The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, the peak national rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community condemns in the strongest terms the pre­med­it­ated, unpro­voked attack from the air and on the ground on sovereign Israeli territory by Hamas ter­ror­ists. In addition to a massive rocket barrage targeting Israel’s met­ro­pol­it­an areas, Hamas forces have infilt­rated into Israel with the clear aim of murdering civilians and taking hostages. At present, there are 6 confirmed fatal­it­ies and dozens seriously wounded amid reports of atro­cit­ies including shootings of civilians and abduc­tions.

These acts con­sti­tute egregious war crimes in their targeting of civilians and are an armed attack against a sovereign state. We expect the State of Israel to take all necessary measures to defend itself and to defeat the terror forces of Hamas and restore peace for Israel’s citizens.

We call upon the Aus­trali­an Gov­ern­ment to condemn without equi­voc­a­tion these flagrant crimes. Any calls for de-escal­a­tion by “both sides” or attempts to draw equi­val­ences between the crimes of a terrorist organ­isa­tion and the defensive measures of a sovereign and demo­crat­ic state are mis­con­ceived and only play into the hands of the ter­ror­ists.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Israel at this time.