Compiled by Garry Fabian
Appealing for appeal respect
MELBOURNE, 23 September – Communal organisations
have called into question the effectiveness of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria’s (JCCV) campaign calendar.
Despite paying a large annual sum for the exclusive right to fundraise during certain weeks of the year, groups say this schedule is not being enforced.
Magen David Adom (MDA) has accused a number of community not-for-profits of failing to respect its exclusive appeal period, which falls for a week at the end of August and another at the start of October.
A JCCV affiliate, the Australian arm of the Israeli ambulance service like other organisations pays to guarantee a sole fundraising window. However, it claims some bodies have not respected its two-week block. Read more…
By Garry Fabian
Art Unites Youth and Seniors
MELBOURNE, 16 September – When Marianne Roth, a resident at Emmy Monash Aged Care, a Jewish retirement home, heard about a unique artistic collaboration between the home and nearby Shelford Girls’ Grammar, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
The 90-year-old was a former teacher at the Caulfield school and decided she would pay it a visit ahead of the planned art class.
A few days before the year 8 class was scheduled to visit the aged-care facility, Mrs Roth
ventured over to the school, where she was warmly greeted by principal Polly Flanagan, teacher Rebecca Saunders and the year 8 girls. Read more…
Compiled by Garry Fabian
Major refurbishment for Jewish Hospital
SYDNEY, 25 August – After two years of renovations, a refreshed Wolper Jewish Hospital was opened by Governor of NSW Marie Bashir earlier this month.
The hospital now includes a state-of-the-art physiotherapy centre, an enlarged hydrotherapy pool and conversion of all rooms to private with full ensuite facilities.
The rehabilitation unit has been enlarged as well to accommodate more patient beds.
Federal Member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Health Minister Jillian Skinner and local mayors also attended the opening.
The Israel – Australia MDA Connection
MELBOURNE, 25 August – Magen David Adom (MDA) Victoria will launch its annual appeal next week with the help of the organisation’s Israeli blood bank director, Professor Eilat Shinar.
Prof Shinar arrived in Australia this week to address gatherings on the Gold Coast and in Sydney, before launching the Victorian appeal next Saturday night.
Director of the MDA blood bank since 2007, Prof Shinar specialised in haematology at Hadassah Medical Centre before spending a number of years at Harvard.
“I am a passionate person. Studying and practising medicine gave me the possibility to work with people and hopefully to be able to treat them and help them overcome severe illnesses and pain,” she said ahead of her trip to Australia. “Although I loved my work at Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, working as the director of MDA blood services opened an even more challenging and interesting field.”
While in the country, Prof Shinar will also address school groups and meet with her
counterparts at the Australian Red Cross.
“Of course, I am hoping to learn from our peers in Australia. Israel has, unfortunately, accumulated much experience on the subject of preparedness and response to man-made disasters. We can and will share our experience in the
management of a national blood supply under these conditions,” she said.
It won’t be the professor’s first visit Down Under.
“I actually visited Australia 10 years ago when participating in a meeting of the Australian Society of Haematology in Perth and gave a lecture to the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Canberra,” she explained.
“I was overwhelmed by the excellent and lovely people I met everywhere [and] the very interesting nature. I hope to get more of both during my present visit to your lovely continent.”
MDA Victoria is appealing for funds to equip all mobile intensive care units in Israel with defibrillators. This will help increase the survival rate of heart attack patients from 55 per cent to 70 per cent.
What’s in a name?
MELBOURNE, 25 August – Barristers presented evidence in the Supreme Court of Victoria this week during a civil trial over the naming rights of Melbourne’s Sassoon Yehuda Sephardi synagogue.
The trial was called to settle a dispute between the Sephardi Association and the estate of the late Albert Sassoon Yehuda, one of the shul’s founders.
Legal action was launched last year by the estate, which claimed Yehuda was entitled to naming rights to the centre in perpetuity, based on donations from the founder and later his estate.
The centre was recently renamed the “Lyndi and Rodney Adler Sephardi Centre”, after the Adlers were approached for a donation.
A sum of $150,000 was donated by the Sydney-based couple in exchange for naming rights to the centre, with the synagogue itself continuing to be known as Sassoon Yehuda.
The action was brought by solicitor Dan Horesh, Yehuda’s nephew, and the estate’s executor, who in May this year failed in his bid for an injunction against a sign displaying the new name.
