Australia has its own ‘JVP’ and it calls itself the Jewish Council of Australia

By aligning itself with anti-Zionists, the Jewish Council of Australia helps sow the seeds of antisemitism in Australia, which endangers us and our children.

There is a saying in our community, two Jews three opinions. I don’t agree with myself half the time! This principle can be applied to any number of situations including the organizations that are said to represent us. We are a diverse, colorful and certainly argumentative people, as such there will never be a united Jewish voice on basically anything. Even when our community is connected more intricately than any time I’ve ever experienced, there is a deep fracture, maybe even a schism, emerging. You see, here in Australia we too have our “Jewish Voice for Peace”. A small, very vocal and very public organization; the Jewish Council of Australia. This council which was created post October 7, perhaps as an alternative Jewish voice, has come to be regarded by the vast majority of the Jewish community with resentment, disbelief and even contempt. The Jewish Council of Australia has positioned itself so far outside the tent that it will be hard for its members and the rest of the community to find a way back to each other, if we ever do. This is very upsetting for me personally having seen the names of Jewish people who have chosen to align themselves with this organization, people who I know and were very dear to me, fellow chaverim (members) at my youth movement alma mater, Hashomer Hatzair, people who have been students of mine, people I befriended online and in real life. This realization is not only upsetting but also confusing. Confusing because many of these people are smart, emotionally and intellectually but have somehow misunderstood concepts central to Zionism and those that fuel antisemitism. But I am also confused by the name this council chose for itself.

There is something deceptive about the name “Jewish Council of Australia”. Designating themselves as the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) implies that they speak for the Jews of Australia in general. They do not, not even close. Not only are their messages not reflective of general Jewish community’s opinions or perspectives, their name belies their ability to honestly represent anything but a tiny minority of a minority. The name misleads the average Australian, including journalists, that this council can and should be sought after for commentary on matters central to Jewish experiences. At a generous count, just over 600 Jews are part of this council, and there are very many non-Jews too, most likely non-Jewish anti-Zionists only too willing to use these “good Jews” of the Council to mask their antisemitism. These 600 comprise approximately 0.6% of the Jewish population in Australia and yet they seem to make up a very high percentage of the media coverage on matters pertaining to the Jewish community. It is manipulative to adopt such a title and then issue statements regarding Jews, Israel and antisemitism. The JCA spokespeople are called upon to opine on post October 7 matters as though their voice holds weight in community. It does not. The JCA does not speak for me, and it does not speak for 99% of the Jewish community of Australia. Our media organizations, especially our national broadcaster, ought to stop giving them airtime. Yet JCA continues to issue statements and sit down for interviews, seduced by the scandal they’ve generated themselves, with the arrogance that only ignorance affords.

From statements that the JCA have made, they have conflated Zionism with a particular kind of extremist, supremacist nationalism. But this now far from the truth, and many supporters of the JCA know this very well. Zionism, a legitimate and central expression of Jewishness has been defined in many ways. At its core, it is the connection the Jewish people have to our ancestral land, the home of our spirituality, stories and original society. Zionism is not a singular concept, it is a spectrum. We Jews know that the staunchest Zionists can disagree vehemently. There are left wing and right wing Zionists, Zionists who are religious and those who are secular, Zionists who have a vision of a greater Israel and build settlements in the West Bank/Judea & Samaria and Zionist who work to build dialogue between Jews and Palestinians, and even take legal action against the building of settlements. Those who believe in a two-state solution and those who believe in a federation of states. Much like every aspect of Jewishness, it is a collection of arguments. The one thing that all Jewish Zionists agree upon is that Israel should exist in some form or another, that it is not a colonial enterprise, but is a successful decolonization project of an indigenous people. A return of a people, and its language (a feat that deserves its own essay), to the land upon which it was born. We have a calendar that serves as a cyclical reminder of our connection, through the annual harvest festivals completely intertwined with the geography of the land. Through liturgy, we pray, bless and sing the land. Through ritual we enact our connection to our home, whether it’s breaking the glass under the chuppah or facing Jerusalem when reciting the Shema. Through poetry, from the words of Yehuda Ha Levi to the words of Yehuda Amichai, that yearn, weep, curse and praise the land, in ways that shake our soul and remind us who we are and where we come from. While Zionism is also a political movement that emerged in the 19th century along side many other national movements, it cannot be seen as only a political movement, but an idea that predates the word itself. However, the way the JCA perceives Zionism is a distortion. By embracing a definition of Zionism that has its roots in the BDS movement, which has its roots in the antisemitic Soviet definition that equated Zionism with racism, the JCA reveals its own ignorance, demonizes Zionism, and therefore the vast majority of Jews here and indeed everywhere.

It was extremely disappointing to see the JCA make statements defending Palestinian activist Hash Taye who has been vocal in not just condemning Israel (which even Zionists do regularly by the way) but has proudly and loudly chanted the terrible slogan “all Zionists are terrorists”. The JCA knows very well that this is simply not true. We are not terrorists; we are not criminals who seek to harm others for our own political goals. It is propagandist and dangerous, and the JCA should declare this with absolute clarity. But they haven’t, they’ve defended him. Even worse, Hash Taye denies the atrocities of October 7, taking megaphone to mouth in the middle of the busy shopping center, Melbourne Central, announcing that Hamas’s savagery on October 7 “has been de-bunked”! The JCA should be unwavering in its denunciation of such lies, but they haven’t been, they’ve continued to support and defend him.

The JCA’s efforts to legitimize the anti-Zionist cause, fuels and normalizes antisemitism whether it intends to or not. The recent government appointment of Jillian Segal as the special envoy to combat antisemitism highlighted this. One of the leaders of the JCA, Sarah Schwartz was interviewed about this appointment. She claimed that such a role could “increase racism and division by pitting Jewish communities against Palestinian, Muslim and other racialized communities”. Sarah’s claim, that measures to address a particular discrimination only increases division, is not new. This mischievous strategy was used during the campaign for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, where opponents of the Voice proposal claimed that it would only create division and more racism in Australia. It’s the same claim, the same strategy, and it is the strategy itself that is guilty of divisiveness and emboldening racism. Having said that, it is also true that movements which aim to fight against particular forms of hate or discrimination can ignite more hate in the process. This certainly happened during the American Civil Rights movement where racist attacks were regular, ongoing and vicious. We also saw a spike in homophobic sentiment in Australia during the Same Sex Marriage plebiscite. These examples might support the assertion that a special envoy to combat antisemitism could trigger further antisemitism, but this does not mean the cause is not worthy, on the contrary, it signals the essential need for the issue to be addressed, as painful as the process may be. Combatting antisemitism does not necessarily pit Jewish communities against any other communities, as Sarah said. What I assume it will do, amongst other things, is seek the source of antisemitic attitudes and behaviors, wherever they may originate, without prejudice. She goes on to claim that “we need to fight antisemitism as part of the fight against all forms of racism and bigotry. It will only increase racism and antisemitism…to treat antisemitism as different”. What she and maybe the entire Jewish Council of Australia, do not grasp is that antisemitism is different from other forms of bigotry. Each form of bigotry has its own particularities. Yes, they share common tools of hate including stereotyping and scapegoating, but the differences are also important to note, especially when tackling them. Right now, we are facing explosive antisemitism, it is not hyperbolic to say that we’ve reached a crisis point regarding levels of antisemitism in Australia. Therefore, this particular form of bigotry needs to be addressed specifically at this time. In addressing it there must be awareness of how classical antisemitic tropes of past eras are resurfacing, awareness of the shape-shifting nature of such tropes, the connections between historical and current perpetrators of them, and much more. During the global Black Lives Matter protests, the focus in Australia was also very particular and specific, addressing systemic racism towards Indigenous people. This focus was (and still is) necessary because the rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody are deeply problematic. When thousands of Australians, including me, marched, did we hear any people who stand against racism say that we must not focus on Indigenous justice but justice for all minorities? Of course not. In fact, doing so would seem willfully ignorant, diluting the specific issues that require attention. If the “all lives matter” approach was not considered appropriate when dealing with anti-black racism, then similarly it is inappropriate when dealing with anti-Jewish racism. Furthermore, the statements made by the JCA actually perpetuate an age-old antisemitic accusation, that of Jewish exceptionalism; that we see ourselves, our needs, our sufferings, as exceptional, indeed superior. Like most antisemitic accusations, it rhymes with the past. In fact one of the very earliest antisemites, Haman, written about in the book of Esther, made a similar claim “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them.” Haman was one the first to accuse us of exceptionalism but sadly not the last. That the echoes of this accusation come out of the mouths of fellow Jews is extremely frustrating and upsetting.

Finally, the JCA has refused to engage with the broader Jewish community. This is not only unreasonable, but also un-Jewish. As I stated earlier, we are a collection of arguments. Our people have been sustained and invigorated by discussions and debates for millennia. This tradition dates to the time of Hillel and Shammai and has shaped us as a people ever since. The councilors’ rejection of any dialogue demonstrates a cowardice to face truths about Jewishness, Zionism, and the Jewish community here in Australia. Continuing to remain mute in the face of community while giving license to those that stoke Jew-hate is beyond irresponsible, it endangers the Jewish community including our children, and that is going to be extremely difficult to forgive.