Cohesion ‘very much at risk’

The head of one America’s most influential Jewish advocacy organisations last week delivered a scathing assessment of the Albanese government’s failure to adequately confront rising antisemitism, declaring that Australia’s social cohesion is “very much at risk”.

Speaking at an Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council media lunch in Sydney, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch criticised what he described as leadership unwillingness to acknowledge that attacks on Zionists constitute attacks on Jews, given that 93 per cent of Australian Jews identify as Zionists.

“What seems to be lacking is an unwillingness to acknowledge, to recognise that when one group is targeted, when one group is attempted to be silenced, and that group happens to be Zionists … that is an attack against Jews,” Deutch said after completing a week of meetings with officials in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.

The former Democratic congressman from Florida expressed particular concern about weekly anti-Israel protests in Melbourne that effectively prevent Jews from accessing parts of the city. He rejected explanations from officials about allowing people to “blow off steam” as inexcusable justifications for antisemitism.

“As if there is any justification for the fact that one day a week Jews cannot go into the city of Melbourne,” he said. “The failure to recognise that tells us that our concerns coming in are absolutely valid.”