Happy Birthday Israel, with warm wishes of better days ahead
I acknowledge the heavy burden of that leadership, that all of you have carried over the last 18 months.
The State of Israel may have started as a dream, but as Theodor Herzl once said, “If you will it, it is no dream,” and the people of Israel have willed it against the odds, against all expectations, for 77 miraculous years.
Can I thank our hosts this evening, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD), the Zionist Federation of Australia, the Zionist Council of NSW and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
And can I acknowledge the heavy burden of that leadership, that all of you have carried over the last 18 months, particularly [JBD president ]David Ossip and [ECAJ co-CEO] Alex Ryvchin, who have guided me with their counsel and their judgement and their friendship under extreme pressure. Among the stress that you and your families have gone through, you’ve done it in order to represent your community. And can I say, as a civic leader in NSW, it’s genuinely inspiring.
Can I also join Rabbi [Benjamin] Elton in praying for the remaining hostages tonight. For those hostages, abduction was a violation beyond words, but there’s a second unforgivable cruelty, which is being robbed of so much life. And I join all civilised people in demanding in the clearest possible terms that Hamas release these innocent people and release them immediately.
Friends, as I’ve said many times before, I once travelled to Israel. And can I say: What other nation combines that sense of history with the sure grip of progress and modernity? What other nation values its past while gazing out on the future with a sense of hope and boundless optimism?
And from my first day in Parliament, I’ve been proud to count myself a friend of the Jewish people of NSW and a friend of the State of Israel.
If Israel was created as a refuge for the Jewish people escaping the unimaginable terror of the Shoah, then as I see it, NSW is no different.
Ever since eight Jewish people sailed here on the First Fleet, this state has been home to the Jewish people, and if that sense of belonging has been tested in any way, over the past year, I sincerely apologise.
Over summer, we have seen things many of us thought we would never see in a country like Australia.
A holy synagogue desecrated by a hateful swastika, cowardly attacks conducted anonymously under the cover of darkness designed to instil fear into the community.
I want to affirm this from the top down in our state, that any campaign of hatred under any circumstances will fail in NSW.
It will fail because of the inner strength of the Jewish people in our state. It will fail because you have the vast, vast majority of Australians at your back.
And it will fail because if you attempt this kind of menace, the police will track you down, they’ll throw the book at you, and most crucially, we’ll ensure that there are laws in place to punish severely those who attempt this kind of vile racism.
As you might know a few months ago, the NSW government, in a bipartisan effort with the NSW Opposition, passed stronger laws against hate speech and antisemitism.
Now there’s been some commentary on those laws, with some people criticising how quickly we moved, but I want to say tonight, I will never apologise for taking the poison of antisemitism swiftly and seriously.
I am proud of our actions in passing this set of antisemitic hate speech and terror legislation. If there was any risk this summer, it wasn’t moving too fast, it was acting too slow.
We cannot allow a situation where an elderly survivor of the Holocaust is intimidated or harassed as they celebrate the Shabbat with their community and their family.
Friends, I know it’s been a rotten summer, but with the light of friendship, with the warmth of your allies, with the strength of love and the deep virtues of the Jewish faith, we will get through these difficult days together.
Thank you again for having me. Happy birthday to Israel.
It’s one of the special places on Earth, and I join you all in praying it has better days ahead.
Chris Minns is the Premier of NSW. This was his speech at the communal Yom Ha’atzmaut cocktail gala last Tuesday night, co-hosted by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Zionist Council of NSW, Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Zionist Federation of Australia.