Media Releases

Upon the return of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister on June 26, replacing Julia Gillard after three years, AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein made the following statement to J-Wire:

“We thank Julia Gillard for her unwavering and principled support for the Australian Jewish community and Israel during her term as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Her relationship with the Jewish community has always been warm, personal and heartfelt, and we look forward to continuing that friendship in whatever endeavours she chooses to pursue going forward.

“We congratulate Kevin Rudd on returning to the leadership of the federal government. His solid support for Israel and the Jewish community in his previous term as Prime Minister, as well as his unequivocal opposition to Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons capacity and his denunciation of the BDS campaign bodes well for the future. We trust he will also lend his authority to promoting the immediate resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority without preconditions, as consistently proposed by Foreign Minister Bob Carr.”