A loan for an undisclosed amount was forgiven by the estate due to the centre’s financial difficulties, and the centre is currently carrying another loan from the estate.
Early this week, in the opening phase of the trial before Justice Peter Almond, Yehuda estate’s barrister, David Sharp, and barristers for the Sephardi Association, Henry Aizen and Daniel Aghion, presented documents.
The lawsuit by the estate named the Sephardi Association, its former president Donald Lelah and its former vice-president Danny Jaffe, as respondants.
Hakoah-Maccabi top honours
SYDNEY, 24 August – Hakoah-Maccabi won its NSW Division One Youth League minor premiership when the under-15 team smashed Mt Druitt 6-0 last week.
Hakoah-Maccabi club chairman Jon Marcuson said he never dreamed of winning a minor premiership three years ago when the team joined the elite state-wide competition.
“It was unimaginable that we could take an ESFA [Eastern Suburbs Football Association] team and train them up significantly so they could win a minor premiership in a state rep comp,” Marcuson said.
Marcuson, Peter Grunfeld and Mick Vasin were the driving forces when the idea of a youth league was first touted for the club.
It was designed to give Jewish footballers the opportunity to play in a high quality competition.
“This is such a big achievement that everything else pales into insignificance because these are Jewish shleppers against the best of the state and we are smashing them every week.
“This minor premiership has been driven by the players. They are the ones that want training before school and they are the ones who have made the difference.”
The team dedicated the minor premiership to the memory of its former coach, Ian Gray.
The entire team was close to the coach, who died earlier this year, and six of the boys Robbie Ezekial, Justin Malek, Brad Karpin, Gilad Schwartz, Jared Engelman and Gareth Milner were ushers at his funeral.
“We all lost a great friend and mentor in Iggy but to the boys he was a true hero.
“For them to overcome Iggy’s passing, bounce back and actually go on and win the minor premiership is an amazing achievement and a credit to Iggy and every one of the boys.”
The team sealed the minor premiership and extended its lead to five points over
second-placed Stanmore with a 3-1 victory against Hills Brumbies on Saturday afternoon.
Hakoah’s under-15 team has now earned a rest and a second chance. The side will play the winner of this weekend’s qualifying final, between Stanmore and Fraser Park, next week.
While it was all smiles for the under-15 team, the under-18 team was knocked out of the finals race by fifth-placed Mt Druitt.
The team finished in sixth position on the ladder, two points outside the top-five, after they lost to Mt Druitt, 2-1, last Thursday.
In the last game of the season on Saturday, the Maccabi-Hakoah side defeated Hills 2-0, but because Mt Druitt won its final game of the season 3-0 against Fraser Park, the team missed out on the finals.
Coach Steve Lawrence said it was a tough end to the season.
“As far as the team goes, it’s the best season that I’ve had with Hakoah, but it was very frustrating to go so close and then not make the finals,” Lawrence said.
“As a coach, though, I didn’t achieve what I wanted to, which was making the semis, so I’m pretty disappointed.”
In other results the under-13 team lost to Hills 4-0, the under-14 team lost 3-1 and the under-16 team won 3-1.
Kosher sex on the small screen
MELBOURNE, 26 August – The Jewish approach to sex and marriage featured on the small screen last weekend on the ABC’s Compass program.
As well as investigating Judaism’s take on the subject, the documentary, Sex, Faith and Marriage, explores the sexual nuances of Hinduism and Islam, debunking some misconceptions in the process.
“In a sensitive way, we get to see and learn about the sexual rules of each of these three religions, busting some myths on the way,” director, producer and writer Tracey Spring said of the program.
“Myths such as Jewish people only having sex through a hole in the sheet, or the belief that Muslim women are repressed, or the opinion that all Hindus are sex maniacs because of the Kama Sutra. In actual fact, they are very conservative.”
The Jewish perspective, including the laws of niddah (Jewish laws of separation) and family purity, is presented by mikvah manager Timmy Rubin and her husband Kalman, who met Spring when she visited the mikvah while filming another
documentary about Jewish celebrations for the ABC.
“I really connected with Timmy and I knew that if I ever did more on the subject, I would include her in it,” Spring explained. “I wondered what the rules are in different religions. Many things are taboo and there is a lot that people just don’t like to talk about, so I pitched the idea to my series producer.”
