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Amanda Fazio at a NSW State Labor conference in Sydney Town Hall.

NSW ALP executive Amanda Fazio panned for ‘racist ranting’

Jmedia Manager
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A NSW Labor official has been condemned for an anti-Semitic social media rant in which she referred to Jews as a “race of whingers”, provoking a backlash from the Jewish community.

Amanda Fazio, a member of the NSW ALP’s rules committee and a former state Labor upper house president, recently criticised attacks on US actor Bradley Cooper for wearing a prosthetic nose in his biopic about Jewish conductor Leonard Bernstein, describing the Jewish community as whingers.

“Here we go again. The race of whingers complaining,” Ms Fazio wrote on Facebook. “By their logic, no Jewish actor should ever be cast as a non-Jew.

She dismissed suggestions the remarks might be found to be offensive after being condemned by local Jewish organisations.

President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said 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’.

Read the article by Simon Benson, Political Editor and Joanna Panagopoulos in The Australian.