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Euroasian Jewish News
Message to 2007 General Assembly of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.
21.06.2007
It is with considerable regret that I find myself unable to attend the General Assembly marking the fifth anniversary of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. I appreciated receiving the invitation to be present, particularly as I have found my participation in the work of the Euro-Asia Jewish Congress to be exciting, inspiring and personally fulfilling. I have relished the opportunity to witness and hopefully encourage the development of Jewish life in the Former Soviet Union, Asia and the Pacific and in the process have formed firm and valuable friendships.
Australia is home to a vibrant, multifaceted Jewish community, and I take pride when I have the opportunity to write or talk about its achievements. But when considering the content of this presentation, my thoughts turned to two of the most vital aspects of the work of the EAJC over its first five years: promoting interfaith and intercommunity understanding and combating manifestations of antisemitism. I hope you will excuse me for making this report quite personal, but as I am sending it to so many friends who know me well, I feel it will have particular resonance.
In May this year, the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference devoted its international agenda to "Religion and Peace-building in the Middle East". Catholicism is the largest religious denomination in Australia, covering between 25 to 30 percent of the total population. At a function in Parliament House, in Sydney, 25 Cardinals, Archbishops, bishops, nuns and priests, 25 non-Catholic Christian leaders representing Protestant, Orthodox and Apostolic churches, 25 Muslims including Shia and Sunni imams and 25 Jews were invited for an intense and difficult discussion. The keynote speakers were Archbishop Elias Chacour of Galilee, Mohamed Sammak (a Muslim from Lebanon) and me, as the representative of the Jewish world.
This was very challenging and confronting, as some of the Christian and Muslim participants were either antagonistic towards, or ignorant of, Israel and Judaism. My responsibility was to present Judaism as rational and sympathetic, while responding to some egregious comments in a way that was not antagonistic. The atmosphere was tense and at times uncomfortable, but the success of my contribution and support for Israel was made clear to me as I sat in the home of Cardinal George Pell, eating the kosher meal provided for me by the Church, with the international speakers and Catholic leaders at the conclusion of the seminar, where Bishops, Archbishops and others told me that I had enlightened them and helped them rethink some of their attitudes.
Even more rewarding were conversations shortly after the Forum when the Jewish community hosted a Yom Ha-Atzmaut cocktail reception, where I was thrilled to see Christians and Muslims who joined a celebration of Israel's accomplishments and told me that my presentation in Parliament House helped them feel comfortable being there.
In late April, I chaired the National Dialogue of the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) and the Jewish community. We have held close to thirty dialogues with the UCA, which is twenty times larger than the Jewish community. We have found many areas where we have been able to cooperate and also shared many hours learning, together, about how we can better serve Australia and our communities. Issues of Christian teaching concerning Jews have been addressed, as well as the vexed problems relating to Israel and her neighbours.
Between the Catholic and Uniting Church events, I attended a dinner hosted by the peak body of Australia's Islamic community, where I met diplomats, community leaders and many Muslims who were keen to learn from me about Jewish teaching and the concerns of contemporary Jewry, while again being provided by my hosts with kosher food.
In late May, the governments of Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and New Zealand co-hosted a Regional Dialogue in Waitangi, New Zealand. 15 Governments sent delegations of religious, political and academic leaders to promote interfaith cooperation and the promotion of religion as a force for tolerance rather than an excuse for hatred. Out of nearly 200 participants there were only two Jewish delegates and one Jewish observer. I was my role, as an Australian representative, to Chair a Plenary Session on education for understanding and, as a Jew, to compose and recite a prayer for peace. As well as complex and vigorous public debate, the Dialogue allowed me to have breakfast with Hindus from Fiji, lunch with Christians from the Philippines, dinner with Muslims and Buddhists from Cambodia, ride on buses with Evangelists from the mountains of New Guinea and parliamentarians from New Zealand, in each case answering questions about Jews and Judaism, swapping business cards and winning friends due to my well-known habit of giving away toy koalas and kangaroos.
Back in Australia in June, I was a guest speaker at the Peace and Harmony Conference of the Australian Islamic Cultural Centre, giving a paper on Interfaith Dialogue and then moderating the session on Human Dignity. On the same weekend, I delivered six speeches at Australia's "Limmud" (perhaps through the EAJC I will be able to participate in Limmuds elsewhere in the future), including one lively session on interfaith dialogue in which I included references to the EAJC involvement in dialogue with Muslims and Christians in countries as diverse as Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Morocco.
In the third week of June, the Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations held an inaugural forum for Australia's Religious Leadership. The keynote speeches were given by the Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell, the past-president of the National Council of Churches of Australia Reverend Professor James Haire and me, in my capacity as Director of International and Community Affairs of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council and Immediate Past President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. This was a unique opportunity to build coalitions against racism and intolerance, to give mutual support for freedom of religious expression and to progress discussions aimed at mutual understanding.
At that Forum, there was enthusiasm for our work to be not only local but international, and to this end I envisage a cooperative role for EAJC members and leaders in the future.
The Jewish community is involved in many other interfaith activities, including the Australian National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims & Jews (which I co-Chair), the Anglican Jewish Australian Dialogue (Anglicans account for over 20% of the Australian population), the Women's Interfaith Network, the Council of Christians and Jews (the International Council of Christians and Jews' 2007 Assembly is in Sydney in July), programmes for school and university students joint projects on issues of public concern.
My five talks at Limmud which were not on interfaith matters primarily focussed on different manifestations and vehicles for antisemitism which are of concern to Australian Jewry and Jews everywhere. I addressed the United Nations processes which merit scrutiny and, too often, strong criticism. The internet as a tool for antisemitism, the research into anti-Jewish activity and the use of law by both antisemites and the opponents of antisemitism were amongst my other subjects.
At present the Jewish community is involved in a number of legal matters against anti-Jewish activists. Under Australian law, based on precedents enshrined in cases pursued by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, material on the internet is a "public act" covered by our laws; antisemitism is a form of racism and common forms of Holocaust denial are unlawful; political parties are not exempt from anti-racism law; and religion is not an automatic defence against charges of antisemitism.
The community has a number of options as to what future prosecutions we launch and tactics to give recourse to victims of antisemitism and to combat any negative effects of anti-Jewish propaganda.
Combating antisemitism is a global activity and we enjoy a strong working relationship with many other Jewish groups. We offer our assistance to other Jewish communities experiencing harassment or other difficulties as we support other groups in Australia who are victimised or bullied.
I hope that I will have many opportunities to contribute to the work of the EAJC in years to come, as I congratulate the EAJC on its first, proud five years.
Jeremy Jones AM
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