Featured
AIJAC deeply disappointed by linkage of antisemitism plan decision to upcoming Islamophobia report
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today expressed its deep disappointment at statements from Education Minister Jason Clare regarding Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism, apparently linking the Government’s response to it to a forthcoming report on Islamophobia.
Read MoreThe arithmetic of hope and despair
The three weeks of constriction, the nine days of devastation, the seven weeks of numeration and the seven weeks of consolation; the Six-Day War, the Twelve-Day War. Numbers define Jewish identity from the past to the present.
Read MoreAn AIJAC letter the Sydney Morning Herald refused to publish
In “Five Minutes with Fitz” (July 6) Melissa Parke says Iran was cooperating with nuclear inspectors prior to Israel’s strikes, and US intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessed Iran wasn’t developing a nuclear weapon.
In fact, on June 12, the IAEA declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for consistently failing to provide information. It only said it had no proof Iran was developing nuclear weapons, not that Iran wasn’t, and also said that no country has enriched uranium to Iran’s high level without developing nuclear weapons.
Read MoreMyths and Facts about Settler violence
No one should deny that settler violence is real. Moreover, there is good reason to urge the Israeli government and authorities to do more to ensure that the relatively small number of settlers responsible – generally estimated to be no more than a few hundred out of a settler population of some 450,000 – are caught and prosecuted. But one does not have to share Regavim’s pro-settler agenda to see that the numbers being used in most media reports on the subject, derived from UN data, amount to a complete misrepresentation of the reality of this phenomenon.
Read MoreAIJAC welcomes release of the Antisemitism Envoy’s “Plan to Combat Antisemitism”
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) has welcomed the release of National Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism, announced at a press conference this morning, and called on the Government to adopt the plan in full and implement it “urgently and vigorously”.
Read MoreMelbourne’s night of shame
We need them to understand that when rampant demonstrators attack our institutions and our community with word and deed, chanting “all Zionists are terrorists,” we take it very personally because they are not calling for dialogue – they are calling for death.
Read MoreIsraeli defence technology the rising star of Operation Rising Lion
Israel’s 12-day aerial war with Iran between June 13 and June 24 – known in Israel by the name “Operation Rising Lion” – was a remarkably successful campaign in many ways, beginning with the opening strike that eliminated five groups of targets across the country almost simultaneously. However, what is perhaps the most impressive of…
Read MorePoliticians’ reactions ring hollow in echo chambers of outrage
“Zionists” are the targets, but it just so happens that most Zionists out there are Jews, and almost all Jews are Zionists. And, certainly, the protesters don’t usually bother to discriminate. Which is why synagogues are burnt. Which is why Jewish schools are graffitied and students are taunted. Which is why Jewish artists are de-platformed.
Read MoreAIJAC welcomes Premier’s statement on antisemitism crisis, but calls for urgent and vigorous enforcement
It is undeniable that there is a direct line between the incitement we see at the regular anti-Israel protests in the city and the violence that follows, so urgent action must be taken against this incitement and the protest leaders responsible for it.
Read MoreAnti-Semitism: Very fabric of our society is in deep, dark danger
Those who took to the streets of Melbourne are fundamentally driven by a hatred of Jews. Such people have always been here, but the murders, rapes and abductions that took place on October 7, 2023, emboldened them. And as long as protests accompanied by chants of “Zionists are terrorists”, “death to the IDF”, “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to the sea” continue, violence directed at the Jewish community and its institutions will follow.
Read MoreTragic shift on antisemitism should terrify us all
This kind of hatred never stays contained. The history is clear: every society that has allowed itself to follow this path has ended up ashamed of where it arrived and inevitably in abject failure. So we must ask, urgently and clearly: is this really the road we want Australia to go down?
Read MoreAustralia’s Antisemitism problem is no longer shocking — it’s normalised
Are Russian Orthodox churches in Australia being attacked over the Ukraine war? Are Chinese Australians persecuted over the Chinese communist government’s treatment of the Uyghurs? Of course not. Individuals are not held responsible for the actions of foreign governments. Except, it seems, when it comes to Jews, who always seem to bear collective responsibility for anything bad happening in the world, including the alleged and often misrepresented actions of the State of Israel.
Read More