As an Australian Jew, I’ll be voting on Australian issues

MANDI KATZ: Where a candidate sits on Israel issues should not be at the heart of anyone's vote in an Australian election

In an election characterised by widespread disaffection with current political leaders, it is hardly surprising that independent candidates are putting up a very good fight, with a strong swing against some current cabinet members. The question of whether to vote for an independent candidate is a live issue for many in the Jewish community with strong independent candidates offering real opposition to LNP incumbents in Goldstein and Kooyong in Victoria, and Wentworth in NSW, all electorates with significant Jewish populations.

Research  shows that Australian Jews sit across a broad spectrum of political views, although most are not formal members of political parties. Independent candidates offer fresh perspectives: they are not bound by party lines (nor by partisan pressures and interests) and can be a check against the sometimes-opportunistic behaviour of members of the major parties.

But for many in the Jewish community there has been a lot of discussion of another dimension:  where does this candidate sit on Israel? There has been no shortage of discussion in media, social media and indeed at Shabbat dinner tables on this issue. Recently the ECAJ issued a guide on where each of the candidates in key electorates sits on a range of Jewish issues – and Jewish, in the ECAJ’s judgement includes four questions on security and antisemitism, four on education and a whopping eight on Israel and the Middle East.

Interestingly, on a broad reading of the responses, there is very little difference between the two major political parties when it comes to Israel, and while there are some differences between those parties and the Greens, even if the Greens were included as part of a coalition, the impact on foreign policy would be minimal. It is pretty clear that the positions of the independent candidates included in the survey should not be troubling to too many Australian Jews, and suggestions by some Jewish communal figures that they shouldn’t be taken on their word, are disappointing.