The Australian authorities’s new particular envoy on antisemitism has vowed to “confront this evil” and “to protect our tolerant and peaceful way of life”.
Anthony Albanese visited the Sydney Jewish Museum on Tuesday to announce the appointment of an Australian lawyer, Jillian Segal AO, because the particular envoy to fight antisemitism in Australia.
Peak Jewish teams welcomed the appointment of Segal, who’s the quick previous president of the Govt Council of Australian Jewry. However some progressive Jewish advocates have raised considerations in gentle of Segal’s previous feedback opposing a ceasefire in Gaza.
For the reason that Hamas assaults on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the Israeli army bombardment of Gaza, neighborhood teams have documented a steep improve in each antisemitism and Islamophobia.
The federal government plans to quickly appoint an analogous envoy to fight Islamophobia.
Albanese stated it was mistaken to carry Jewish Australians chargeable for the actions of the Netanyahu authorities.
“I have spoken with members of the Jewish community here [in Sydney], in Melbourne, right around Australia, who have not felt safe – members of the Jewish community whose children are worried about wearing their school uniform in our capital cities,” he stated.
“That’s not acceptable – not acceptable, ever, and certainly not in Australia in 2024.”
The prime minister stated he had been shocked by “the lack of knowledge and experience about antisemitism and about where it leads”, noting that the Sydney Jewish Museum documented the homicide of six million Jews throughout the Holocaust.
“The conflict that is occurring in the Middle East, that has caused a great deal of grief for the Jewish community, for members of the Islamic and Palestinian communities – Australians overwhelmingly do not want conflict brought here,” he stated.
Segal stated “the rapid dissemination” of fabric on social media “means that antisemitic ideas that once took years to spread can instantly be conveyed and absorbed”.
She stated her first official dedication can be to change concepts with different international locations’ envoys about combating antisemitism on the World Jewish Congress in Argentina subsequent week.
“We have been blessed to live in a country with no history of antisemitic laws or institutional persecution of Jewish Australians but the world is changing,” Segal stated.
She stated the 7 October Hamas assaults “changed our world” and had seen antisemitism “become normalised”.
Segal stated there was “no single answer to the perennial problem of antisemitism, but the creation of this role shows a determination by the government to confront this evil”.
She indicated she would work on a nationwide technique, coordination between communities and all ranges of presidency, and “education on what antisemitism looks like today”.
The ECAJ, the height consultant physique of the Australian Jewish neighborhood, welcomed the appointment and stated its quick previous president would “bring deep knowledge of the issues and immense energy to the role”.
“We have seen antisemitism rear its ugly head on Australian campuses, in schools, in the media and social media, in the arts and culture sector and other parts of society,” the brand new ECAJ president, Daniel Aghion KC, stated.
However the Jewish Council of Australia, a comparatively new group of Jewish Australians who’re important of the Israeli authorities, stated it was “concerned about the appointment of a pro-Israel advocate to this position”.
“We are concerned this antisemitism envoy will fail to distinguish between Jewishness and support for Israel,” stated the group’s government officer, Sarah Schwartz.
“This risks erasing the large number of Jewish people in Australia who, like us, believe in Palestinian freedom and justice and are opposed to Israel’s violence against Palestinians.”
Segal advised a vigil in Sydney in November for hostages nonetheless held by Hamas: “There can be no ceasefire until every hostage has been released. There can be no ceasefire until the power of Hamas to threaten innocent communities has been vanquished.”
Segal joined with the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia in November to criticise the overseas affairs minister, Penny Wong, for saying “we all want to take the next steps towards a ceasefire” in Gaza. They stated until Hamas was faraway from energy, a ceasefire would endanger Israel.
In 2021, Segal welcomed “a watershed” second when the Morrison authorities embraced the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
One of many drafters of the IHRA definition argued in 2019 that rightwing Jewish teams had “weaponised” it.
The IHRA states that manifestations of antisemitism “might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity”, however provides that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”.
It outlines up to date examples of antisemitism, together with “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”.
Segal advised reporters on Tuesday the IHRA definition was “a useful tool” however she would keep away from commenting on potential legislative modifications till she had had time to “do a serious review”.
The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Community, Nasser Mashni, stated the federal government ought to work to “realise equal rights and justice for all” quite than “pitting parts of the Jewish community against the Palestinian and Muslim communities – and against each other”.
The opposition welcomed Segal’s appointment, however referred to as for “stronger immediate action” and renewed its longstanding name for a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on college campuses.