It was a labour of love for Spring, who was born Jewish, but not brought up following any religion.
“Many of the stories I have done have involved a process of self-education about Judaism.
“I am rediscovering all that,” Spring said of her heritage.
Community anger over Age coverage
MELBOURNE, 26 August – Relations between The Age (a major daily newspaper) and the Jewish community leadership have further soured, amid claims of persistent bias in the newspaper’s reporting on Israel.
To make matters worse, Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) president John Searle said the newspaper’s editor Paul Ramadge appeared unwilling to conduct the most basic communication with the Jewish communal leadership.
A joint statement from Searle and Zionist Council of Victoria (ZCV) president Dr Danny Lamm on August 20, revealed that Searle had not heard back from Ramadge after a telephone message he left with his office on June 4 about the newspaper’s coverage of the Gaza flotilla crisis.
The JCCV and ZCV confirmed on Monday that the phone call, a June 8 letter from the ZCV’s public relations chair Sam Tatarka, and a June 10 letter from Searle had all been ignored by The Age.
Searle had written to Ramadge about his failure to respond to the phone message, advising the editor: “Your attitude bespeaks scant respect for the Jewish community.”
But following an AJN request to The Age this week for a comment, Ramadge responded to the JCCV and ZCV on Tuesday, apologising for the delay.
In last week’s statement, the JCCV and ZCV said The Age coverage of Israel ranged from journalist Michael Backman’s 2009 “smear job” on Israeli backpackers in Nepal, to biased reporting of the flotilla incident, to “the more subtle and insidious”.
As an example, the organisations pointed out the sub-editing of a story from UK paper The Daily Telegraph, in which The Age version changed “Jewish settlements” to “illegal Jewish settlements” and “West Bank” to “occupied West Bank”.
“I think the fact that they take a report from somewhere else and they republish it but add certain words or phrases that further colour the message is an indication of ill intent,” Dr Lamm said.
Searle and Dr Lamm accused the Melbourne broadsheet of “steering its readership to a more anti-Israel position” which has resulted in “legitimising anti-Semitism”.
“We make this statement with regret. However we have spoken to Mr Ramadge on a number of occasions, both privately and in public forums. While he is adept at making the right noises about The Age’s impartiality, his follow-through leaves a great deal to be desired. We believe that The Age’s record speaks for itself. Quite simply The Age is not a friend of our community.”
In a belated response to the JCCV and ZCV, The Age editor Paul Ramadge this week defended his newspaper’s Middle East coverage.
A Kibbutz in Melbourne?
MELBOURNE, 27 August – The gum trees and burnished paddocks will add a touch of home, the summers might be hotter than Eilat, and the winters might
just feel the slightest bit like Carmiel.
Beyond that, a small group of Israeli families living in Melbourne might have to use their imaginations, and a measure of nostalgia, to conjure up their “kibbutz” experience on a shared property they are planning for Melbourne’s fringe.
Organiser Avi Cohen is determined to push ahead with the lifestyle project, which he hopes will create a better quality of living for his wife and three children, alongside what he hopes will be 40 other families.
The group of Israeli families, which plans to set up a collective living project on the outskirts of Melbourne, convened its first meeting last week, but still has some planning to do before it invests in a parcel of hectares not too far from the big smoke.
They are a mix of professions – engineers, doctors, teachers, computer programmers – all looking for a way to beat the suburban blues and dodge Melbourne’s astronomical real-estate prices.
Eilat-born Cohen, 49, who grew up in Tel Aviv and Arad, has worked in the building industry since arriving in Australia in 1987, so he has some insights into the types of housing the project might need.
Having lived on a moshav, Cohen wants a similar experience for his kids, who attend a Jewish school.
“They’re too much into electronic gadgets. I want them to have more of a social existence after school and I want them to grow up surrounded by greenery.”
He said other Israeli families interested in the idea are also looking to emulate an Israeli lifestyle, which is more spontaneous, social and group-focused. In fact, some Israelis have indicated to him they would like to move here from Israel if they could live in such a development.
Cohen is emphatic that the shared living experiment is not a socialist utopia in the
classic sense of the kibbutz movement.
“Nobody who is interested in this wants to be told how to eat and dress,” he said. “It’s not how kibbutz life is lived in Israel anymore and it’s not what we’re looking for here.”
