The 90-year-old Australian Jewish Herald, an Anglo-Jewish weekly, ceased publication here today along with its companion Yiddish weekly, the Jewish Post, in the aftermath of a controversy between its publisher and the Victoria Jewish Board of Deputies. The two papers had been published for the past six years by David Lederman, a former diamond merchant from Antwerp, Belgium.
The controversy revolved around an anti-Israel article that appeared in the Herald recently by one of its regular columnists. The Board of Deputies warned Mr. Lederman that If the articles continued “there could in all probability be a reaction by members of the community.” Mr. Lederman issued a statement attacking the Board of Deputies. The latter said, however, that “the board at no stage adopted any policy against the Jewish Herald. If there were cancellations of subscriptions or advertisements by organizations or individuals, they were brought about as a reaction to Mr. Lederman’s offensive editorials.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.