Labor official slammed by NSWJBD president
A NSW Labor official, Amanda Fazio, has faced widespread condemnation for engaging in an anti-Semitic tirade on social media.
David Ossip
In her offensive online post, Fazio derogatorily referred to Jews as a “race of whingers,” sparking outrage within the Jewish community.
Amanda Fazio, a prominent member of the NSW ALP’s rules committee and a former state Labor upper house president, recently came under fire for her disparaging comments regarding US actor Bradley Cooper. She criticized Cooper for donning a prosthetic nose in his portrayal of Jewish conductor Leonard Bernstein in a biopic, characterizing the Jewish community as complainers.
On her Facebook page, Fazio posted, “Here we go again. The race of whingers complaining,” dismissively suggesting that, according to her perspective, Jewish actors should only play Jewish characters.
Despite facing backlash and condemnation from local Jewish organizations for her offensive remarks, Fazio remained unapologetic.
President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip told The Australian her comments should not be tolerated.
“These bigoted comments are nothing short of despicable and seek to silence the Jewish community by making it seem as though there is something untoward, problematic or unusual about Jews engaging in public debate,” he said.
“Ms Fazio may find it uncomfortable but Jews – individually and collectively – have as much of a right as any other group to express their views.
“Aside from the prejudice inherent in her comments, Ms Fazio has demonstrated her complete ignorance of the Jewish community by pejoratively referring to a community of great diversity and complexity as a single ‘race’.
“Bigotry such as this from a former parliamentarian may have found a home in Jeremy Corbyn’s UK Labor Party but it should not be tolerated in our cohesive, multicultural society.”
The Australian reported that Ms Fazio said she had no comment to make about the Facebook post.
“I don’t know what they are going on about,” she said from Morocco.
The ugly ignorance of Amanda Fazio. Let’s call it out.