The piece has been published in The Aus­trali­an Jewish News by ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin.

The United Nations had long struck me as a symbol of much that is wrong in our world. A place where noble ideals drown in sloth and self-interest. At the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in June 1945, Harry S Truman gravely warned the original 51 members that if nations weren’t true to the UN’s founding prin­ciples, “we betray all those who died so that we might meet here in freedom and safety. If we seek to use it selfishly – for the advantage of any one nation or any small group of nations – we shall be equally guilty of that betrayal.”

Thirty years later, the United Nations General Assembly passed Res­ol­u­tion 3379, which declared Zionism, the national movement of the Jewish people, to be a form of racism.

Truman’s injunc­tion had been ignored and the betrayal had come to pass. The UN had become a pro­tec­tion racket run by despots who snorted at democracy while using the UN’s demo­crat­ic mech­an­isms to pursue their racial and ideo­lo­gic­al foes. The place where Yasser Arafat bran­dished a pistol and Nikita Khrushchev removed his shoe and pounded it on the table.

But whether we like it or not, the UN still carries immense moral weight. It is also the foun­tain­head of an elaborate process through which the conjuring of Israel’s enemies becomes public and even­tu­ally trickles into newsrooms, NGO campaigns, party con­fer­ences and uni­ver­sity campuses. After the General Assembly had declared Zionism to be racist, 17 student unions in Britain debated motions along the lines of Res­ol­u­tion 3379. York, Salford, Warwick and Lancaster went further, pass- ing motions to expel their Jewish societies “on the grounds that they are Zionist and therefore racist”. Jewish students suffer for it to this day.

When the World Jewish Congress (WJC) invited me to par­ti­cip­ate in meetings with heads of state and foreign ministers on the sidelines of the September session of the United Nations General Assembly, it was an oppor­tun­ity to not only con­trib­ute to dip­lo­mat­ic efforts on behalf of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community and our people, but to examine the beast up close.

The exper­i­ence allowed me to draw several con­clu­sions about the role of our people in the inter­na­tion­al system and what we, as a community, need to bring to our own dip­lo­mat­ic engage­ment.

Representation is critical

A key principle of advocacy is that it is not only what is said that is important, but who says it. Many talented indi­vidu­als and worthy organ­isa­tions can make the case for Israel and artic­u­late new ideas and old truths in the fight against antisemitism. Non-Jewish allies are also extremely valuable. But the primary advocate for the rights of the Jewish people must be Jewish and it must be rep­res­ent­at­ive.

The World Jewish Congress is globally what the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ) is nation­ally, a peak rep­res­ent­at­ive body that, through its structure and processes, can legit­im­ately claim to speak on behalf of global Jewry. It has over 100 com­munit­ies affil­i­ated to it, and it arrives at policy positions and sets pri­or­it­ies through free and dynamic delib­er­a­tion by its member com­munit­ies. Our own Robert Goot co-chairs its policy committee. ECAJ president Jillian Segal serves on the WJC executive.

This rep­res­ent­at­ive status is highly sig­ni­fic­ant. The world leaders and global influ­en­cers that meet with the WJC know that when they raise an issue, they do so on behalf of 16 million people on six con­tin­ents. In a meeting I attended with the Hungarian President, recent comments by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban were raised. Orban had spoken of the need to preserve racial purity through a dog whistle so shrill it would inca­pa­cit­ate a
Rhodesian ridgeback. Our concerns could not be easily dismissed because they were presented as something that touched and concerned the Jewish world. This is the power of rep­res­ent­at­ive communal lead­er­ship. It projects strength through numbers and diversity, and confers a clout on Jewish del­eg­a­tions that is almost state-like.

The fight for Israel

Defending the legit­im­acy of Israel is a core function of every Jewish rep­res­ent­at­ive body. There are good reasons for this. First, Israel is the one place that exists to preserve Jewish life and ensure that our con­tri­bu­tions to humanity never vanish from this earth. We are respons­ible for each other, which means being respons­ible for the welfare of Israeli Jews and their homeland. Second, Israel was founded and exists to bestow equality on the Jewish people, to ensure the con­tinu­ation of Jewish civil­isa­tion, and to recognise our people­hood and indi­gen­ous rights. It follows that an attack on Israel’s legit­im­acy is an attack on those founding precepts and obligates all of us to fight back.

When questions that go to the heart of Israel’s place in the world arise, for example, dis­crim­in­at­ory anti-Israel res­ol­u­tions at the UN, the lawless recog­ni­tion of a Palestini­an state and the triumph that is the Abraham Accords, Jewish rep­res­ent­at­ive bodies must step to the fore. This ensures that the issues are not framed narrowly, but as matters con­cern­ing us all as Jews and citizens of the countries in which we live. This immeas­ur­ably bolsters our effect­ive­ness.

Take heart

The long­stand­ing campaign by the Palestini­ans and their patrons to turn Israel into a pariah is failing. A key reason for this is the strength of Jewish rep­res­ent­at­ive bodies globally and domest­ic­ally. Israel is no longer viewed solely as one half of the Israeli-Palestini­an conflict. It is now entirely possible to conduct a meeting with no dis­cus­sion of its adversar­ies. To be sure, the campaign to humiliate and degrade Israel in inter­na­tion­al forums has not been erad­ic­ated. However, today it is not the Soviet Union advancing anti-Zionism with a malignant expertise, it is a col­lec­tion of failing states that lack cred­ib­il­ity and impact.

Our task as a people and a community is ensuring that antisemitism, deadly and perennial, is not over­looked for more fash­ion­able hatreds; that the history and the memory of our martyred millions is preserved; and that Jewish self-determ­in­a­tion never again vanishes from this earth. Advocacy and rep­res­ent­a­tion are key to winning on every count.

Alex Ryvchin is co-CEO of the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry. He was in New York for UN General Assembly week with the World Jewish Congress Jewish Dip­lo­mat­ic Corps.