Muslim, Jewish leaders call for peace as Dutton writes to PM on anti-Jewish hate

Muslim and Jewish leaders have made a united call to rebuild relations between their communities to counter antisemitic attacks as the Albanese government warns that extremists feel emboldened to perpetrate hate crimes in Melbourne and Sydney.

Prominent Lebanese Muslim leader Jamal Rifi said fringe actors within Sydney’s Muslim community had “militarised” anger over the war for political gain.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, right, has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging a national meeting of leaders to respond to antisemitic attacks.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, Kate Geraghty, Supplied

Putting a stop to the repeated targeting of synagogues and Jewish areas in Melbourne and Sydney required governments to urgently bring together leaders of both communities, Rifi said.

“We need a sense of unity,” he said. “I call on everyone to not just rely on the passage of time and a ceasefire. We need a proactive approach to bring the community together now.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler endorsed the call for dialogue but cautioned that a mere photo opportunity would not fix the “waves of hatred online and on our streets” after a series of attacks on Jewish homes, schools and synagogues.

“I’m sure a small group of dedicated community leaders – meeting even for private discussions alone – could do a world of good, but only if everyone is prepared to take antisemitism seriously,” Leibler said.

GP and Muslim community leader Jamal Rifi in front of his medical centre in Belmore, Sydney.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The comments came after Sydney Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin’s former home was vandalised in the early hours of Friday morning, compounding the concerns about antisemitism and a political row between Labor and the Coalition over the response to the problem.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to call for a national cabinet meeting on anti-Jewish hate, days after Albanese met NSW Premier Chris Minns and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on the issue.

Interfaith dialogue between senior Australian Islamic and Jewish leaders broke down in the months after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack and Israel invaded Gaza, further polarising the two communities.

Melbourne MP Josh Burns, who is Jewish, said Australia was a proudly multicultural nation. “With the ceasefire agreed in the Middle East, now is an opportunity to rebuild relationships across communities in Australia,” he said.

Rabbi Ralph Genende, who works with the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, said interfaith contact had been limited since October 7 but that there were recent signs of improvement.

“We would welcome a more robust and regular condemnation of antisemitism, and a stronger willingness from our Muslim cousins and counterparts to work together with us to fight this cancer and all forms of racism, including Islamophobia,” Genende said in a statement.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke committed $106.2 million on Friday to counter violent extremism, while Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus called out politicians’ “grotesque exploitation” of the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas terrorists massacred about 1200 Israelis and took about 250 hostages. About 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza health authorities.

Speaking hours after NSW Police launched an investigation into the incident at Ryvchin’s previous house, Burke acknowledged the growing threat from groups including disaffected members of the Islamic community, fringe pro-Palestinian activists and white supremacists.

“It’s coming from a fringe, and it’s a fringe that at the moment is behaving as though it is emboldened,” Burke said.

Alex Ryvchin and his wife Vicky at their former home on Friday.Credit: James Brickwood

“And [it] is in for a rude shock when the full force of the law is brought down on it.”

The government says the $106.2 million would be spent over four years and would include a National Support and Intervention Program, a joint effort with states and territories to discourage people from radicalising so they can reintegrate into the community.

Albanese condemned the latest attack as an “outrage” in remarks that Burke echoed. “There is no place for antisemitism in Australia,” he said in a statement. “It must stop and offenders must face the full force of the law.”

The federal government and police have been under pressure over their management of antisemitism following the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne last month, for which no charges have yet been laid, the arson of Labor MP Josh Burns’ office in June, the vandalism and arson attempt at an inner west Sydney synagogue earlier this week, and repeat vandalism of property in Jewish areas of Sydney. In December, a group of neo-Nazis stood on the steps of the Victorian Parliament House with a banner that read: “JEWS HATE FREEDOM”.

Dutton wrote to Albanese on Wednesday asking him to “show leadership” and call a meeting of all premiers and chief ministers

While Albanese held a meeting with the leaders of Victoria and NSW on Monday, the government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, has called for a national cabinet meeting and warned that perpetrators of antisemitism are going unpunished by the courts.

“It is particularly alarming that incidents such as the firebombing of the Adass Synagogue and repeated acts of hate speech have been met with what Ms Jillian Segal aptly described as ‘effective impunity’,” Dutton said in the letter.

“Stronger action is needed to send a clear message that antisemitism and hate crimes of any kind will not be tolerated in Australia.”

Dreyfus, the government’s most senior Jewish MP, told the ABC from Tel Aviv that the ceasefire in Gaza “should signal the end to grotesque exploitation of the conflict by politicians in Australia,” without naming specific politicians of parties. “Now more than ever, we need unity, and political point-scoring has only fuelled more social discord at home,” said Dreyfus, who is on the Albanese government’s first ministerial mission to Israel in a year.

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