Crisis point – ECAJ calls for action
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for action rather than words.
Following the firebombing of Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue, ECAJ states that Australia has been brought “to a point of crisis” causing some community members to question “their future in this country”.
The letter signed by president Daniel Aghion and co-CEOs Peter Wertheim and Alex Ryvchin points out to Anthony Albanese that “for more than a year, Jewish Australians have lived with fear and anxiety” and questions “it is still safe to wear Jewish symbols, to attend Jewish institutions, to work and participate in certain industries, to openly profess their faith and celebrate their heritage and to raise proudly Jewish children in today’s Australia”.
The ECAJ writes: “We ask you, Prime Minister, to reflect on how this has been allowed to occur. We ask you to reflect on how the conditions in which a synagogue can be set alight have been allowed to develop.
Your words swiftly condemning the attack were heard by our community. However, the time for mere words has long passed. We now call for action.
We are calling on you and your government to immediately adopt and to strongly encourage state governments to adopt, the following responses to what is now a national antisemitism crisis:
- provide emergency security funding to meet the Jewish community’s additional security needs;
- support mandatory national antisemitism education in Australian schools;
- direct police to strictly enforce existing laws prohibiting harassment or intimidation by protesters of persons attending schools, places of public worship or other communal places, or in jurisdictions where no such laws currently exist, to enact and strictly enforce laws to that effect;
- urgently convene a meeting of National Cabinet to further address the national antisemitism crisis including through uniform policing guidelines, law reform and public campaigns;
- enact new legislation to require Universities to protect the safety and security of students and staff as an over-riding priority; and
- review the government’s rhetoric and public statements on antisemitism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, recognising the far greater impact that such state
ECAJ has advised the prime minister that they are ready to attend a meeting with him to discuss those six points.
Great work, ECAJ. It’s now necessary to push hard and fast for change. It should be pointed out to this government that speaking of Islamophobia in concert with Antisemitism every time an Antisemitic incident or event occurs has to stop.
Sutton’s immediate cancelling of visa’s is a good idea……..I wonder if the PM will go so far?