In response to the pressing need for an independent expert body to address antisemitism and racism in Australia, a dynamic coalition of Jewish scholars, historians, human rights lawyers, and writers has joined together to establish the Jewish Council of Australia.
The Council was formed to fill a void in Australia of an independent expert Jewish body which can speak about antisemitism in Australia and which acknowledges the diversity of views within the Jewish community in regard to the State of Israel.
The Council disagrees with the idea that all Jewish people, and the Jewish community, fully support the military actions of the State of Israel. We are concerned that many Jewish representative organisations in Australia fail to recognise that the Jewish community has diverse views on Israel’s military actions and conflate criticism of Israel, and support for Palestinian human rights, with antisemitism.
The Jewish Council recognises that there is no one single Jewish community, and that Jews across the country hold differing political views and have rich traditions of debate and questioning. In one 2023 survey of Jewish people in Australia, nearly one quarter of respondents said they did not identify as Zionists. Almost 1,000 Jewish people in Australia have signed an open letter condemning Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire, and each week more and more Jews are participating in activities in support of Palestine and local Palestinian........