Brisbane, Australia
CNN
—
The Australian government has appointed the country’s first envoys to combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in an effort to prevent the Gaza war from further weakening social cohesion.
Announcing his views on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East had caused “great suffering” to Australia’s Jewish and Islamic communities.
“Australians overwhelmingly do not want conflict here. What they want is harmony and for people to be able to get along with each other,” he said.
The appointments come against a backdrop of protests in Australia and disagreements within Albanese’s ruling Labor Party over a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than two million people in Gaza.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, when Israel launched a devastating response to an attack by Hamas militants that killed more than 1,100 Israelis and deported hundreds more to Gaza.
The two sides remain in conflict amid deeply polarized protests around the world over the way Israel is conducting the conflict in Gaza, where millions of Palestinians face famine and Hamas continues to hold hostages.
Albanese said on Tuesday that Jewish lawyer Jillian Segal had been appointed to advise Jewish Australians, experts and the wider public on how best to combat anti-Semitism.
“One of the things I find quite shocking is the lack of knowledge and experience about anti-Semitism and where it leads,” Albanese said at the Jewish Museum in Sydney, where he made the announcement.
“I have spoken to members of the Jewish community here in Melbourne and across Australia who have not felt safe, to members of the Jewish community whose children are afraid to wear their school uniform in our capital cities. This is not acceptable,” he said.
David Gray/AFP/Getty Images
Newly appointed Australian Envoy on Anti-Semitism Jillian Segal speaks during a media conference in Sydney, October 9, 2023.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), which represents the Jewish community, recorded an increase in anti-Semitic incidents from October to November 2023. The group said on Tuesday that reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Australia were still 400-500% higher than before the conflict.
Among the most high-profile incidents in Melbourne this year were the smashing of the windows of a Jewish MP’s office and the spray-painted anti-Semitic slogans at a Jewish school.
The Australian government supports a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East and supports calls for a ceasefire, the safe passage of humanitarian aid and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity.
Albanese said that a “special envoy on Islamophobia” would be appointed “shortly” in a similar role to work with the Muslim community and promote social cohesion.
Most countries recognize Palestinian statehood, and in May a United Nations resolution on Palestinian membership was passed with the support of 143 states, including Australia.
Matt Jelonek/Getty Images
Senator Fatima Payman attends a pro-Palestinian rally in Perth, Australia, October 28, 2023.
In recent weeks, government cohesion has been tested by the resignation of a Western Australian senator who switched sides to vote with a rival party on the issue of a Palestinian state.
“It is with a heavy heart but a clear conscience that I announce my resignation from the Australian Labor Party,” Senator Fatima Payman announced last Thursday.
Payman, Labor’s first Muslim senator, voted with the Green Party on a motion to recognise a Palestinian state and threatened to do so again, breaking party rules.
She was suspended indefinitely from the Labor Party parliamentary group and later resigned to run as an independent, accusing her former colleagues of trying to intimidate them – allegations the party denied.
In Australia, protests against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip continue. Last week, four people were arrested for climbing onto the roof of the parliament building.
The university protests, in which hundreds of students set up tents on campuses across Australia, have now ended. Some of the participants were threatened with expulsion.
