The ECAJ responds to adverse comments by a fringe group to the Senate inquiry into right-wing extremist movements in Australia.
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee invited the ECAJ to respond to adverse comments made by the fringe “Jewish Council of Australia” at a hearing of the inquiry into right-wing extremist movements in Australia on 17 June 2024.
The ECAJ responded strongly to the “Australian Jewish Council’s” mischaracterisation of it as “right-wing” saying (excerpts from the ECAJ’s response):
The fact that the ECAJ is widely recognised as the representative body of the Jewish community nationally, and is not captive to either the left or right of politics, is evidenced by the high level of trust and active cooperation that the organisation enjoys with federal government across a range of departments.
The ECAJ also has deep, long-standing relationships with the recognised representatives of a range of other faith and ethnic communities and indeed as the national representative body of Australia’s Jewish community, inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue is an important aspect
The Jewish Council of Australia thus appears to be a micro-group which represents only a thin sliver of opinion on the far-left margins of the Australian Jewish community.
Despite the use of the words “Jewish” and “Council” in its name, this group has no claim whatsoever to represent the Jewish community. No Jewish schools, places of worship, hospitals, aged care facilities, youth groups, student organisations, sporting clubs, cultural groups, organisations for women, or for ex- servicemen and women, or Holocaust survivors, or other communal organisations come under its aegis, formally or informally.
Download full response
- Download ECAJ’s response to adverse comment (PDF: 1.9MB).
See also
- Homepage for the Senate inquiry into right wing extremist movements in Australia
- Additional responses from other Jewish community organisations to adverse comment from the “Jewish Council of Australia” are also available as additional documents on the inquiry’s page