In fact, the community will need to be within commuting distance of Melbourne, as the intending residents plan to keep working in their professions.
“We want to build our community in an area not that far from the Jewish community – they don’t necessarily have to be Israelis, they can be Jewish Australians,” said Cohen, who has placed a notice in a local Israeli community newspaper.
The group is currently researching subdivision laws to see how feasible their ideas are and plans to farm on their land.
“We want to farm organically, not as a commercial activity, but enough to sustain the residents,” said Cohen.
There have been previous attempts to build a “kibbutz”-style project near Melbourne, and some 600 similar enterprises are operating in the United States.
Teaching the Teachers
MELBOURNE, 27 August – There is a worldwide shortage of Jewish studies teachers and leaders, according to senior lecturer at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rabbi Dr Howard Deitcher.
In Australia for the Zionist Federation of Australia’s (ZFA) seventh biennial Jewish
educators’ conference last weekend, Rabbi Dr Deitcher said that teacher training and
professional development should be a top priority and more resources should be invested in the area.
“Many communities around the world, like the US, South Africa and Latin America, are investing significant amounts of resources and money on training and ongoing development of teachers. I’m pushing very hard for this country to follow
suit,” he said. “The responsibility lies with both the schools and the wider community. Each [Australian] school really has to compete for the same outstanding teachers and not many young people are going into the area.”
And with more than 300 Jewish educators descending on Melbourne last weekend to examine current issues relevant to Jewish education and engage in professional development, it was a timely call.
ZFA executive director Robbie Franco was pleased with conference proceedings.
“The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive,” Franco said. “You could feel the excitement in the air and a number of people came over saying that it was better than anything before.”
Held at Bialik College, the two-day event involved seven international and more than 20 local guest speakers.
In addition to Rabbi Dr Deitcher, other international visitors included StandWithUs
Diaspora education director Michelle Rojas-Tal, Israel studies expert Scott Copeland, acclaimed Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai and developmental psychologist Dr Naama Zoran. Topics ranged from Hebrew and Yiddish studies to Jewish values and texts, Israel advocacy and informal education.
Franco credited the conference organisers, and cited the calibre of the speakers and breadth of the program as the major successes.
Educators from school teachers to university lecturers and youth movement leaders were called upon for input into the program, and were invited to partake in the two-day event. “It was a holistic effort,” Franco said.
Three Jewish Amigos in Canberra
CANBERRA, 27 August – For the first time in two decades, three Jewish MPs will sit in Canberra’s Parliament House.
Among the trio will be Josh Frydenberg, who made history at the weekend when he became Australia’s first Jewish Liberal MP in the capital. He will sit opposite Labor MPs Michael Danby and Mark Dreyfus, who held their seats in the closest
election campaign since World War II.
Hundreds of wellwishers gathered at famous pizza restaurant Colombo’s, in the Melbourne suburb of Balwyn, to celebrate Frydenberg’s achievement in the seat of Kooyong.
“I say to everybody in the room, I am humbled by this challenge. I think Tony Abbott has led the Coalition brilliantly and while I will be a proud member of his team, I will be an even prouder member of Kooyong and as your representative,” the Mount Scopus Memorial College graduate said on the night.
Cheers rang out around the restaurant on Saturday evening each time a Liberal won a seat, with the general tone in the room optimistic at the possibility the Coalition could claim overall victory.
“Tonight is a historic night, not just because we won Kooyong, but because we could win nationally,” an emotional Frydenberg announced.
The win has been a long-time coming for the former adviser to then prime minister John Howard and then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
In 2007, the ambitious Frydenberg issued a preselection challenge to the blue ribbon seat’s incumbent, Petro Georgiou, but was defeated.When Georgiou announced he would retire at the 2010 election, Frydenberg worked tirelessly to persuade local Liberal members he should be preselected in the seat and was rewarded after a
vote in the middle of last year.
With a background in international relations, Frydenberg is predicted to take a strong interest in foreign affairs when he arrives in Canberra.
In his acceptance speech on Saturday night, Frydenberg, 39, thanked his fiance Amie Saunders, family, friends and campaign staff for their support and encouragement.
As in many seats around the country, there was a significant swing to The Greens, but Frydenberg won the seat easily. Kooyong, with Sydney’s Wentworth, are the only two Australian seats to have begun at Federation and never gone to the Labor Party.
