AMUST: Why did you see the need to create the Jewish Council of Australia?
Max: Jewish Council of Australia was formed in February 2024, and it really was in the context of the genocide in Gaza. So, a few academics, human rights lawyers, teachers and other Jewish experts saw the need for a Jewish organisation that could speak authoritatively to the media.
Basically our very first priority and the main reason we were formed was to speak to the media, to disrupt the conflation between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel which was very uncontested in the media at that stage, so we needed a Jewish voice to come out and question that narrative and challenge it.
Pretty shortly, though, after we formed we realised that there was a big need and a lot of support from both Jews and non-Jews for a Jewish voice to advocate to the Australian government to call for a ceasefire and now for the government to take concrete action to reign in Israel and make it accountable to international law. So that was the other big reason for the creation for the Jewish Council.
A: What challenges did the Jewish Council face and how does it try to address those challenges?
M: We’re a volunteer organisation so we don’t have a lot of resources and backing and, basically, we need to challenge much larger, well-resourced and funded organisations than ourselves. And as a new organisation, as well, we need to establish ourselves.
And one of the main things that we did face was a question around how much of the Jewish community we represent and there were a lot of people challenging us on that basis, in particular, pro-Israel, Jewish organisations.
And I guess another part of what has happened over the past couple of years of our existence is that we have grown to become more of a grassroots community organisation.
We have over a thousand Jews now who have signed up to the statement of core principles. We’ve got about a dozen grassroots discussion and local advocacy groups all around Australia. And we’re holding big in-person events as well.
As things have gotten worse and worse with the genocide, we’ve seen more and more of a shift in the Jewish community. There, obviously, is still a bit of polarisation of opinions in the Jewish community, but there’s been more grassroots support for the Jewish Council.
So in that way things have gotten a bit easier for us as an organisation, but obviously, we still face the challenge of taking on forces that are big and powerful and along with the rest of the Palestine movement, we still face a big challenge in trying to get the Australian government to take any form of real concrete action. So, there’s definitely a lot of challenges ahead.
A: The Australian Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism recently presented her plan for the Australian government to consider. They indicated that there would be consultation with Jewish groups, however the Jewish Council doesn’t seem to have been invited to that consultation. Is that correct?
M: That’s correct. Part of the terms of reference of the envoy was to consult widely in the Jewish community around coming up with her plan, and it’s pretty obvious that that didn’t happen.
She basically took a lot of what she had come up with from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s 15 point plan from months ago. And really it just echoes sort of a Trumpian far-right wish list of policies.
So there’s no evidence of the consultation that she’s done and I really question how far she actually did consult, because it seems to me like she consulted with the pages of The Australian and Trump’s playbook, looking overseas to what’s going on in the States and that’s what she came up with.
So, we’ve been very critical of her and very critical of the whole role ever since it was established. Obviously, we don’t think a pro-Israel spokesperson/lobbyist is appropriate, but we also don’t think that anti-Semitism is something that can be fought by combating it in isolation from other forms of racism. So, having exceptionalising it and having a special envoy is just in itself a bad way to deal with it.
A: Other than the issue of Israel and Palestine, what concerns does the Jewish Council want to address.
M: We are concerned about anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism and all forms of racism in Australia. So, we want to work with other communities, basically, to have that grassroots cooperation to combat those forms of racism and prejudice.
So, a really core concern of ours is making those coalitions where we can and presenting a completely different approach to how the special enjoy and others of her ilk approach it. So those are really the big concerns of the Jewish Council. But obviously number one is stopping the genocide and advocating for justice for Palestinians.
Number two, combating all different forms of racism including anti-Semitism. There are some broader aims there as well around is making a change and providing alternative spaces for different sorts of Jewish community to emerge, different culture, different politics, different practises.
A: Where does your support come from? What drives the members of Jewish Council to act?
M: Knowing the challenges we have, I think it’s very strong ethical and moral values. The number one thing is just people seeing the genocide like everyone else, seeing it play out on their phones every day, seeing that it’s wrong and wanting to add their voices to stop it. That’s very simply the primary motivation and reason people will be interested in the Jewish Council.
Added on to that is that it’s an organisation that is bringing people together, that is values based, that is cooperating with other communities. And hopefully it provides a welcoming space that connects people together.
But I do think that the number one reason is that strong ethical, moral objection and wanting to join and being part of a Jewish voice that tries to push the Australian government to hold Israel to account and take concrete action. And advocate for justice for Palestinians more broadly.
A: How is the Jewish Council viewed from within the Jewish community?
