ECAJ statement of support for the Australian Indian and Hindu communities.

The peak, elect­ed, rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, the ECAJ, has spo­ken up strong­ly in sup­port of the Aus­tralian Indi­an and Hin­du com­mu­ni­ties fol­low­ing polem­i­cal attacks against them by a par­lia­men­tar­i­an and at recent pub­lic events, and phys­i­cal attacks against Hin­du places of wor­ship.

“The Indi­an and Hin­du com­mu­ni­ties have made an out­size con­tri­bu­tion to Australia’s econ­o­my and soci­ety for gen­er­a­tions”, said ECAJ Pres­i­dent Daniel Aghion.

“They are hard-work­ing, fam­i­ly-ori­ent­ed and peace-lov­ing com­mu­ni­ties, and it is a nation­al dis­grace that they have been pub­licly vil­i­fied from any quar­ter. We empathise com­plete­ly with what they are going through, and we stand shoul­der to shoul­der with them.”

“It was not so long ago that hate crimes against places of wor­ship, and oth­er hate-filled behav­iour against entire eth­nic and reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties, were unthink­able in Aus­tralia, and it is sober­ing to reflect on how often this occurs now. Ulti­mate­ly, the dete­ri­o­ra­tion in social cohe­sion makes all Aus­tralians less safe than we used to be.”

“We call upon Australia’s polit­i­cal and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers to speak up and unite in sup­port­ing the Aus­tralian Indi­an and Hin­du com­mu­ni­ties, and in denounc­ing racial and reli­gious hatred against any com­mu­ni­ty as a blight on our nation’s dig­ni­ty.”