Croatian and Jewish Leaders Meet
Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) president John Searle has met with Croatian Consul-General Antun Babic at the Consulate…the first ever visit of a Jewish leader to the Consulate General of Croatia in Melbourne.
Babic and John Searle
The meeting served to strengthen the warm relationship that has been developing between the Croatian and Jewish communities in recent months, which included the attendance of the Consul General and his wife at the JCCV’s annual Yom Hashoah commemoration in April.
Searle said he was pleased to be able to meet with the Consul-General at the Consulate and called the visit “an historic meeting”.
“As the voice of the Victorian Jewish community, the JCCV seeks to develop harmony and positive relationships between our community and the wider Victorian community, and I am delighted to now be able to include the Croatian community in our circle of friends,” said Searle. “The meetings I have had with Mr Babic to date have been exceedingly cordial and we are exploring ways to bring our two communities closer together,” Searle added.
Mr Babic also expressed his pleasure at the developing relationship and said, “I wish to express my sincere thanks to John Searle and other Jewish community leaders in Victoria for their full and sincere cooperation in this regard.
“Both communities are amongst very early settlers in this country and have contributed greatly to Australia’s successful economic development.”
He added that “the forging of closer links between the two communities today is also an extension of the excellent bilateral relations enjoyed by the State of Israel and the Republic of Croatia in recent years”.
The JCCV and Consulate General of Croatia hope to organise a supper between representatives of the two communities in the near future.
To ZCV
We all know about and love all fantastic things about Israel. The question was about how fantasticly “changed” are the Craots. For those familliar with the Ustasha traditions it is important to recognise that in Croatia stark manifestations of filo-Ustasha pracices are quite alive !!!
I’m afraid I would be asking the same question as Peter although I”m not Jewish.
One would have thought there would have been more open discussions considering the attrocities committed.
Perhaps the times are changing?
According to the website of the Embassy of the State of Israel in Croatia (http://zagreb.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/document.asp?SubjectID=39479&MissionID=169501&LanguageID=0&StatusID=0&DocumentID=-1), they are currently organising a series of events in Novalja over the European summer which will present the culture, art, gastronomy, fashion and many other aspects of life in Israel.
Check out the program here: http://zagreb.mfa.gov.il/mfm/Data/198707.pdf
We will be looking on with interest to see how this wonderful festival celebrating all of the fantastic aspects of Israel goes.
Why the sudden warmth towards the Croats.
I’m not aware that they have ever expressed remorse for their vicious anti semitism during the Holocaust. the Croats were among the worst of them.