Speakers banned as war of words erupts
.President of the AJA Dr David Adler has defended his organisation’s role in exposing the incident.
Executive director of the left-wing New Israel Fund (NIF) Michael Chaitow has criticised the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) for publicising an incident that took place at one of Sydney’s Jewish schools last week.
The incident involved a controversial presentation about Israel that was made by members of the Israeli–Arab peace organisation Standing Together to year 12 students at Emanuel School.
It’s understood the two speakers, Nadav Shofet and Dr Shahd Bishara – whose trip to Australia was sponsored by NIF – deviated from agreed-upon topics and expressed strong criticism of the Israeli government and its conduct of the war.
It led to the school board releasing a statement unreservedly apologising to all members of the school and the broader Jewish community, acknowledging that the speakers had “made statements
that are contrary to the values and ethos of the school and its unwavering support for the State of Israel”.
The school said the speakers will not be permitted to return.
But Chaitow accused the right- wing AJA of mounting a “concerted attack” by making the incident public.
“It helped spread a wilful distortion of what was said to students, further fanning unwarranted and unhelpful division by accusing the school of mishandling the event,” said Chaitow.
President of the AJA Dr David Adler has defended his organisation’s role in exposing the incident.
“We take responsibility for breaking the story at the request of some parents and senior students who contacted us,” Adler told The AJN.
“The last thing we need at the moment is more anti-Israel propaganda, especially within our Jewish schools.”
Chaitow noted that while not all students agreed with the speakers’ views, the school has received “significant feedback from parents and alumni in support of such talks”.
He defended the speakers, stating they had criticised both Hezbollah and Hamas during their presentation.
According to Chaitow, “Nadav criticised the continued danger that Hezbollah poses to his own family who have been evacuated from northern Israel, and Shahd critiqued the horrific attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th.
“We have apologised to the school for any students who did not feel educated, or were even opposed, to the presentation made last week,” said Chaitow.
“But just as countless alumni and parents have reached out to us to advise too, there are also many in the community who value the education that Emanuel provides, precisely because of its ability to wrestle with difficult issues and present contrasting viewpoints.”
But Adler has accused the NIF of being anti-Israel.
“We think it needs to be treated with, at a minimum, an enormous amount of suspicion. It’s no friend of the Jewish community [and] it’s no friend of Israel,” he said.
Adler claims NIF has been exposed by a number of organisations, including NGO Monitor, as being amongst those groups that receive funding from organisations hostile to Israel.
At the Sydney Friends of Standing Together launch event in mid-October, speakers accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid, while several audience members wore keffiyehs.
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