Action on antisemitism plan

Despite Education Minister Jason Clare claiming he would delay implementing recommendations from the antisemitism plan until receiving a separate report on Islamophobia, The AJN understands antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal is already working with government on certain points.

The plan, launched by Segal alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke two weeks ago, requires a whole of society approach and The AJN understands there is no expectation from the antisemitism envoy that government will respond to each individual point.

Instead, some plans have already been actioned and others are currently being addressed.

But Jewish community leaders expressed disappointment after Clare told reporters he would not look at Segal’s plan “in isolation”, saying the government would wait for the special envoy on combating Islamophobia Aftab Malik to deliver his report next month before considering recommendations.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the minister’s approach was “flawed” and showed a “lack of seriousness” in tackling the antisemitism crisis.

“There is absolutely no reason to conflate the antisemitism crisis with this separate issue,” he said.

“Doing so risks giving the impression that politics, not best policy outcomes, are motivating the government’s response to the antisemitism plan.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said Jewish Australians wanted swift action.

“Regardless of what reports on other issues may be presented in coming months, we expect progress in the implementation of Ms Segal’s plan,” he said.

“Ms Segal is the government’s expert adviser on addressing the specific problem of antisemitism and, after deep consultation, she has produced a clear and practical road map for ending a crisis of more than 21 months and counting. This is something that cannot wait.”

Labor backbencher Ed Husic cautioned against rushing to adopt Segal’s recommendations, saying the government should focus on “what brings us together” rather than using “sticks and threats of funding”.

But Rubenstein said some of the backbencher’s comments were “the result of factual misinformation or misunderstandings”.

“While Mr Husic is entitled to his opinion of the plan, he is not entitled to misrepresent either what the IHRA antisemitism definition, which is a key part of the plan, says, or what the research shows about growing antisemitism among young Australians,” Rubenstein said.

Ryvchin said Husic was entitled to his opinion but not “his own facts”, pointing to research showing antisemitism was becoming “more entrenched among young people”.