Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council congratulates the NSW Parliament on making history, with the NSW Legislative Council becoming the first house of parliament in Australia to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

This endorsement follows NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s and NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns’ embrace of the definition in December 2021.

The parliamentary motion was supported by Government, Opposition and crossbench MPs. Regrettably though, some MPs saw fit to continue spreading mistruths about the definition’s purpose.

“This definition is an integral tool for law enforcement, bureaucrats, academics and others to better understand how antisemitism manifests itself in the 21^st century,” AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said. “With this adoption, AIJAC urges government and non-government institutions and organisations in NSW to consider how they can implement this definition in their training, processes or policies to combat antisemitism.”

“AIJAC expresses its appreciation to those NSW MPs – including Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile MLC who introduced the motion – who have committed to fight antisemitism in NSW. Eliminating discrimination and bigotry should be something we all aspire to.”

“AIJAC regrets that there are still those, even in Parliament, who believe they know better than the group of scholars and academics from around the world who dedicated years to developing a consensus working definition of antisemitism. It is time those naysayers engage with their Jewish constituents and commit to tackling antisemitism, whatever its origins,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.