M: The thing is there is no one Jewish community. There are lots of different Jewish communities. And what we are seeing over here in the past couple of years is really strong polarisation.
Unfortunately, one part of the community has gone very far down the Israel path. That they have totally bought all the propaganda, have signed up to the most extreme forms of anti-Palestinian genocide or racism on one hand and then on the other hand, we’ve seen part of the community, really reacts against that and that has grown more and more.
And that’s the part that’s affiliated with the Jewish Council. But obviously a whole bunch of people are in the middle. So, pro-Israel genocidal people obviously hate us with the passion. A whole bunch of people who support us and that’s growing every day.
In the middle there are some people who don’t exactly know who we are, but probably a lot of people who are interested and, even if they might think that we don’t represent their sort of ideas or values, I think more and more people will be coming around to our point of view because every day they’re coming to terms with the starkness of the how morally wrong and horrific the genocide is and the depths of how far Israel has sunk.
If not the Jewish Council, people will seek a whole bunch of different alternatives to the mainstream communal organisations, who have just backed (these crimes) the whole time.
A: How does the Jewish Council consider the different aspects of Jewish identity: religious, ethnic, political and reconcile the three?
M: People within the Jewish Council have different relationships to those different aspects of Jewish identity, people have different upbringings and religious beliefs, which connect them to the Jewish identity. So, it might be religion that is really important to them. But some, like myself, it’s more the history.
I’m a historian of Australian Jewish anti-fascism in in the 40s and 50s and that’s a tradition that I very strongly connect to. And that’s part of my Jewish identity and the other people might have language or song or food or but I think that in common there is a commitment to an ethical tradition of one sort or another and I think that people find different aspects of that through the Jewish Council.
In terms of nationalism, which is definitely something that isn’t part of our conception of Jewish identity, we are very strongly critical of Israel and Israeli nationalism as being the centre of Jewish identity because we’ve seen how harmful that is.
So, this is a bit different maybe to other Jewish groups, but throughout history and definitely throughout Australian Jewish history, there’s always been all these different forms of Jewish identity.
That Israel has been central to a lot since 1948, but there’s always been aspects of Jewish identity that doesn’t have Israel as the centre. So, it’s a complex modern identity, but we hope to be sort of a welcoming space that encompasses the wider idea of Jewish identity and Jewish tradition.
A: What level of engagement have you had with the Muslim community?
M: We’ve had quite a lot since our inception. We have worked with a lot of different Muslim groups who have been very receptive and open and worked together on a number of different projects. That’s something that which is really important and hope to continue.
We are interested in working on a youth based interfaith alliance in Sydney, by connecting Jewish youth. Projects like that are really important. And something that the Jewish Council can definitely offer a way for Jews who are wanting to make those connections, and we are keen to work on programs that can build understanding and alliances.
A: Israel often hangs overhead as a blocker for meaningful engagement between Jews and Muslims. Is there a way forward that sees these substantial and important minority groups develop a relationship which contributes to Australia’s social cohesion and strength.
M: I can only really point to what we’ve been doing already with the Jewish Council. We have talked to a lot of different Muslim organisations, who’ve had that same issue – either they have had relationships with different Jewish organisations in the past and there are just some things that they don’t talk about or, as more recently, there’s obviously a huge fundamental values clash.
We have to be sceptical about these organisations and their claims to represent all Jews. Even be sceptical about if they represent the majority.
Also, I don’t think that any Muslim organisation, group or individual should have to, want to, need to talk to people who are very Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian and believe in an apartheid state. I mean they’re not good partners, basically, and they’re not necessarily people who we want to co-operate with.
But the good news is that there are organisations, like the Jewish Council. Obviously, we know that there are different organisations within the Muslim Community as well and all different sort of ethnicities and religious and political perspectives as well.
So, there’s always going to be room to find things in common and there’s always going to be room to find things that people want to co-operate on and discuss and build commonality and understanding.
So, there is certainly a barrier. But the real problem is that the media and politicians relentlessly driving that narrative of division, that Muslims and Jews are inherently enemies.
We do have these good grassroots relationships happening. But, as I said, we are a grassroots, volunteer organisation. And we wish that there was a lot more that we could do.
We do think that it’s incumbent upon government and others to resource and fund these grassroots cooperation efforts and not just engage with the same old established organisations who claim to represent all Jews when in fact, they don’t at all.
So, there’s certainly a lot of room and what we’ve found in the last couple of years is that there’s so many different Muslim organisations, and an individuals, who are very keen to talk with us and to form links. And so, yes, there’s potential.
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