Jewish leaders urge nation to condemn anti-Semitism on Australia Day

As escalating anti-Semitic attacks continue across Sydney, the city’s Jewish leaders have called for the nation to condemn the hate speech and abhorrent attacks on Australia Day.

As escalating anti-Semitic attacks continue across Sydney, the city’s Jewish leaders are declaring the hate crimes an assault not just on their people, but the whole of Australia.

Since November there have been eight anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney, from firebombings to graffiti and the destruction of property.

It’s left some of the Jewish community scared to leave their homes, and others questioning whether the school playground or synagogue is still safe for their children.

But the city’s Jewish leaders say their community is more united than ever and, on Australia Day, have called for the nation to condemn the hate speech and abhorrent attacks.

Almost 60 per cent of Jewish Australians have at least one parent or grandparent who either survived or perished in the Holocaust. One of those is Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, whose now 97-year-old mother survived.

Jewish leaders, (from left) Rabbi Yossi Friedman, Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio, and Simone Abel and Peter Wertheim of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry at Dudley Page Reserve in Dover Heights. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“She taught me from an early age that there’s an 11th commandment and that is ‘thou shalt not hate,” Mr Wertheim said.

“If my mother, with everything she experienced, can avoid hatred, then there’s no excuse for the rest of us.

“So for those who have committed these hate crimes in the hope or expectation that they would intimidate us into silence, divide us and render us voiceless … they have badly miscalculated. Our community is more united, more determined, and more full of fight than it has ever been.”

But there’s a sense of sadness at the worst anti-Semitic crisis their generation has seen.

Do you have a story for The Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]

Originally published as Jewish leaders urge nation to condemn anti-Semitism on Australia Day