Please share the Statement
Jewish voices against the war are being silenced by the mainstream media
Now that the Statement and its signatories have been published on our Oz Jews Say No Facebook and Instagram accounts, we would like to ask you to email a copy of it to your federal Member of Parliament and consider asking for a meeting with them to discuss your position in more detail (if you are comfortable doing so).
Despite doing a broad media release and contacting individual journalists, and despite having a number of prominent individuals sign the statement, we could not get any mainstream media coverage. This happened last time as well with the SMH/The Age advertisement. This is why it is so important for each and every one of us to help spread the word.
We have attached a pdf copy of the Statement and its signatories, which we urge you to email to your federal MP. If you need help to find the name of your federal MP or their contact email address, please go here and/or here
Here is the full statement:
Australian Jews cannot remain silent about the war in Gaza. As Australian Jews, across a broad spectrum of political views, we share a deep concern for Israel’s future. We call for an end to the Israel-Gaza war, and to bring all the hostages home.
In April 2025, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews had an open letter published in the Financial Times. We share their concerns, and their bravery has inspired us to write this statement. Many of us have family and friends in Israel, and we care deeply for their safety and wellbeing. Further, our Jewish and human values demand we care also for the suffering of the Palestinian people.
For decades, Palestinians have endured dispossession, occupation, and violence — including a decades long blockade on Gaza that has created conditions of profound deprivation. Since the brutal and shocking Hamas-led massacre in Israel, and the taking of 250 hostages on 7 October 2023, there has been over 18 months of horrific bombardment by Israel, in which tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza – adults and children, journalists, medics and aid workers.
The Netanyahu government has withheld food and aid to a civilian population as a weapon of war. International and Australian humanitarian agencies say Gaza is now facing a starvation crisis. Tens of thousands of Israelis are demonstrating weekly against the Netanyahu government.
The loudest voices belong to the families of the hostages, who understand that ending the hostilities is the only thing that will bring the hostages home.
We know that many in our community have been reluctant to publicly criticise Israel, hoping the war will end soon. But what is happening in Gaza is so catastrophic to Palestinians and Israeli hostages, that any constraint against open criticism is no longer tenable.
We call on all our community leaders to find inner courage, their “ometz lev”, to recognise, engage respectfully, and properly represent the many people in our community who don’t support what the Netanyahu-led government is doing.