Electorate to lose Jewish voters
MELBOURNE, 27 August – Having just been through the rigmarole of one election, it is unlikely voters are looking to the next one. But the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is proposing a move likely to affect many Jewish voters, with the bulk of Melbourne’s Jewish community set to find themselves outside Michael Danby’s electorate.
If the AEC gets its way, voters living in Caulfield North and Caulfield East will move into the Liberal-held seat of Higgins, while South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor will end up in Melbourne Ports.
At the same time, residents of Caulfield South and Glen Huntly would shift into another safe Liberal seat, Goldstein, and Bentleigh, McKinnon and Ormond would be pushed into the safe Labor seat of Hotham.
Danby said the move would likely strengthen Labor’s grip on Melbourne Ports, but would split the Jewish community, going against the AEC’s criteria of not separating a “community of interest”.
“I love representing the Jewish community and I love representing the area,” he said, adding that he would be lodging a formal objection, as would the ALP.
The expert in electoral matters, having sat on the parliamentary committee dealing with the issue, also criticised the AEC over the announcement’s timing. “I’ve very surprised they exercised the discretion to announce all these potential seat changes during the election.”
Kelly O’Dwyer, the Liberal MP for Higgins who is poised to welcome thousands of Jewish voters to her seat, said she would not be lodging an objection. “Obviously, I am thrilled to potentially have more Jewish voters. I will represent all the people of Higgins no matter what the boundaries,” she said.
Every seven years, the AEC is required to look at electoral boundaries to ensure the correct number of voters are in each.
While the changes did not apply to last weekend’s election, an AEC statement said the
redistribution would not be deferred because of the federal election as the status quo could not be maintained.
Local Media to spread good PR for Israel
SYDNEY, 30 August – An Australian plan to spread good news about Israel via social media will be presented at an upcoming international Jewish conference.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Robert Goot will set out the strategy blueprint to heads of Jewish communities from around the globe when the World Jewish Congress (WJC) governing board holds a two-day summit in Jerusalem from August 31.
The strategy will target younger people who get their news from blogs and popular websites, including Twitter and Facebook.
“It’s no use trying to communicate with people in forms that aren’t foremost in their minds,” Goot said.
Goot, the action plan’s principal author, said it was critical to break through to a generation that has been duped by repeated assertions that Israel is “an apartheid state”.
“It is not, but most young people, even those well disposed, would not know why it is not. They would not be familiar with what apartheid was in South Africa and how that is totally alien to Israel and even the territories.
“Young people know little of Israel’s birth and of its triumphs, such as 1967 [the Six-Day War] and Entebbe [hostage crisis], but have been fed a fairly constant diet of Israel as a pariah nation, an apartheid state, a serial human rights abuser, and the like.
“Unfortunately, young Jews are all too familiar with the accusations, but insufficiently familiar with the rebuttals.”
Describing “delegitimisation” as “a strategic threat to Israel”, he said the action plan would target boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns and aim for closer ties with churches, cultural groups, academia and the media.
Goot was asked to prepare the plan on behalf of the ECAJ, after a WJC strategic review looked into the challenges facing Israel, including “the assault on Israel’s legitimacy”.
The roof body’s leader will present the plan before some 150 Jewish community leaders.
“We’re focusing on building and strengthening alliances and coalitions we have internationally,” Goot said.
Further WJC meetings will discuss how to implement the strategy, which will also involve the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Affairs Office.
Senior Israeli leaders will attend the conference.
Goot added that Australia’s central role in devising the strategy was “a great tribute” to the local Jewish community.
Fabian is Australia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World
Compiled by Garry Fabian
Opposition leader speaks on Hizb utTahir
CANBERRA, 21 July - Australian opposition Leader Tony Abbott has conceded that members of Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir hold concerning views, but as long as they do not incite terrorism, the group has a place in Australian society.
Speaking to radio shock jock Alan Jones last week, Abbott said if reports that the group was
agitating to establish an Islamic caliphate were correct, it would be “abominable, absolutely abominable”.
But he continued: “The general principle in this country is that we don’t punish bad thoughts, we don’t even punish bad words, as long as those words don’t amount to incitement to break the law.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir an international Islamist group that has a small branch in Australia is banned
in some countries, mostly in the Middle East. It has come under fire on a variety of fronts, not
least because of its anti-Semitic rants. and calls for the eradication of the Jewish State.
