Aa
  • Read, Watch, Listen
  • TJI Series
  • Community Action
  • Events
  • Zedi
Follow us and continue the conversation
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube
Test yourself with the TJI Quiz!

Adjust size of text

Aa

Follow us and continue the conversation

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube

Your saved articles

You haven't saved any articles

What are you looking for?

Original reporting, insightful analysis and diverse views, delivered straight to your inbox

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube
Your support fuels our mission to inform, entertain and inspire.

The Jewish Independent is bound by the Standards of Practice of the Australian Press Council. If you believe the Standards may have been breached, you may approach The Jewish Independent or make a complaint to the Australian Press Council in writing at www.presscouncil.org.au. The Council may also be contacted on 1800 025 712.

  • Our Story
  • Contact us
  • Our Team
  • Support us
  • Guidelines
  • Pitch your idea
  • Republishing us
  • Community Action
  • Our Awards
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube
Aboriginal FlagTorres Strait Islanders Flag

The Jewish Independent acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and strive to honour their rich history of storytelling in our work and mission.

© The Jewish Independent 2026All Rights Reserved
Website design and development by Your Creative, MelbourneTerms & ConditionsPrivacy Policy
HomeRead, Watch, ListenAustralia
OpinionAustralia

ECAJ attacks unrepresentative Jewish advocacy – but selectively

The use of deceptive names by two advocacy groups, on the far-right and far-left, has upset the apple cart of Jewish communal advocacy.
Michael Visontay
Print this
swords into bullhorns

Illustration: TJI

Published: 23 July 2024

Last updated: 25 July 2024

What’s in a name? A lot, if you’re trying to muscle your way into the congested world of Jewish community advocacy.

Until a few years ago, the landscape was set in stone. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) speaks for the community on Jewish matters in Australia, the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) does the same for Israel-related issues and the Australia & Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) stands alongside them, advocating across both domains. The outspoken advocacy by these three bodies has been largely uncontested.

Over the past few years, however, the emergence of two new advocacy groups has upset the apple cart. One is on the extreme right – the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), and the other is on the extreme left – the Jewish Council of Australia (Council).

They are both small, private and unrepresentative, but united by their names, which imply that each is an umbrella body (Association, Council) that represents the Jewish community.

The names are designed to appeal to those who google Jewish community groups looking for something that sounds representative.

In a media world where mainstream journalists with no background knowledge of the Jewish community are pressured to get a local Jewish voice in their stories, the names are deceptive, designed to appeal to those who google Jewish community groups looking for something that sounds representative.

The AJA, which was founded in 2017, rejects the right of Palestinians to have their own state. “The land of Israel includes the biblical Jewish homelands of Judea and Samaria,” its mission statement says. It also aggressively opposed the indigenous Voice to parliament and platformed a vile essay by the late Jewish academic Bill Rubenstein, that discussed the prevalence of historical cannibalism within the indigenous community.

At the last federal election, the AJA courted the Teal candidate for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, as she navigated the Israel-BDS debate with the Liberals’ Dave Sharma. As the campaign wore on, media outlets across the political spectrum quoted the AJA prominently and frequently. Two months ago, Senator Sharma felt the AJA was sufficiently respectable for him to agree to appear at an event at Parliament House.

The Jewish Council of Australia was founded in February, in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war. The left-wing group was ostensibly created to fight antisemitism, arguing that “that any criticism of Israel or any sort of pro-Palestinian solidarity activity gets labelled as antisemitic, which cheapens the idea of what antisemitism actually is”.

In practice, the Council has emerged as a strident critic of Israel and outspoken pro-Palestinian voice, which have dominated its responses to incidents of antisemitism. It spoke out in support of the university campus protests, it criticised the government’s recent appointment of an antisemitism envoy on the grounds that it would be divisive, and it has supported the pro-Palestinian Australian academic and author Randa El-Fattah, who has argued that anyone who accepts that Hamas raped Israeli women is promoting “rape atrocity propaganda”.

The Council’s public statements, which stand in stark contrast to those of the major advocacy bodies, have been quoted steadily by mainstream media on the lookout for alternatives to the familiar responses of ECAJ, ZFA and AIJAC.

This has created a huge backlash within the community and driven the ECAJ to publicly criticise the Council. In an article  in The Australian last Friday headlined, Executive Council of Australian Jewry smacks down anti-Israel Jewish ‘micro group’, ECAJ described the Council as “a micro-group which represents only a thin sliver of opinion on the far-left margins of the Australian Jewish community”.

