'We're in this together'

Global Jewish leaders assemble in Australia

Daniel Aghion says the J7’s Australian gathering comes at a critical moment amid rising antisemitism.

By CARLY ADNO AND GARETH NARUNSKY 4 December 2025, 9:11 am

In a powerful display of solidarity, The J7 – representing the seven biggest Diaspora Jewish communities in the world – descended on Australia this week with the message “You are not alone.” They also joined a panel at the Dor Foundation and Australian Jewish Funders Antisemitism Co-Lab, an inspiring collaboration that brought together 80 Jewish organisations from around Australia.

“Hosting the J7 here in Australia for the first time has never been more important,” said president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Daniel Aghion.

“There is a sickness in modern Australian society, and it is hatred of Jews.”

The J7 was formed in July 2023 to bring together the seven largest Diaspora communities outside Israel, collectively representing 90 per cent of world Jewry. The group comprises the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Argentina and Australia. Welcoming the J7 representatives at a function attended by local Jewish community leaders on Tuesday evening, Aghion acknowledged it was “a long way for them to come” and expressed gratitude for their presence.

Aghion said antisemitism had “increased exponentially” worldwide since October 7, 2023, particularly in Australia.

“We have experienced massive, massive increase in antisemitism. And furthermore, we have had an extraordinary output of violent antisemitism,” he said.

“The J7 recognise that, and they have come here to spend time with us in solidarity and in recognition for what we are experiencing here in Australia.”

Anti-Defamation League vice-president of international affairs Marina Rosenberg, representing the ADL which initiated the J7, said the delegation had come to express solidarity with Australian Jewry.

“We know you’ve been through a lot,” Rosenberg said.

“Compared to other countries in the J7 you are not used to it. The numbers were so low before October 7, and the rise really surprised you and us and we made it all the way here to say you’re not alone. We’re in this together, and together, we’re going to fight and hopefully beat it.”

Rosenberg explained that the J7 is “a task force focused on fighting antisemitism”.

“We knew even before October 7 that antisemitism is a global issue, and the only way to fight it is by joining forces together,” she said.

Following the October 7 attacks, the task force began meeting weekly by video conference.

“We just tried to figure out, in the beginning, what is happening when we all expected to be embraced by our non-Jewish allies, and instead, we face this tsunami of antisemitism in all our countries,” Rosenberg said.

Vice-president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions Gérard Unger said France’s Jewish community stands “in full solidarity with the Australian Jewish community”.

“The fact that the J7 is convening in Sydney in response to this crisis underlines the global dimension of this challenge and the urgent need for coordinated action,” he said.

“Democracies must act decisively to ensure that Jews can live safely, openly, and freely – in Australia, in France and everywhere.”

CEO of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Daniel Bottman said what Australian Jews have endured “mirrors a global development”, while Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, spoke about the trauma the UK Jewish community suffered following the terror attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, which claimed two lives.

“Antisemitism is not just an issue for the Jewish communities of our countries, but for society as a whole. Together we must defeat this evil which has blighted so many lives in recent times.”