<\/p>\n
Far-right extremism and the conflation of Jewish identity with Israel are the main drivers of antisemitism in Australia, the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) says.<\/p>\n
In its submission to the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion, the liberal Jewish group calls for more focus on the \u201coften overlooked\u201d threat from the far right, and recognition of the diversity of views within the Jewish community instead of the \u201ctendency to treat Jews collectively as representatives of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the submission, which the JCA made public this week, executive officer Sarah Schwartz says the \u201cresurgent Australian far-right is a hotbed of antisemitism even as it weaponises Jewish grief to legitimise attacks on migrant communities and religious minorities\u201d.<\/p>\n
The submission says two important drivers of antisemitism are the \u201cgrowth of far-right, neo-Nazi and conspiracist movements, which represent a significant and often overlooked threat to Jewish communities, and the aggressive actions of the state of Israel and conflation of Jewish identity with Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n
That is \u201ca conflation that the state of Israel itself has long cultivated and which causes direct harm to Jewish people worldwide when they are blamed for Israel\u2019s actions\u201d, the submission says.<\/p>\n Over the course of the commission\u2019s first block of public hearings in May, the commissioner, Virginia Bell, heard discussions of the blurred lines between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel\u2019s actions<\/a>, as well as first-hand stories of antisemitic attacks<\/a>, details of the policing on the day of the Bondi attack<\/a> and discussions on the definition of antisemitism<\/a>.<\/p>\n The debate over identification with Israel is multifaceted.<\/p>\n Other submissions have included statements from Australian Jews strongly identifying with the state, including from Daniel Aghion<\/a>, the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which has been critical of the views of the JCA and regards it as unrepresentative of the majority of Australian Jews.<\/p>\n Others have testified before the commission that Australian Jews should not be held responsible for Israel\u2019s actions. Vic Alhadeff, the former chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, told the commission<\/a>: \u201cJewish Australians have no agency in what the Israel Defense Force does, or indeed what the Israeli government does. And yet so much of the manifestation of antisemitic incidents and attacks is interlaced with, and references, what is taking place on the other side of the world. We are not responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n The government\u2019s special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, told Bell conflation of the Israeli government with Jewish people was Australia\u2019s \u201cfastest-growing\u201d form of antisemitism<\/a>.<\/p>\n