9^th September 2015
The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry has welcomed the announce­ment today by the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment that Australia will resettle an addi­tion­al 12,000 refugees who are fleeing the conflict in Syria and Iraq.
“We agree with the government’s decision to give priority to those most in need of pro­tec­tion, including women, children and families of per­se­cuted minor­it­ies, who have sought refuge from the conflict in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey”, said ECAJ President, Robert Goot. “We also commend the gov­ern­ment for com­mit­ting $44 million to the provision of human­it­ari­an support to more than 240,000 Syrian and Iraqi people who have been forced to flee their homes or seek refuge in neigh­bour­ing countries”.
The ECAJ also gave its support to the government’s decision to extend Australia’s air strikes against Islamic State into Syria, marking the next phase of Australia’s con­tri­bu­tion to the inter­na­tion­al coalition effort to disrupt, degrade and ulti­mately defeat Islamic State.
“It is not enough simply to address the results of the ongoing atro­cit­ies being carried out by Islamic State and many other groups in Syria and Iraq”, Robert Goot said. “It is also necessary, in concert with other nations, for there to be a forcible military response against those groups them­selves, as this seems to be the only way available for the moment to pressure the per­pet­rat­ors against con­tinu­ing their atro­cit­ies. In addition, we would hope that behind the scenes strong dip­lo­mat­ic pressure is being applied to the Syrian regime, whose shocking crimes against its own people – including the delib­er­ate use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs against civilians – have been at the very heart of the problem. The Syrian regime and its backers – Hezbollah, Iran and Russia – have much to answer for”.
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au