28^th March 2013
Dr Danny Lamm and Peter Wertheim, the President and the Executive Director of the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, sharply cri­ti­cized the call by the Aus­trali­an Jewish Demo­crat­ic Society for a boycott of products from the West Bank, describ­ing it as “a misguided and empty gesture that will be com­pletely rejected by the vast majority of people in the Jewish community, and by fair-minded people every­where.”
According to Lamm and Wertheim, “the AJDS has succumbed to the myth that set­tle­ments are the major imped­i­ment to Middle East peace. That notion has been thor­oughly dis­cred­ited, as has the idea that a boycott of any kind can make a con­struct­ive con­tri­bu­tion to peace between Israel and the Palestini­ans.”
Asked whether the AJDS should remain formally affil­i­ated with the Jewish community, Lamm and Wertheim said, “the AJDS campaign is repugnant to the strong anti-BDS policies of every Jewish communal roof body in Australia, and to the ECAJ platform of support for Israel and its legit­im­acy as the State of the Jewish people. In those cir­cum­stances, it is hypo­crit­ic­al for the AJDS to maintain its affil­i­ation with the Jewish Community Council of Victoria. If the motive for con­tinu­ing that affil­i­ation is to preserve the appear­ance that the AJDS is a legit­im­ate part of the main­stream Jewish community, then its behaviour is also mis­lead­ing. The AJDS should not remain a part of the JCCV while it pursues policies that are so fun­da­ment­ally at odds with those of the JCCV and the ECAJ.”

Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected]