Andrews to be recognised by Zionist movement with Jerusalem Prize

Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews will on Sunday be lauded by the Zionist movement as a “true and constant friend” to the Jewish community and Israel.

Andrews will receive the Jerusalem Prize at a gathering of Jewish community, business and political leaders, which for security purposes is being held at an undisclosed location in Melbourne.

Daniel Andrews farewelled politics after leading Labor to three consecutive election wins.Credit: Getty Images

The award is given those who make an outstanding contribution towards strengthening Jewish communities in their own country and relations with Israel.

Andrews belonged to Labor’s Socialist Left, a faction that has long been critical of Israel’s actions against Palestinian people, including military occupation and human rights violations.

Julia Gillard was awarded the Jerusalem Medal in 2013.Credit: James Brickwood

However, during his 10 years as premier, Victoria made Holocaust education mandatory in secondary schools, established a trade office in Tel Aviv, prohibited Nazi symbols and gestures and was the first Australian jurisdiction to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler will tell the Sunday night gathering that Andrews is “living proof that clear, consistent and principled leadership in this space is eminently possible”.

“We gather to recognise a true and constant friend to the Australian Jewish community and to Israel at a time when such friendships are more important and more precious than ever.”

Leibler nominated Andrews, Victoria’s longest serving Labor premier and celebrated for his progressive social reforms, for the award in June 2023 – prior to his retirement from politics and Hamas’ October 7, 2023 atrocities.

Previous Australian winners of the Jerusalem Prize include former prime ministers Bob Hawke, John Howard, Julia Gillard and Scott Morrison, former foreign minister Alexander Downer, Victorian state MPs David Southwick and Marsha Thomson and journalist Greg Sheridan.

Leibler will at the awards ceremony lament the fracturing of bipartisan support for Israel and the rise in antisemitism in Australia since the October 7 attacks.

“For the first time since the State of Israel was established, and in the moment that Israel and Australia faces these challenges, there is deep concern among us that the enduring, bipartisan support of Israel, and zero tolerance of antisemitism, is at risk.”

More than 1200 people were killed during Hamas’ attack on Israel in 2023, during which 250 were abducted by its militants and taken to Gaza as hostages.

Since Israel began its military operations in response to destroy Hamas and recover the hostages, the Health Ministry in Gaza reports that 43,203 people have been killed in the occupied territory.

The year-long conflict has created on ongoing, humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and prompted accusations of war crimes against Hamas and Israel’s government.

The Australian government, which since early in the conflict has called for a ceasefire, supports Palestine’s bid for full UN membership but abstained from a recent UN resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza.

In Australia, social ructions created by the war have split universities, arts organisations and media companies and driven a rift between Jewish philanthropists and the progressive organisations and causes they fund.

The mass doxing of hundreds of Jewish people working in creative industries prompted federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to introduce legislation to outlaw the publication of private, identifying information with malicious intent.

Some protesters at weekly, pro-Palestinian rallies staged in central Melbourne have in recent weeks displayed public support for proscribed terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Then-premier Daniel Andrews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2017.

Since leaving the state parliament, Andrews has agreed to lead a Zionist Federation of Australia business delegation to Israel and become a patron of the newly formed Labor Friends of Israel. Speaking at that group’s launch, Andrews noted that Israel was the only place in the Middle East which supported unionism, equal rights for women and LGBTI diversity.

“I have always supported Israel and the Jewish community,” he said when he joined the group. “I am appalled by the rise of antisemitism in Australia and want to ensure the Labor Party stays true to its values of respect and equality for all Australians.”

The Jerusalem Prize was instituted in 1990 by the World Zionist Organisation, with nominations made by the movement’s national and state-based federations.

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