August 2, 2012
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4218
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The Australian Foreign Minister,
Bob Carr, who will be visiting Israel this week, has a longstanding
warm relationship with the Jewish community.
Carr boasts a distinguished
political career, having served uninterruptedly for a record 10 years as
premier of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, retiring
in 2005. He was recently appointed Foreign Minister by Prime Minister
Julia Gillard in March 2012.
Carr’s links with the Australian
Jewish community date back many years. He was one of the founding
members of Labor Friends of Israel and was also renowned for his support
for the campaign for Soviet Jewry.
He is an admirer of left-wing
Israeli writer Amos Oz and has on occasion been critical of various
Israeli government policies, its settlement program in particular. In
2003 he created a stir when he presented the Sydney Peace Prize to
Hannah Ashrawi, the acerbic Palestinian critic of Israel.
But notwithstanding this, Carr
has been and unquestionably remains a genuine friend of Israel and the
Jewish people and the Government of Israel will undoubtedly treat him
accordingly.
Australia's positive
relationship with Israel dates back to when Australian troops served in
Palestine in the course of the two World Wars. To this day, veteran
Israelis recount vignettes of the warm and uninhibited relationships
with the Australians - in stark contrast to the cold and frequently
hostile British attitudes displayed throughout the mandatory period.
Since 1948, when Labor Party
leader Dr. H V Evatt served as UN President, until today - with the
solitary exception of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam whose hostility
against Israel during the Yom Kippur war is considered an aberration -
successive governments on both sides of the political spectrum have
consistently displayed friendship to Israel.
Australian governments also
supported broader Jewish concerns. In 1962, Australia became the first
country at the UN to raise the issue of Soviet state-sponsored
anti-Semitism and called for the right of Jews to emigrate, with
successive governments making significant global contributions towards
ameliorating the plight of Soviet Jews. The Australian Embassy in Moscow
was regarded as a haven for refuseniks who they invited to receptions
despite the tensions this created with the Soviet authorities.
The Australian government made
major contributions to the global campaign to rescind the UN resolution
bracketing Zionism with racism and also acted as intermediaries for
Jewish leaders who sought to promote diplomatic relations between Israel
and Asian countries.
Following the previous Liberal
(conservative) government headed by John Howard, who emerged as Israel's
greatest champion amongst world statesmen, concerns that the new Labor
government would distance itself from Israel proved to be totally
unfounded. In fact, aside from the small Green factions, Israel today
enjoys genuine bipartisan support throughout the entire Australian
Parliament.
Until the late 1940s,
Australia’s population was exclusively white and primarily of British
origin. It was regarded as a backward colonial outpost notorious for its
racist exclusionary White Australia Policy. Initially, there was
considerable anti-Semitic based populist opposition to the entry of
prewar Jewish refugees and postwar survivors.
Why should a country so
geographically distant from the Middle East with a relatively small
Jewish community (approximately 120,000), have adopted such a warm
relationship with Jews and Israel?
One of the principal factors was
is that in the late 1940s, Australia underwent radical change. It
scrapped the White Australia policy, rescinded its restrictive
immigration policy and recruited migrants, initially from Europe but
then extended to Asia, transforming itself into one the most open-minded
multicultural countries in the world.
The genesis of the Jewish community dates back to the end of the 18th
century when Jews were amongst the first convicts deported from England
to Australia. It was a declining and rapidly assimilating community
until the Second World War when it was reinvigorated by Jews fleeing
Nazi persecution and survivors from the camps. Indeed, Australia's
Jewish community absorbed more Holocaust survivors proportionately than
any other Jewish community, aside from Israel.
Jewish cultural and religious
life developed dramatically. The immigrants created an extraordinary
network of Jewish day schools ranging from Chabad to Reform and even
Yiddishist, which catered for the majority of Jewish youngsters.
The "Lucky Country" was a
special boon for Jewish immigrants, most of whom were penniless and
shattered Holocaust survivors. They worked hard and many prospered, with
a notable number becoming the leading commercial and industrial giants
in the nation. Whilst a poor Jewish underclass still remains, on the
equivalent of a Forbes rich list, Jewish former refugees comprise an
extraordinarily high proportion of Australia’s most successful and
wealthy businessmen. It is notable that in their public business
profiles, many refer proudly to their Jewish and Zionist ties.
Since the 1980s, the Jewish
community has been augmented by Russians and large numbers of South
Africans, the latter financially independent and rapidly assuming
important communal leadership roles.
Jews have also been appointed to
prominent roles in public life. General Sir John Monash was Australia’s
Military Commander during World War I. Sir Isaac Isaacs and Sir Zelman
Cowan – the latter an active Zionist - served as Governor Generals.
Until the 1960s, most Jews were
inclined to support the Labor Party because the conservatives were then
perceived as aloof, hostile and even anti-Semitic. Today, they divide
their support between both parties.
The large proportion of
Holocaust survivors encouraged a strong communal Zionist orientation.
The leadership invested enormous efforts towards promoting the case for
Israel at the political level, not hesitating to protest and confront
governments they considered were displaying bias or double standards
against Israel in conforming to global politically correct approaches .
Despite the geographical distance, the Australia-Israel Chamber of
Commerce is undoubtedly the most popular and efficient Chamber in the
country. This all-encompassing Jewish passion for Israel was the
critical factor leading to the current bipartisan pro-Israel orientation
of the mainstream political parties.
Jewish leaders were equally
aggressive in fighting against anti-Semitism and all forms of
discrimination. To the pride of the community, some assumed key roles in
the broader area of human rights. For example, my brother Mark Leibler,
a long-standing Zionist and Jewish leader, was last year appointed as
co-chairman of the prestigious "Panel on Constitutional Recognition of
Aboriginal Peoples”.
Needless to say Australian Jewry today is confronted with similar
challenges to other diaspora communities. Assimilation and
intermarriage whilst relatively low (25%), is growing. In addition, the
cost of Jewish education is now prohibitive for all but the affluent and
the vast majority of children in schools are subsidized by independent
fund-raising.
But Australian Jewry remains one
of the strongest and probably most Zionist Jewish communities in the
world. This is reflected in aliya statistics. There must be close to
15,000 Australian expatriates now living in Israel (10% of the entire
community). They strengthen the ties with the Jewish state.
If Australian Jews represented
the norm, the long-term survival prospects for diaspora Jews would be
much healthier than is the case. And Israel’s standing in the
international arena would be much better if, in addition to Canada and
the US, there were a few other governments displaying the same
evenhandedness as Australia.
The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
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