Jewish leadership lauds US, cautiously welcome ceasefire

Australia’s Jewish leaders have lauded the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, amid a guarded response to the June 24 ceasefire announcement.

“For decades, the Iranian regime has pressed on with its uranium enrichment program, far beyond anything it needs for peaceful purposes,” said Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Daniel Aghion, noting Iran’s ability to retaliate over last weekend’s US air strikes was significantly diminished after the IDF “effectively dismantled Iran’s regional proxies and greatly weakened Iran itself”.

Describing the bunker-buster mission as “necessary and courageous”, Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) president Jeremy Leibler said Iran “has for years pursued nuclear weapons while sponsoring terrorism that has killed thousands of Israelis, Americans and others across the world”.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the world was “better and safer” after the US military action and that the strikes indicated that the US is continuing its commitment to be “a key guarantor of international peace and security”.

“Israel began a dangerous job that no one else wanted to do by taking on Iran after all diplomatic efforts had failed and showed that it was possible to defang Iran, a regime committed to dominating and destabilising its neighbours, to international terrorism and to destroying Israel and that was illegally building nuclear weapons to facilitate all three objectives.

“However, the Fordow underground site was the lynchpin of the Iranian nuclear program and the American intervention provides much greater confidence that Iran’s illegal pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities will not be reconstituted any time soon.”

Rubenstein said the ceasefire, “despite some initial breaches … seems to be holding” but cautioned that “this must not be the end of the process”, which still requires a comprehensive agreement ensuring Iran dismantles its nukes and missiles and stops sponsoring terror proxies throughout the region.

ZFA CEO Alon Cassuto said the tentative ceasefire warrants caution but if it holds, “brings a deep sense of relief, not only for Israelis but for all of us who have spent the past 12 days anxiously following the news, messaging loved ones and fearing what might come next”.

ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin posted on X, “In its final strike before the ceasefire set in, the Iranian regime fired at an apartment building in Beersheba killing four civilians. But this won’t spare their humiliation. The regime’s creed is ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel’. The Israelis and Americans have sent their reply.”