Executive Council of Australian Jewry

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, or ECAJ,[1] is the peak national body representing the Australian Jewish community. It the umbrella organisation for over 200 Jewish organisations across Australia[2] which are ECAJ's constituent or affiliate organisations, or are affiliated to those organisations. These include:

(i) the seven roof bodies of the Jewish community in each State and the ACT, which are the ECAJ's Constituent organisations;

(ii) approximately 175 Jewish organisations which are constituents or affiliates of the State and ACT roof bodies;

(iii) nine other national Jewish organisations which operate in at least 3 States and are the ECAJ's Affiliate organisations; and

(iv) the independent branch organisations of the ECAJ's Affiliates.

ECAJ is an elected body, but not by rank and file members of the Jewish community. Of the ECAJ's 33 Councillors, 25 are directly elected by the members of its constituent organisations, and 8 are appointed by its affiliate organisations.

The ECAJ is the Australian affiliate of the World Jewish Congress, the worldwide umbrella organization of Jewish communities. It is also affiliated with the Commonwealth Jewish Council, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.[3]

Overview

ECAJ was created in 1944 as the peak body for the various state based representative bodies.[4]

Syd Einfeld was President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry between 1953–54, 1957–58, and 1961–62.[5]

Platform and advocacy

The ECAJ Policy Platform[6] covers a broad range of issues, including human rights, indigenous issues, multiculturalism, interfaith relations, refugees, education, Holocaust remembrance, racial vilification, antisemitism, religious issues, and Israel and the international community. The ECAJ website includes a pictorial history of Australia and Israel[7] including government-to-government, commercial, cultural and people-to-people relationships between the two countries from the earliest years onward.

There have been criticisms of the organisation that they are not truly representative and that their elections are to narrow to a claim to represent all of Australia's Jews.[8]

Communal submissions

One of the roles of ECAJ is to prepare submissions to the government on behalf of the Jewish community. This has been on a broad range of topics such as the statutory definition of charity,[9] human rights,[10] freedom of religion[11][12] and labeling kosher foods.[13]

ECAJ has also taken a stand against child sexual abuse which had a significant presence in the community. ECAJ advocated for the return of Malka Leifer from Israel to face abuse allegations,[14] and issued an apology to abuse advocate, Manny Waks, who was abused as a child.[15]

In 2019, ECAJ called on the government to offer more protections to faith-based hospitals, aged care facilities and housing providers, to allow organisations to continue to preference people of their own faith in service delivery. ECAJ head Peter Wertheim provided the example that a Jewish facility should have the right to reject people of other faiths when selecting board members.[16]

Anti-Semitism

One of the roles of ECAJ is to monitor antisemitic instances in Australia. This includes the unprecedented 60% jump in incidents for 2018 on the back of an increase in 2017. This was seen mostly due to a sharp increase in white supremacist activity.[17][18] Another significant rise was recorded in 2019.[19]

They also strongly objected to the extremist politicians, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts coming to speak in the Jewish suburbs of Melbourne. They were invited by a Jewish extremist Avi Yemini, and many white nationalists were expected at the event, before it was cancelled. ECAJ in their statement with the Jewish Community Council of Victoria said that while they "generally support the right of people to express their opinions", they objected to this event going ahead.[20]

Israel advocacy

ECAJ, while officially a peak body for Australian Jewry, regularly conducts advocacy on behalf of Israel.

One significant area of pro-Israel advocacy is in their opposition to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.[21] ECAJ has rejected the BDS movement as anti-Semitic, although they did not join the legal proceedings against a Sydney professor brought by the group Shurat HaDin.[22]

ECAJ submitted a complaint to Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) over their screening the TV series The Promise in November and December 2011.[23] This complaint pointed to many examples of the negative stereotyping of the Jewish people throughout the series, in particular through the portrayals of the Jewish characters. This was later supported by the Chairman of the New South Wales Community Relations Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian.[24] His submission argued that the program was guilty of "the portrayal of an entire nation in a negative light" and noted "concern that the series negatively portrays the WHOLE of the Jewish People. Such a portrayal cannot be justified in ANY context."

In 2019 ECAJ also released a rebuttal against the Israeli journalist and political candidate, Orly Noy who claimed anti-Sephardi racism and Apartheid was deeply rooted in Israeli society.[25]

References
  1. "Homepage". Executive Council of Australian Jews. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  2. As Anti-Semitism Rises, ‘I Don’t Feel Safe in Australia,’ Rabbi Says
  3. "Partners". Executive Council of Australian Jews. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  4. "About". ECAJ. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  5. "Sydney David Einfeld, Politician and Community Leader (1907-1985)". ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIAN JUDAICA. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  6. "Policy Platform". Executive Council of Australian Jews. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  7. "Australia and Israel: A Pictorial History" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  8. Mendes, Philip; Levey, Geoffrey Brahm (2004). Jews and Australian politics. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-903900-72-7.
  9. "Proposed introduction of a statutory definition of 'charity'–submission on behalf of the Australian Jewish community" (PDF).
  10. "National Human Rights Action Plan" (PDF).
  11. "Religious Freedom Submission" (PDF).
  12. Narunsky, Gareth. "New protections against religious discrimination". ajn.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  13. Gottlieb, Rabbi Yaron (2010-05-27). "Copyrighting kosher a sectarian minefield". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  14. "Developments in Malka Leifer case". ECAJ - Executive Council of Australian Jewry. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  15. "Executive Council of Australian Jewry apology". Manny Waks. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  16. "Top Jewish body wants more power for religious hospitals, aged care homes in discrimination bill". SMH.com.au. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  17. Cohen, Hagar; Bouf, Jacqueline (2018-11-26). "Antisemitism report shows marked increase in incidents and neo-Nazi activity". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  18. Davidson, Helen (2017-11-27). "Antisemitic incidents in Australia up nearly 10% over year, study says". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  19. Benjamin, henry. "Anti-Semitic incidents up 30% in Australia, report says". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  20. "antifa notes (december 2, 2016) : jewsagainstfascism ~versus~ One Nation Party". slackbastard. 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  21. "The Global BDS Campaign Laid Bare" (PDF). Executive Council of Australian Jews. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  22. "BDS Litigation "inappropriate" says ECAJ". J-Wire. 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  23. "Formal Complaint: The Promise" (PDF). Executive Council of Australian Jews. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  24. "Letter to Mr Skrzynski" (PDF). Executive Council of Australian Jews. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  25. "ECAJ complaint to ABC: Radio National interview of Orly Noy and Sara Saleh". Jews Down Under. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
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