Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council calls for federal, state and territory governments to implement numerous urgent steps – addressing public discourse, security and law enforcement, culture, education, the media and migration and citizenship – to combat the explosion of antisemitism in Australia and reduce the threat of violence to the Jewish community.

AIJAC Executive Director Colin Rubenstein said, “The policy announcements made by the Prime Minister yesterday are a welcome, if overdue, first step. However, there are many more steps the Australian Government should take – steps that have already been flagged previously by various experts and community bodies but not yet acted upon.”

Dr Rubenstein continued, “The first item on the list is the establishment of a Royal Commission into antisemitism in Australia. Our Government and other public institutions have proven unwilling and incapable of properly addressing the issue – we need the integrity of a Royal Commission to provide sweeping recommendations.”

Dr Rubenstein concluded, “With the exception of the call for a Royal Commission, each of the 31 recommendations we are making today are in line with calls already made by the major Jewish organisations and/or the Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism over the last two years. Some of the recommendations are exact repetitions of calls that AIJAC has previously made. These are measures that should have been implemented long ago.”

The AIJAC recommendations are attached below:

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