The Bangladesh arm of the group released a statement earlier this year calling on Muslims to
“teach the Jews a lesson” and “march forth to fight them, eradicate their entity and purify the earth of their filth”.
In 2007, then attorney-general Philip Ruddock oversaw an investigation into possible terrorist
links with the local branch, but eventually decided not to proscribe the group.
Abbott said the group has very limited support in this country at the moment, and argued the
mainstream Muslim community is not behind it. “My hope, my expectation, my confidence is that this is a minority view among Australian Muslims, but I’ve got to say anything that looks like an incentive, an incitement to break the law, is something [that] should certainly attract the very closest interest from the law enforcement agencies.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir has come back into focus after hosting a conference in Sydney earlier this month.
A spokesperson for Attorney-General Robert McClelland said it would be inappropriate to
confirm or deny whether the group is under investigation by Australia’s intelligence agencies.
Union for Progressive Judaism condemns Israeli Convdersion Bill
MELBOURNE, 22 July – The local Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) has added its voice to global Reform and Conservative condemnation of attempts to push a conversion Bill through the Knesset.
Sponsored by Yisrael Beitenu MK David Rotem, the Bill would delegate the authority to municipal rabbis to carry out conversions to, in an attempt to streamline the conversion process for non-Jewish Israelis.
The Bill’s opponents complain that the same clause effectively provides legal backing for the
authority of the Orthodox rabbinate over all conversions, and threatens the status of those
who converted overseas through non-Orthodox rabbis.
In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, signed by UPJ president David Robinson and other senior officials, Progressive Judaism’s Asia-Pacific roof body expressed “great disappointment and shock” at news that Rotem had taken action to drive the Bill through the Knesset without coordination with representatives of all streams of Judaism.
Rotem’s action also drew the condemnation of Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky, who had been working to bridge Diaspora and Israeli concerns over the Bill since it was proposed earlier in the year. While American Jewish organisations have been most vocal in speaking out against the Bill, the UPJ rejected Rotem’s view that some concerns about the proposed legislation are solely American, writing “We believe that it is important for you to know that the grave concerns expressed about this legislation extend far beyond the United States .
“We join the leadership of the World Union for Progressive Judaism in viewing this Bill in its
current form as an affront to all Progressive and Conservative Jews.”
The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) also weighed into the debate. ZFA president Philip
Chester wrote a letter to Netanyahu, warning that the passage of such legislation “would do
incalulable harm to the unity of the Jewish people”.
Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Centre, the advocacy arm of the Progressive movement in Israel, told The AJN during a recent visit to Australia that those
parts of the Bill “bring us back from our tremendous achievement [in Israel's Supreme Court] of six years ago that allReform and Conservative conversions all around the world are recognised in Israel for purposes of aliyah.”
Rotem, defending the Bill on Monday, told The Jerusalem Post that he was unwilling to delay
resolving a problem that affects thousands of immigrants.
Controversy or birthright
SYDNEY, 23 July – Australian Birthright program organisers have rejected reports in the
international media claiming a recent group visit to Hebron was “unprecedented”.
An article, first published in the New York Jewish Week last week, reported that the trip
made by the Australian Chabad Campus Birthright group earlier this month also “raised questions about whether the program has shifted policy on visits to the West Bank”.
But Rabbi Yehudah deVries, who is responsible for the Australian Chavaya Taglit-Birthright Israel trips for Chabad Campus students, said that those undertaking the extended program for longer than the 10-day free trip have always visited Hebron, with the exception being the past two years.
Rabbi deVries explained he was approached by Birthright’s official trip organiser, Israel
Experience, to arrange the visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs, or Ma’arat HaMachpela, the site
where according to the Torah Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Rebecca and Leah are buried.
“The entire 10-day program was submitted for Taglit’s approval, as always, and was, as always, approved.
“This includes security approval,” he explained.
“The trip went ahead and was run according to exact security requirements,”
Rabbi deVries said security would not have been approved if the army, police and education
department had deemed the visit to be a potential risk.
“If we can visit Kibbutz Misgav Am, which is in the firing range of Hezbollah on the Lebanese
border; we stand on a Golan Heights border lookout at Mizpe Gadot and look into Syria, then why make a point ofHebron being either dangerous or political?” Rabbi deVries questioned.
