Published: 2 July 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
A HIGHLY PARTISAN BLOG POST by the principal of Sydney Jewish day school Moriah College, Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, that dismisses Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the West Bank as a myth has drawn fierce criticism from a former Jewish day school principal, and ex-students of Moriah.
Titled ‘The myth of Israeli annexation’, the blogpost said: "Israel is legitimately recognising its own sovereignty of its own land that it has ruled for nearly half a century. This can hardly be called ‘annexation’.
It also claimed, among other things, that if Israel was forced to cease settlement construction in disputed territories and remove illegally built settlements, it would amount to an "ethnic cleansing".
The post was described as “not only irresponsible but unethical” by David Zyngier, a former principal of King David School in Melbourne and now an Associate Professor in Teacher Education at Southern Cross University.
"Regardless of where a Jew stands on annexation, or the two-state solution or the borders of any future peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, it is not only irresponsible but unethical for the Principal Moriah College to push his own partisan political position onto the school community over this political contentious issue,” Zyngier told The Jewish Independent.
“As a former Jewish day school principal in Melbourne, I understood that my personal political position should not be the basis for political advocacy. In the public school system such a statement as has been made by Rabbi Smukler would quite correctly have led to his immediate dismissal.
“Moreover, many of the ‘facts’ the principal espouses are a blatant misunderstanding of not just history but international law, of which he is clearly not expert.”
The NSW Board of Jewish Deputies, although much more cautious, also sought to distance itself from Rabbi Smukler’s post. “As Moriah College is a constituent of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, we wish to make it clear that the views expressed by Rabbi Smukler do not necessarily reflect those of the Board of Deputies or of the wider Jewish community,” CEO Vic Alhadeff said.
“As a former Jewish day school principal in Melbourne, I understood that my personal political position should not be the basis for political advocacy. In the public school system such a statement as has been made by Rabbi Smukler would quite correctly have led to his immediate dismissal - DAVID ZYNGIER
The Jewish Independent also approached the Zionist Federation of Australia, and the President of the Moriah board for a response. The ZFA said it would not comment, and the Board president did not reply to our inquiry.
However, former Moriah students contacted by The Jewish Independent were outraged by Rabbi Smukler’s post.
“For the leading Jewish School to advocate a position so detached from international law as well as the opinions of vast swathes of the community is dangerous and places the school at odds with a two-state solution,” said Graham Kaplan, who finished in 2000.
“The fact that the principal advocates such views may also serve to quiet other opinions within the student body and shut down debate which is most unhealthy in a learning institute.
“Schools and principals need to be encouraging a plurality of views and not preaching extreme religious ideologies.”
It is truly heartbreaking to hear a Jewish leader attempting to inculcate and indoctrinate an enormous cross-section of emerging Australian Jewry by normalising this type of radical language to young people - JASON GLASS
Another former student Jason Glass (2015), said: “Reading through Rabbi Smukler’s post was a profoundly disheartening experience. He has used deeply loaded language throughout. He refutes the term 'annexation’, refers to the territories most often by their biblical names, asserts that if Jews were to vacate these territories it would be an ‘ethnic pre-cleansing’. This last description is unashamedly charged, manipulative and essentially false.
“Moriah is one of the largest Jewish centres in the southern hemisphere, a fact that bears tremendous moral obligation. It is truly heartbreaking to hear a Jewish leader attempting to inculcate and indoctrinate an enormous cross-section of emerging Australian Jewry by normalising this type of radical language to young people.”
The NSWJBD would not comment specifically on the content and politics of the blog. “We believe it is premature to comment on the proposed extension of Israeli sovereignty, if it proceeds, given that the fundamentals of what is proposed have not been clarified,” Vic Alhadeff said.
Photo: Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler
