Summit aims to equip progressive Jews for tough conversations

A leadership summit run by the left leaning New Israel Fund Australia is offering young Jewish Australians training in how to argue about Israel, both inside the community and outside it.

The NewGen Advocacy and Leadership Summit grew out of meetings with young adults who did not feel represented in communal conversations about Israel, said coordinator Elisheva Madar.

Some felt their views were unwelcome in mainstream organisations, she said, but the problem was broader.

“A lot of young people want to have an opportunity to ask a question that might be unpopular, but to actually have the debate,” she said.

She said the approach was one of “presenting the evidence to them, and trusting them to make up their own mind”.

Madar said the program aimed to prepare participants for arguments on two fronts.

“The goal is to give them the skill set to be able to have conversations about Israel, both inside non-Jewish progressive spaces and then also inside of Jewish spaces,” she said. She said this applied equally to conversations with family and inside youth movements.

Louie Parker, who attended last year’s summit, said the seminars covered the history of the conflict, the Palestinian experience in Australia and in the region, the Australian media landscape and what he described as the dynamics of the occupation.

He said the communications workshop was pitched generally, offering tools for advocating a position and disagreeing with someone while maintaining mutual respect.

Parker said it was “without question” more difficult to be on the progressive side of politics within the Jewish community since October 7, and that people had put up “guardrails or psychological walls” that he considered understandable.

He said the value of NIF’s work lay in its support for activity on the ground embedding international law, human rights protection and equality before the law.

“The last few years can be quite an isolating experience,” he said. “There’s a lot of comfort to be derived, particularly from the summit, of being with people who are like-minded.”

NIF says the summit is built around three questions. The first day covers the history of the region, the role of NIF and its grantees, and conditions in Israel and Palestine. The second is given over to workshops on holding difficult conversations, dealing with the media and pitching a message to decision makers, run by Jewish communal figures. The third is spent at Parliament House, where participants attend Question Time and meet policymakers.

The retreat, for Jewish Australians in their 20s and 30s, runs from the evening of Friday, October 9 until the afternoon of Monday, October 12. Flights, accommodation and food are covered.

Organisers are seeking applicants already engaged in the Jewish community, in human rights or in social justice work, or who would like to be, and who expect to keep leading beyond the summit.

Madar said she also expected to be able to take some late applications, and that anyone who missed the deadline should email her.

Applications close at midnight on Sunday, August 16, you can apply here.