And as for the politics of the visit?
“Politics should not be brought to the groups. Taglit-Birthright Israel is most young people’s
first experience of the land of Israel. Let them see as much as possible . and let them make
informed decisions based on their own intellect and experience,” he said.
The Zionist Federation’s Israel Programs coordinator Brendan Bensky said the visit formed
part of the Chabad Campus group’s Jewish historical aspect and was approved by Birthright.
This trip was the first time an Australian group undertook the Birthright program mid-year.
Israel a point of difference in Australian election campaign
CANBERRA, 23 July – Just two days into the election campaign, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott touted his party’s “unshakable commitment” to Israel.
Speaking at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne on Monday, Abbott took the opportunity to criticise the Rudd-Gillard Government’s record towards Israel.
“I have to say that it’s a little disappointing, given the deep affinity between the Australian
people and the Israeli people that the current Australian Government has somewhat weakened our longstanding bipartisanship on Israel,” Abbott said before the crowd of more than 1000
businesspeople and Liberal Party faithful.
“I want to reiterate here today, the Coalition’s unshakable commitment to Israel’s security and I want to assure you that a Coalition government would never support a one-sided United Nations resolution against Israel to curry favour with an anti-Israel majority in the General Assembly,” he said.
He continued: “And we would never overreact to any international incident, because we appreciate that Israel is under existential threat in a way that almost no other country in the world is.”
He told guests, including dozens of the nation’s finest journalists, who were following Abbott’s
campaign trail, that Australia needs to appreciate that “a diminished Israel diminishes the West”.
The Opposition Leader also used the opportunity to pay tribute to the achievements of the local Jewish community. He commented that Australia is the only country in the world, apart from Israel, where Jewish people have occupied the highest offices, including as the governor-general.
Among guests at the Crown Casino lunch were Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey, Shadow Minister for Finance Andrew Robb, Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu and former treasurer Peter Costello.
Costello, who travelled with Julia Gillard to Israel last year for the Australia-Israel
Leadership Forum, delivered the vote of thanks, endorsing his former cabinet colleague’s tilt at the top job.
“Tony Abbott is a man of commitment and a man of drive,” Costello said. “I know he was party of a very successful government, I don’t know that about Julia Gillard.”
Canadian MP Calls on Australia to charge Iran with conspiracy to commit genocide
MELBOURNE, 22 July- Australia should be the first country to refer Iran to the United Nation Security Council, a senior Canadian politician said this week.
Irwin Cotler delivered keynote addresses and met politicians from both sides this week during a whirlwind tour of Australia supported by the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC).
The human rights law professor and former Canadian attorney-general said Australia, as a
signatory to the United Nations genocide convention, needs to “exercise leadership” and
refer Iran to the UN Security Council for conspiracy to commit genocide.
When probed as to why his country, which for many years has been outspoken on preventing genocide, would not do that itself, Cotler said “political leaders live in an insular bubble where issues of the day overwhelm these issues”.
“The country that does it first will be applauded by history,” he told the audience
He added that if Australia did refer Iran for investigation, Canada would certainly support the move.
Cotler, who chairs the Responsibility to Prevent Coalition, which recently completed a report on “The danger of a nuclear, genocidal and rights-violating Iran, said the evidence is
available to indict Iran over conspiracy to commit genocide.
The report states: “Repeated calls for the destruction of Israel and ‘prophecies’ of its
demise all work to normalise the idea of genocide in the minds of the Iranian people. Articulated in the context of demonising rhetoric implying a clash of civilisations, calls for the
annihilation of the Jewish State begin appearing not only moral and justifiable, but natural as well.”
Asked why, if the evidence is clear, Iran has managed to escape scrutiny, Cotler replied: “It
certainly does make a mockery of international law and it sustains a culture of impunity”.
“The Iranian regime can intensify incitement, knowing they won’t be held to account,” he said.
Cotler added that it is not just through incitement to genocide that the Iranian regime
threatens global stability. He said suspected nuclear weapons development, Iran’s sponsorship
of terrorist organisations and violations of the rights of the Iranian people were four distinct
threats posed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ashley Brown selected for Australia Under 19 Football training squad
Ashley Brown joined North Caulfield Maccabi Junior Football club in 2010 and is a part of the
successful U18 Youth Development Programme, and plays in the Boys U16 and Under 18 competition.
