Published: 7 March 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
ECAJ and ZFA express ‘serious concern’ at judicial changes while US Jewish leaders call for a boycott of Minister Bezalel Smotrich's visit.
The disturbing silence of Australia’s Jewish community leaders on Israel’s civil crisis has ended.
Following The Jewish Independent’s editorial on Friday criticising the absence of moral leadership in the community, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) put out a statement on Monday expressing "serious concern" at the governing coalition’s proposed changes to the relationship between the Knesset and the judiciary.
The statement said the community also views with "deep concern" proposals to reduce religious pluralism and change the law of return.
Emphasising the Australian Jewish community's deep Zionism and “unconditional love” for Israel, ECAJ President Jillian Segal and ZFA President Jeremy Leibler acknowledged that Diaspora Jews had different rights [to comment on Israeli issues] but noted Diaspora Jews are deeply invested in Israel’s survival and the wellbeing of all Israelis and the Jewish people.
They called on the Israeli government to pause the controversial proposals so that a constructive dialogue and national consensus can emerge, as President Isaac Herzog suggested six weeks ago.
But they did not address the threat to democracy of the proposals, such as the attempt by politicians to gain absolute power over the judiciary.
Widespread protests against the changes continue in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of people rallied throughout Israel on Saturday in the ninth straight weekend of protests against the government’s efforts to radically transform the judiciary. Organisers said some 400,000 protesters joined the demonstrations. Another "Day of Disruption" has been called for Thursday, March 9.
Many American Jewish leaders have joined a more dramatic protest, with 120 signing a petition calling on Jewish communities to boycott the visit of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is visiting the US later this month. The petition was organised by the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) and distributed on Friday.
"As American Jews committed to Israel’s future as a secure, Jewish, and democratic state; to a robust US-Israel relationship; and to Jewish peoplehood that fully encompasses Israeli and Diaspora Jewish communities, we are opposed to Bezalel Smotrich visiting the United States later this month in his capacity as Israel’s Finance Minister, and we call on all pro-Israel Americans to understand that welcoming Smotrich here will harm, rather than help, support for Israel," the petition stated.
ECAJ/ZFA statement in full
The Australian Jewish community is a deeply Zionist community. Israel is at the core of our Jewish identity and a focus of our schools, youth movements, synagogues, communal institutions and, in many cases, our family connections.
We celebrate Israel’s successes and achievements. When Israel is under attack, we share the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters. We defend Israel against the irrational hatred that is sadly increasingly pervasive throughout the world.
We recognise and respect that, being in the diaspora, we have different rights, but we are also deeply invested in Israel’s survival and the wellbeing of all Israelis and the Jewish people.
We believe that Israel must forever remain a Jewish and democratic state, rooted in the vision of the prophets. Despite the incomparable challenges that Israel has faced since its inception, the Jewish homeland has admirably upheld those principles as set forth in its Declaration of Independence.
It is from this position of unconditional love and connection that we express our serious concern at the governing coalition’s proposals to make fundamental changes to the relationship between the Knesset and the judiciary with undue haste and in the absence of broad-based public support. We also view with deep concern other proposals in relation to religious pluralism and the law of return that risk damaging Israel’s precious and unique relationship with Diaspora Jewry.
We call on the governing coalition to heed the call from Israeli President Isaac Herzog for genuine dialogue, based on his five principles for judicial reform, and to pause all of these controversial proposals so that constructive dialogue can occur and a national consensus can begin to emerge.
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Photo: Aerial view of a February 20 demonstration in Jerusalem protesting the regime-change plan (Amir Terkel)
