Indigenous leaders show solidarity with Jewish peers
Visits to east melbourne and st kilda shules
Two Indigenous leaders travelled to Melbourne to demonstrate solidarity with the Jewish community following recent antisemitic attacks on synagogues.
Raymond Kookabee originally from Oodnadatta in South Australia and Michael McDonogh, a direct descendant of Aboriginal rights activist William Cooper, delivered speeches at East Melbourne Synagogue on July 12, and also visited St Kilda Hebrew Congregation on July 13.
Both had spoken at shule services in Melbourne on December 6, 2024, commemorating the day in history that William Cooper had led a delegation to the German consulate in Melbourne CBD in 1938 to protest the violence against Jews, their property and synagogues on Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). Ironically, on the same day, 86 years later, while they were addressing the community, the Adass Israel Synagogue was still smouldering from the attack that had set it on fire earlier that morning.
Kookabee was part of the stolen generation and said he felt compelled to come to Melbourne to show his support to the Jewish community, particularly after the arson attempt on East Melbourne shule.
McDonogh, who comes from the same south-western Sydney suburb as the alleged East Melbourne synagogue arsonist, said not everyone was filled with hate and that he came “with love in his heart”.
The initiative was organised by Janice Furstenberg, a member of the Victorian Multicultural Committee, Regional Advisory Council and JCCV Interfaith sub-committee.
Rabbi of St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, Rabbi Yaakov Glasman described the visit as “incredibly uplifting”.
“Their support at this time of rising antisemitism was deeply meaningful and impactful for our community and I feel that both our communities, being indigenous to Australia and Israel respectively, can really understand and support each other,” he said.
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