Ashley will hopefully be selected later this year to once again compete in the Asian Qualifiers. She has just returned from the FFA Nationals in Coffs Harbour where she competed in the Victorian U17 girls team and was selected in the All Stars team (representing the best players of the tournament). Ashley has a long and impressive record of achievement on the football filed.
In 2006, Ashley aged 11 made the Victorian Primary Schools State soccer team, and was
included in the National Training Centre in Victoria for advanced players. At the time she
was the youngest player ever to be included in that squad.
In 2007, aged 12 and in 2008 aged 13, she was part of the Victorian State u15 team. In 2008 she was selected in the U17 Australian Team and travelled to Malaysia to compete in the Asian
Qualifiers. She was in the starting lining up playing against Thailand and Myanmar and the team finished top of their group. In 2009 Ashley won the Maccabi Victoria Deloitte’s Rising Star Award and in 2009, she was selected again in the Australian U 17 squad for the Asian Qualifiers (but unfortunately had to withdraw three days before due to injury). In
January 2009 Ashley represented Victoria in the National Futsal Championships.
Tragic end to World Cup trip
MELBOURNE, 23 July–A local teenager critically injured in a diving accident in Malaysia died in Melbourne on Thursday.
On Tuesday, an air ambulance carried 14-year-old Reagan Milstein and his mother Tamara home from Singapore, where he had spent 18 days in hospital in a critical condition.
Upon arrival, he was taken straight to Melbourne’s Monash Medical Centre, where he remained in intensive care.
His mother Tamara said on Tuesday that while the family were very relieved to have their son
safely home, they now “embark upon the next stage of this sad journey where the road ahead will be very difficult and filled with uncertainty”.
“The family would like to express their immense gratitude to friends, family and the wider
community who have provided so much comfort and support and helped them all cope during this tragic time,” she said.
Tributes flooded in to the Facebook group ‘Regan’s Recovery’. Family, friends and other
members of the community had been posting their wishes and prayers on the Facebook page since the accident.
CANBERRA, 26 July – Despite lobbying from the Jewish community, Education Minister Simon Crean failed last weekend to commit to compulsory Holocaust education in Australian schools.
Speaking to a standing-room only audience at the opening of the Jewish Holocaust Centre’s
refurbished main exhibition on Sunday, Crean praised the efforts of curator Jayne Josem.
“What struck me coming in was the joy, the happiness and the pride when I came in, but
you’re quickly brought back to perspective when you’re taken through the museum,” said the minister, whose full portfolio takes in education, employment, workplace relations and social inclusion.
Moving on to political matters, Crean discussed the draft national curriculum, which is open for public consultation until July 30. He outlined the option of year 10 students undertaking a
study of the Holocaust as part of their history classes.
“It is vital that our children are aware of the past and that they learn from the past,” he said.
But despite lobbying from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for Holocaust studies to be made compulsory, the Member for Hotham did not give any indication this would be happening.
“All students in year 10 will undertake a depth study of war and peace in the 20th century, this
includes the impact of World War II on the modern world and will give students the chance to study the history of the Holocaust,” the former opposition leader said.
He added that the curriculum authority was also charged with building lessons of tolerance and respect into the curriculum, which is set to be unveiled later this year.
“Good education does help deliver a good citizen [and] the Jewish Holocaust Centre does a great job in fostering that understanding and that belief in tolerance and acceptance and that belief in diversity,” he said.
Speaking immediately before Crean, Josem said that since its opening in 1984, more than a
quarter of a million students have been guided around the centre by a survivor guide. But she
spoke of the challenge with today’s students – who come to the centre with piercings, low-slung shorts, iPods and mobile phones.
“Our job here is to penetrate through their digital armoury and get them to think about why they’ve come.”
The museum’s new interactive story pods and modern presentation, which were developed with the input of survivors, will go some of the way to achieving that.
“They arrive indifferent . but they leave different,” she said.
More than 500 people braved the rain to attend Sunday’s opening, which was held in a marquee alongside the museum, with overflow crowds watching on screens inside the centre. As deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard had accepted an invitation to open the refurbished exhibition, but she sent Crean in her place because of a timing clash/
Fabian is Australia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World