Published: 17 October 2023
Last updated: 19 March 2024
Two rabbis have resigned from the Jewish Muslim Christian Association and the JCCV is considering putting interfaith contacts on hold.
The failure of other faith communities to condemn Hamas’s murder of 1300 Israelis has devastated members of the Jewish community who have worked closely with their Muslim and Christian counterparts for years.
No Muslim organisation or cleric has spoken out against the massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7. Christian organisations have also been largely silent.
“We are learning very quickly who our friends are at this difficult time,” said JCCV president Daniel Aghion. “We have had messages of support from the Hindu community, the Buddhists, the Assyrians, and the Iranian Australians. The Ethnic Community Council of Victoria has also been supportive. Unfortunately, with a few other exceptions, that is the total amount of faith and ethnic support we have received.
“As a result, the JCCV is considering its position in respect to a number of bodies and whether to continue our involvement with them.”
The Jewish Christian Muslim Association and Faith Community Council of Victoria have both failed to condemn the massacres.
The president of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann and past president Rabbi Ralph Genende have both resigned.
“I’m so disillusioned with all the years that I have put into interfaith work since 2011,” he said. “If they can’t see the difference between Hamas and Islamic ideology, then who are we dealing with?” Rabbi Genende said.
“I wish they could find the moral clarity to differentiate between the genuine desire of Palestinians for recognition and the deep seated and twisted desire to rid Israel of all Jews from the river to the sea.”
