Community message
- Published March 10 2024
- Community Message
Community message from JCCV President, Philip Zajac.
150 DAYS AND COUNTING...
This week, we marked 150 days since October 7. I cannot believe I am writing this, but after 150 days, Hamas still has more than 130 hostages in captivity in Gaza.We cannot lose sight of our most important focus: freeing the hostages. These fathers, mothers, daughters and sons need our prayers and our advocacy. We cannot give up on them.
COMMUNITY UNITY
This week, thousands of young people flocked to Caulfield Racecourse to dance in tribute to those lost, taken and injured at the Nova Festival.
Kol Hakavod to our friends at Zionism Victoria and Habayit for this remarkable initiative that ensures we continue to have solidarity events that appeal to all age groups in the community.
Many in our community were also heard the harrowing stories of October 7 survivors Michal Uziyahu and Dafna Admati at UIA’s events this week.
And on Thursday, I joined hundreds from our community to march for the human rights of all women, including Jewish and Israeli women, in the Melbourne CBD.
Even in the darkest days, our community is coming together with the brightest spirit.
LEADERS COME TOGETHER
This week, the JCCV hosted our first Council of Presidents for 2024. Leaders of 23 community organisations explained how October 7 has impacted their membership. Some of the key takeaway messages for the JCCV included:
- We need to double-down on our work to help all community members feel safe to attend synagogue and Jewish events.
- There is a real sense of betrayal at the lack of support from non-Jewish community organisations, but there is an opportunity to look forward to begin restoring relationships.
- Jewish Victorians hold a diverse range of views, we need to make sure our advocacy is inclusive.
HUMAN RIGHTS
The JCCV continues to work with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to find ways to better protect the legal and human rights of Jewish Victorians.We are developing plans with the Commission to improve community awareness of reporting pathways and opportunities for dispute resolution in instances of discrimination or vilification.We are also working with the Commission to ensure that the data collected by the CSG is fed into their existing database. At present, only a limited number of complaints of antisemitism make it to the commission. The JCCV is developing processes to ensure the Commission has a full picture of what is going on with the Jewish community and can present this to its key stakeholders, including the Victorian Government.
AN ONGOING STRUGGLE
On Sunday, the JCCV executive made the difficult decision to suspend relations with the Islamic Council of Victoria over sustained malicious and outrageous public remarks by its leadership.
We are disheartened. The JCCV has always been committed to reaching out to our fellow Victorians and helping them to better know us. This was not a decision taken lightly.
We are also disheartened that other faith-based communities have not stood with us in distancing themselves from the ICV.
The JCCV has coordinated a Jewish Interfaith Taskforce to help us plot the way forward in this challenging space.
For media inquiries, please contact the JCCV on +61 3 9272 5566 or email community@jccv.org.au
