"Can we get lawyers onto it?"

In January it was revealed that Lawyers for Israel, a large WhatsApp group of Zionist lawyers, was coordinating to successfully pressure ABC management into firing journalist Antoinette Lattouf for her statements in support of Palestinians. Last week the existence of another group was revealed when the transcript of a WhatsApp groupchat called ‘J.E.W.I.S.H Australian creatives and Academics’ was leaked to pro-Palestinian activists.

The groupchat’s original purpose was to collect signatures for the open letter published by Jews 4 Humanity in November. Since then, however, some members of the group have been coordinating to have artists, writers, actors, academics, journalists and others who’ve expressed support for Palestine fired, denied work, professionally censured or otherwise silenced.

At the time of the transcript being leaked the groupchat contained more than 600 people. Notable figures in the group include high-profile comedian John Safran, songwriter Deborah Conway, Warner Music Australasia president Dan Rosen, award-winning gender equity advocate and 2022 independent ACT Senate candidate Kim Rubenstein, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions head of disaster solutions Associate Professor Roslyn Prinsley, Archer Magazine editor-in-chief Roz Bellamy, Bell Shakespeare board member Michael Napthali, Sydney Chamber Opera director of opera Netta Yashchin, Splendour in the Grass talks and ideas program curator Fay Burstin, Always Live Victoria program director Emily Ulman, Swinburne University of Technology School of Health Sciences dean Janet Hiller, former Age journalist Julie Szego, former ABC RN Drive presenter Ramona Koval, journalist and author Ginger Gorman, former News Corp columnist Darren Levin, Archibald Prize-winning artist Yvette Coppersmith, and Real Publishing founder Romy Moshinsky.

This is not a comprehensive list — the group includes art gallery owners and curators, psychiatrists, psychologists, academics, teachers and business owners. While names are published, other identifying information such as emails, phone numbers and home addresses has been redacted. There are also a significant number of messages that were deleted by the group’s administrator, author Lee Kofman, before the transcript was leaked for being “inflammatory”. While links to external pages are usually viewable, the transcript does not include images of screenshots posted in the groupchat, which can strip some conversations of context.

The transcript is extremely long, running from the groupchat’s formation on October 30 to the leak on January 17. It contains an enormous amount of information, much of which is being collated on Instagram by accounts like @fortressofoppression and Matt Chun, but which is being shared piecemeal across different platforms.

The consequences of the groupchat’s leak are currently playing out across a lot of different artistic, activist and academic spaces, especially in Melbourne. I’m not privy to a lot of those communities so it’s pretty likely there are things of import that I’m missing due to a lack of background knowledge. If you know of any part of the transcript I don’t cover below that you think deserves another look please reach out.

Any images below with horizontal white lines indicate separate parts of the transcript that I’ve put together to make the context clearer.