Antisemitism Report 2009 - World Jewish Congress

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No. 45, 15 June 2009 / 23 Sivan 5769 Muslim-Jewish Relations in Australia: Challenges and Threats Interview with Jeremy Jones There are 350,000-400,000 Muslims in Australia, drawn from many countries with the largest sources of immigration being Lebanon, Turkey, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Pakistan, and Indonesia, while just over one-third are Australian-born. There are an estimated 120,000 Jews in Australia. The integration of Muslims and Jews into the wider Australian population has to be seen in the context of modern Australia's history as a country of immigration with an ethos of multiculturalism. There is a network of interfaith activity in Australia that includes dialogue and collaborative projects between Jewish and Muslim Australians. In some of these there is involvement by Christian groups and, in a smaller number, by Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Baha'i groups. In recent years, Australian governments have given support to projects that promote better understanding of Jews and Judaism among Muslims in Australia and the wider Asia/Pacific region. There are many documented examples of anti-Jewish propaganda circulated by and among members of various Muslim communities in Australia. There have also been a small number of antisemitic incidents of which the victims believed they were perpetrated by Muslims. There is little firm evidence of this being a widespread phenomenon. Considerable tensions between the communities arose as a result of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 and January 2009. The Religious Mosaic "There are 350,000-400,000 Muslims in Australia, with one-third of the number born in Australia while the largest sources of immigration are Lebanon, Turkey, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Pakistan, and Indonesia, supplemented in recent years by migrants from Africa and the Arab Middle East."[1] Jeremy Jones, director of international and community affairs of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, is a former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the electedrepresentative organization of the Australian Jewish community. He is a founding, and continuing, cochair of the Australia National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims & Jews and represents the ECAJ on the Australian Partnership of Religious Organizations. He asserts that "understanding the Jewish-Muslim relationship in Australia requires appreciating some essential features of Australia's history as a country of immigration and the significance of the culturally diverse community that has developed. "No single religious denomination is formally established in Australia. Although the major Christian denominations, Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, had a sometimes uneasy relationship for much of the first two centuries of European settlement, there was a cultural understanding that Australian identity was not related to a particular creed or communion. There has been a Jewish presence from the founding day of the Colony of New South Wales, the first European political entity in Australia. A number of other non-Christian faiths, including Islam and Buddhism, were present in the colonies that in 1901 joined to become the Commonwealth of Australia. "The contemporary religious landscape includes Catholics and Anglicans as the largest denominations, followed by Orthodox Christians and the Uniting Church of Australia. A number of other Christian denominations, as well as communities of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, 135
and Baha'is, also are large enough to have developed a network of institutions to serve their religious needs. "While there is no established religion, there also is not a strict church-state separation. However, there is a general principle that the state does not provide services to followers of one faith and then refuse to provide the same or similar services, if appropriate and practical, to adherents of other faiths. The impressive Jewish day school movement in Australia has benefited from a degree of government support, as have Muslim and Christian schools. "Jews have remained at roughly one-half percent of the Australian population since the early days of European settlement in the late eighteenth century. Jews were the only significant non-Christian minority for most of Australia's first two centuries after colonization. The Jewish community developed institutions to serve its needs, in a far more conducive environment than in most other countries. The success of Jewish Australians in maintaining a distinct identity while being unambiguously Australian is often used as evidence that multiculturalism can be achieved successfully."[2] Jones notes that "Muslims have also been in Australia for most of the modern period, but large-scale Muslim immigration only commenced in the last quarter of the twentieth century after the end of the White Australia Policy. Asian immigration has included Indonesian, Malaysian, and Indian subcontinental Muslims, Fijian Muslims, mass immigration from Lebanon and other Arab countries, and more recent immigration from African Muslim sources such as Somalia."[3] Common Interests Jones enumerates some areas of Jewish-Muslim cooperation, beginning in the 1970s when various Australian state and territory governments began to consider introducing antidiscrimination legislation. The consultation processes brought Jewish and Muslim community representatives together at government-hosted discussions and as part of interest-group coalitions from civil society. Among the common concerns were the provision of equal access to government services, recourse for victims of discrimination, and protection from harassment.[4] "Another area that brought Muslim and Jewish communities together was the labeling of food products, which assisted kosher, halal, and vegetarian consumers (as well as those with allergies). With the common advocacy in an area where there was little to divide the communities, some good personal relationships developed particularly between communal professionals. "Australia's multireligious reality has led to social and formal acceptance that Australians have different practices and requirements. This has provided opportunities for Jews and Muslims to jointly advocate for services, including subsidies for education at denominational schools and understanding for ritual requirements such as male circumcision, as well as opportunities to contribute to public debate as legitimate Australian religious voices. "In policy debates on Australia's immigration policy, in raising environmental awareness, and on a range of other issues, Jewish and Muslim leaders have been party to joint statements, generally with Christian leaders but in some cases with a broader range of religions represented. "In the Australian context, another area where Jewish and Muslim community organizations were able to work together effectively was Aboriginal Reconciliation. The federal government's Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation established a working group of faith communities who were seen as 'stake holders' because of their moral influence. The initial meeting of the working group only included Christians and one Jewish representative, but in subsequent meetings there was also Muslim, Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sikh participation. The Jewish community representative who was elected to chair the group for most of its existence was nominated for the position by the representative of the Australian Federation of Islamic Communities (AFIC). 136
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Executive Council of Australian Jew
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http://www.aijac.org.au/?id=edition
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6.3 The Australian League of Rights
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1.1 The Year in Review In Australia
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the voluntary nature of the complai
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Stereotypes of Jews, most often as
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Wide Web the first entry that appea
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Nazi remarks go way over the top ht
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understanding of Jews and Judaism.
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Backman tosses in a loonily non seq
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3.2 Reports for the Year 1 October
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* A Jewish man in Sydney was assaul
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Examples of incidents in these cate
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* Antisemitic letter attacking the
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* E-mail claiming Israel attacked H
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* Stickers comparing Israel to Nazi
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with a number of other anecdotal ac
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ule, and that in the overwhelming m
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lobby.‖ (2/1/09). Norman Clevelan
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http://www.aijac.org.au/?id=article
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4.4 Middle East Politics Israel rec
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Attempts to delegitimise Israel and
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. ... That kike lieberman (not the
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eing afraid to admit that the Holoc
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and Islamic states. In addition to
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In the course of an other ways civi
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ed x's on them.. SO what do you cal
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4.6 The Left During the period in r
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political discourse. A Canadian aca
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A willing ally to Hamas's hatred ht
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By far the most prominent dissemina
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Guy Rundle, writing in Crikey, supp
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terrorism.‖ (31/12/08). Gideon Po
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Maylands man Brendon O'Connell, 38,
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newmatilda does not need to adhere
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against Mammon is only winnable if
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Australian are truly run by ZIONIST
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At its core the internet is an idea
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other regional problems that you me
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Internet, through leaflets, sending
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While this result was welcome, One
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* The League of Rights ―On Target
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