The ECAJ's criticism was made last week to a Senate committee hearing into right-wing extremist movements, in response to earlier comments made to the committee by the Jewish Council's co-chief executive, Max Kaiser, which described ECAJ as as a"right-wing Zionist group".

The Australian article then spelled out a detailed list of Jewish institutions that were not represented by the Council, adding that ECAJ says it has “200 organisations under its umbrella” including schools and places of worship.

Why the gulf between the responses? While the AJA represents an ugly face of Israel advocacy, it is, in the end, pro-Israel.

The article also mentioned the launching, one week ago, of a petition titled “The Jewish Council of Australia Does Not Represent Me”, by a Melbourne-based grassroots “Jewish Activist Network” called J-United. The petition and has almost 7000 signatories, with many concerned the Council’s name was misleading.

Max Kaiser said in the article "it was a false premise that 'the Jewish Council purports to represent all Jews'. We have stated in almost every interview that we are not representative. Our view is that no single person or organisation can speak on behalf of all Jews in Australia."

The difference in the response by ECAJ and other members of the Jewish community to the AJA compared to the Council is illuminating. Over the past few years, The Jewish Independent made several approaches to ECAJ and ZFA, seeking their views about the rise of the AJA since its founding in 2017. They repeatedly refused to make any public comment, believing that the best strategy was to deny the group oxygen, but let it be known privately that they took a dim view of the AJA’s extremist positions. Since the start of the war in Gaza, however, ECAJ has spoken out about it twice.

Why the gulf between the responses to the two groups? While the AJA represents an ugly, intolerant face of pro-Israel advocacy which has not a shred of sympathy for the plight of Palestinian people, it is, in the end, pro-Israel. To the communal leaders, and those beneath them, the AJA is on the right side.

If the Council wasn’t gaining so much traction with the mainstream media, it’s unlikely a public campaign would have been mounted.

By contrast, the Council’s persistent criticism of Israel, including calling for sanctions, its support of the Palestinian cause without articulating a position on Hamas, and its limited expression of sympathy for Israeli suffering has seen it characterised as a traitor, reviled by many pro-Israel supporters, including those on the Jewish left.

The Council’s name has certainly played a part in striking the raw nerve but if it wasn’t gaining so much traction with the mainstream media, it’s unlikely a public campaign would have been mounted. NIF Australia must be looking on jealously. It has been critical of the Israeli government for many years but has not received anything like the coverage given to the Council.  Its positive work to rebuild Israeli society is less appealing to journalists than the Council’s strategic attacks.  

The major media outlets need to be more discerning in how they balance views from the extreme right and extreme left with the range of other voices on Israel and Jewish advocacy.

Meanwhile, the ECAJ blowtorch looks likely to be switched on for some time to come.

An earlier version of this article omitted the fact that ECAJ's criticism of the Jewish Council was made in response to a Senate committee hearing into right-wing extremism. This has now been included. The earlier version also said the Council had shown a "lack of sympathy" for Israelis. This has been adjusted to read "limited sympathy".

RELATED STORIES

Who speaks for Australian Jews? (The Jewish Independent)

Media must sort the wheat from the chaff when reporting Jewish advocacy groups (The Jewish Independent)

A troubling trend: the mainstreaming of the Australian Jewish Association (The Jewish Independent)

You might also like
  • Fear of Netanyahu victory may drive big surge in Palestinian voter turnout
    Ben Lynfield
  • Israel is cementing its control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem while the world is distracted
    Martin Kear
  • Abuse of Palestinian detainees a ‘systemic issue’, say Israeli doctors
    Ben Lynfield
logomark.67a07ee3
We believe in the free flow of information

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, by using our Creative Commons licence

You might also like

    Generation change Template
    Generation ChangeInterviewAustralia

    Ash Densham: Building community through Humanistic Judaism

    Gideon Cohen 1
    Joni Fleischer
    Generation ChangeInterviewAustralia

    Joni Fleischer: Connecting charities with tech talent

    Gideon Cohen
    syd uni globalise the intifada
    NewsAustralia

    Sydney Uni commissions independent review after ‘Globalise the Intifada’ campaign

    Deborah Stone

About the author

Michael Visontay

More from the author

NewsAustralia

Matt Chun’s hate speech prompts change in arts funding policy

AnalysisAustralia

Mishandled antisemitism education is not just ineffective, it’s dangerous

FeatureLifestyle

Where Shtisel meets The Jetsons

ReviewIsrael

Beinart’s utopian vision ignores awkward truths