Jewish community attends public forum with Wentworth by-election candidates

Members of the Jewish community have packed into a public forum in Sydney tonight for a QandA with four by-election candidates.

Wentworth debate hosted by the Jewish Board of Deputies. Picture: James Croucher

There was standing room only when more than 250 members of the Jewish community packed into a public forum in Sydney’s Woollahra tonight for a QandA with four of the candidates in the upcoming by-election.

Beginning his address by wishing the audience “a good evening” in Hebrew, Liberal candidate and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma told the crowd that he would “always stand against” the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, a statement which drew large applause from those in attendance.

“The Jewish community in Wentworth holds a special place in my heart,” Mr Sharma said.

Independent Kerryn Phelps — who told the crowd she was “Jewish by choice”, referring to her conversion to the religion — called the detention of asylum seekers on Nauru “a blight on the Australian conscience”, also drawing applause from the crowd.

“As a matter of urgency I will push the government along with my medical colleagues … to bring them to Australia,

Dr Phelps also said: “we have an obligation to do as well as we can … to act on climate change.”

The forum, organised by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, also included Labor candidate Tim Murray and Independent Licia Heath

Responding to a question on the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, Dr Phelps shifted the topic to say she was “concerned” by the Prime Minister’s announcement regarding moving Australia’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Before finishing the sentence, premature booing erupted from a portion of the crowd, which had to be controlled by a moderator.

When given the chance to continue, Dr Phelps appeared to express support for the idea of moving the embassy, saying that it “might be an eventuality”, but that the government’s announcement had been made “in the context of the by-election” and that there was “no question this was a politically motivated decision”.

She ultimately drew applause from the majority of the room when she said: “the first thing I’lll do if elected on Saturday is to ask for a detailed high level briefing to form a policy on whether and in what context such a move would occur.”

She said such a move required “a comprehensive analysis” of the trade and security implications for Australian, and that “Already there have been implications for the trade deal with Indonesia”.

Mr Sharma responded that the PM’s announcement was just a “review”, and that a decision to move had not been made.

“Let’s be very clear what the prime minister announced today, he announced a review into whether the embassy should be moved”.

Mr Sharma reaffirmed his support for recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“I believe the country has the right to name it’s own capital, regardless of this discussion about the embassy”.