Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Dr Dvir Abramovich In August 2001, representing the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, I was a spokesman for Jewish groups at the historic United Nations World Conference Against Racism in South Africa. Historic because it was the first major human rights conclave convened in Africa. Historic too, because it degenerated into the worst…
Recently, I have been reflecting a lot about the 10 year anniversary of the unilateral pull-out from Gaza. The despair I have been feeling has been compounded by the murder of Ali Saad Dawabshe and the injuring of his family. Back in 2005, despite huge misgivings, I cautiously backed Sharon’s plan. I thought it was…
Another month, another horrific and deadly Islamist assault against Jews, this time in a synagogue in Copenhagen, while a bat mitzvah was going on. Imagine if the gunman had managed to enter the celebration. And yet there are some who unbelievably rip Benjamin Netanyahu for saying that European Jews should come home. European leaders keep…
IT was the closest thing to hell on earth. The worst display of unspeakable human barbarism and destruction the world had ever known. The death camp of Auschwitz was built with one purpose – to systematically annihilate and wipe off the face of the earth an entire people. An industrialised, bureaucratic killing factory, where with…
He is one of the world’s most successful investors. A wizard of Wall Street. And he has just given tens of millions of dollars to an American organisation wholly dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. When asked why now, the as-yet anonymous donor explained that he has been travelling the world for more than 40 years, meeting…
OVER the last six weeks, a Jewish family, walking in Bondi, was badly beaten by a gang shouting anti-Semitic slurs. A swastika was daubed on a tram and hateful words were spray painted near Jewish schools in Melbourne. UNSW students did Nazi salutes and sang Springtime for Hitler around a Jewish student. Those are three…
As I write this column, Israeli radio is reporting that two Jewish men were stabbed in Jerusalem’s Jaffa gate by a group of Arab attackers. Knives and cars have been turned into killing machines. Over the last five weeks, more than ten Israelis have been run over by cars and stabbed to death, including a…
OVER the past two months, we have all woken up to a new, frightening reality. There are alarming developments and chilling signs that are making the Jewish community here less comfortable, less confident and very worried that the flames of anti-Semitism are burning more furiously at home. This hatred is so vitriolic and so insidious…
AS THE sun set over Melbourne yesterday, the Victorian Jewish community gathered to remember the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust and to honour the survivors. And although the Holocaust is unique to the Jewish people, it must not be seen as just that. The Nazis killed millions of others, including gay…
There will be many wanting to get in line to cheer British Prime Minister David Cameron. Why? Because of his remarkable speech to the Israeli Parliament yesterday and for his courageous stance on the BDS, “To those who do not share my ambition, who want to boycott Israel, I have a clear message. Britain opposes…
