ECAJ statement on meeting with Prime Minister.

ECAJ President Daniel Aghion KC said following the ECAJ’s meeting with the PM:

The Prime Minister reit­er­ated what he has said publicly about the recog­ni­tion of a Palestini­an state. It is on the Government’s agenda, but it is not imminent.

We also think that the Gov­ern­ment has a realistic under­stand­ing that Palestini­an statehood requires a recog­ni­tion of Israel’s per­man­ence as a Jewish state, a com­mit­ment to peaceful coex­ist­ence, demil­it­ar­isa­tion and demo­crat­ic reform, in addition to the complete disarming of Hamas and the immediate release of all remaining hostages, living and dead.

Much of our dis­cus­sion focussed on the scourge of antisemitism in Australia. We are heartened by the Government’s con­tinu­ing support for the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal AO, and the IHRA working defin­i­tion.

The Special Envoy’s action plan is under active con­sid­er­a­tion. Recent antisemitic incidents only underline the per­sist­ence of the problem of antisemitism in Australia, and the Prime Minister confirmed that he fully under­stands the urgency of the need to address it.

Antisemitism is not a problem that can be solved by Gov­ern­ment alone. It requires a whole-of-society response. We have assured the Gov­ern­ment that they have the full cooper­a­tion of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community.