“We are not convinced that Jews are safe” - AJDS responds to Simon Wiesenthal Center's letter
After the Adass Synagogue arson, the US-based Center wrote to Kevin Rudd, citing dangers of "Islamists" and "pro-Hamas extremists"
Attention:
Michele Alkin & Erik Simon,
The Simon Wiesenthal Center
Los Angeles, USA
13 December 2024
Dear Ms Alkin & Mr Simon,
Re: Your letter of 9 December 2024 from Rabbi Abraham Cooper,
Associate Dean, Director Global Social Action, Simon Wiesenthal Center,
to The Hon. Dr Kevin Rudd AC, Australia's Ambassador to the United States.
The Australian Jewish Democratic Society is an organisation established in 1984 and is an affiliate of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria. The views expressed here are those of our organisation.
Your letter advises Ambassador Rudd that you are “outraged that our fellow Jews in Australia are being targeted by hate crimes” and are “placing a travel advisory on Australia for Jews the world over considering travel to your country to exercise extreme caution” because you don't believe “Jews are safe” in Australia.
It is indeed appalling that a religious center has been the subject of an arson attack.
Three of the signatories of this letter live 10 minutes walk from the Adass Yisrael synagogue in Melbourne. One attends an orthodox synagogue close by, every Shabbat. All buy from shops in the heart of the Adass community, and meet and know people from there.
While we don’t speak for the Adass community, there is every indication that as distressed as they are over the arson attack, they are also appalled at the way the firebombing of their community building is being used for political purposes by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and others, who should know better than to fuel fear, anger, distrust and despair within the Melbourne Jewish community.
You wrote in your letter:
“This latest attack comes within days of Australia voting for a UN resolution demanding Israel revert back to its indefensible pre-1967 War borders. Such a resolution, far from strengthening hopes for peace only emboldens those who seek Israel's demise, who demean Jewish history, and who hate Judaism, Zionism, and Zionists.”
Your political views on the Israel Palestine conflict are not at issue here. But linking Australia's vote for a UN resolution to the firebombing is reckless and quite outrageous.
You are ignorant of the perpetrators of the firebombing and their motive (as are we), yet you draw a connection between the arson attack, events in the Middle East, and “belligerent and violent .... lslamists and other extremists”. You draw these conclusions without evidence.
The facts are that this appalling arson attack is likely antisemitic. The Victoria Police Chief Commissioner, Shane Patton said police are treating this as a terrorist attack, which is a vehicle for the investigation to be escalated, and to be coordinated by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team.
Speculation by The Simon Wiesenthal Center in the USA on the causes of the attack and the likely effect on our local Jewish community is not only unhelpful, but interferes in the Australian community in a way that would be unacceptable if a Jewish group outside America were to issue an advisory against travel to the USA. The Australian police and security authorities are investigating the attack and should be left to do their job without the rhetoric from groups such as yourselves, who are simply adding fuel to a fire that needs to be extinguished.
Yours,
The Australian Jewish Democratic Society
