Jewish Council of Australia critical of Israel's actions in Gaza | ABC News - Legendas Bilíngues
Earlier this year,
a group of progressive Jewish voices formed the Jewish Council of Australia to collectively voice their support for Palestinians and their condemnation of
the State of Israel.
Sarah Schwartz is a human rights lawyer and one of JCA's founders.
She joins us now from Melbourne.
Very morning to you, Sarah.
Good morning, Pazia.
Sarah, you're also featured in tonight's episode as well.
And want to quote something that you said.
You said it's important to highlight that the Jewish community is not a monolith
and that there are many Jews who are critical of Israel and its military actions.
Why is it important to you that that needs to be acknowledged?
Well, I think we hear a lot in public discourse and from, you know, Israel and its lobby
that Jews are monolithic, that we all support the state of Israel in this moment.
And know, I think that's incredibly dangerous.
Incredibly dangerous to paint all Jews as it breeds racism and it stifles dissent.
You it's just ludicrous to think that all Jews would agree on anything.
There's a saying two Jews, three opinions.
And the lobby might claim that Jews have the same unwavering commitment to Israel,
rather this has been a watershed moment to many Jewish people here in a
Australia and around the world who are speaking out against Israel's violence in their thousands and many of them for the first time.
You know, wherever we see Palestinian solidarity events, we're going to see Jewish people too.
And almost every student encampment that exists now around the country, there are Jewish protesters standing proudly side by side with Palestinians.
So last week, we'll talk to you.
Apologies, Sarah.
Just for those of us who don't understand the nuances of this,
and it's a very complex issue obviously, but do clarify your stance, the JCA's stance.
You oppose Israel, the Israeli government's military operation.
support the right for Israel to exist in a safe environment.
We absolutely condemn and strongly against what Israel is doing and the devastation that Israel is raking on the people in Gaza,
and we all have different views, but we are united in saying that the status quo in Israel cannot continue as it is.
We cannot accept a state which prioritises the rights of Jewish people over the rights of Palestinians,
and we all agree that we need to save freedom, equality, for Palestinians and Israelis.
How do you achieve that when you do have a group that exists in Hamas that has in their charter the pledge to destroy Israel?
Look, I'm not an expert on politics in that region, and we aren't supporters of Hamas,
but what we've seen in this current moment is Israel inflicting tremendous violence and harm and devastation on Palestinians,
and that's in Gaza, in the West.
seen settler-led government endorsed attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank that are ramping up.
We've seen the recent uncovering of mass graves in Gaza and now the Israeli government threatens to have a ground invasion in Rafa.
We just could not accept and Australia cannot accept that one of our allies is about to commit and is committing these atrocities.
And the greatest threat to any form of peace in this moment is Israel's continued oppression and violence against Palestinians.
And that is why so many people, including Jewish people, are standing up and saying not in our names.
I wonder whether this must be a very challenging position for you and many who think like you.
You're proud of your Jewish heritage, but facing criticism for opposing the Israeli war in Gaza, from your own Jewish community as well.
Is it difficult to differentiate, you know, religion and identity to political views, especially when both are entwined and entrenched in this Middle East conflict.
Well, one real challenge here is that Israel and its lobby have done a really good job
of painting this as a religious conflict, of painting Jewish identity as being inextricably linked from Israel.
But we know, and I know, that Jewish identities and histories and cultures are diverse.
They go back thousands of years well before the State of Israel.
And have always had diverse views on Israel and Zionism.
But the lobby strategically uses this conflation of Jewishness in Israel to silence vital
And we see it now when almost every act of solidarity with Palestinian people is deemed to be anti-Semitic,
and that's false and it shuts down debate.
And the truth is that this is a conflict about people's homes,
about violence,
about land, and these, you know, these continue, and treating this as a religious conflict is a convenient way of ignoring the political reality.
Sarah, you know, we're seeing many younger people weighing in on the Middle East conflict.
We're seeing rallies across the globe, we're seeing university protests far more now than we have in the past few decades or so.
I wonder if that thinking when it comes to the state of Israel is changing and evolving,
the further we get away from the Holocaust generation.
I think that unlike in previous generations,
it's really impossible for anyone in my generation, generations below me to ignore the evidence of Israel's systemic oppression of Palestinians.
I'm in my 30s,
for most of my adult life,
Israel has only had extremist governments and it's becoming more and more brutal in its treatment of Palestinians with the expansion
of settlements and this enforcement of differential treatment between Jews and Palestinians.
And so I think that,
you know, for many Jewish people, this myth that Israel's actions and that its violence makes us safe, it's really crumbling.
We know that we can't create safety by stifling another people's cries for freedom and equality and,
you know, this is not good for Palestinians who face brutal violence.
It's also not good for Israelis and it's certainly not good for Jews around the world to be associated with such a violent regime.
So I really hope that this you know now creates space for people to rethink what safety looks like.
You know and unfortunately it seems like real peace is only going to come from outside pressure,
which is why so many people are rising up.
We see that Israel doesn't respond to mere requests for a ceasefire.
We need to have,
you know,
we need to put in place measures that we would put in place against any pariah state that is committing these atrocities,
and that includes sanctions, cutting military and diplomatic ties and showing that there's a real cost to the committing these types of law crimes.
Sarah, it's great talking to you.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us on Weekend Breakfast.
Sarah Schwartz there.
Thank you, Fazia.
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