Kennard, Danielle (9 February 2024). "'Jew List' published by Australian pro-Palestinian activists forces families into hiding". The Jerusalem Post.
  32. ↑ "Australian Jews alarmed after list of 'Zionists' publicized, fueling harassment". The Times of Israel . Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  33. ↑ Taylor, Josh (9 February 2024). "Publication of Jewish creatives WhatsApp group led to death threats, MP says". The Guardian.
  34. ↑ "Jewish Australians back anti-doxing laws". ABC RN Breakfast. 12 February 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  35. ↑ Goldin, Megan (2024-02-06). "Antisemitism Down Under Is Turning Vicious". Newsweek. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  36. ↑ Kofman, Lee (1 October 2024). "On Becoming a Bad Jew". The Jewish Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  37. ↑ Slucki, David (15 February 2024). "Zionism, anti-Zionism, and the doxxing of the "Zio600": Does compassion have to be a zero-sum game?". ABC Religion & Ethics.
  38. ↑ Copland, Simon (15 February 2024). "The Jewish creatives' WhatsApp leak was more whistleblowing than doxing. Here's why". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 26 December 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
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