The growing support for Australia’s far-right Jewish movement

In four years, the Australian Jewish Association has attracted a hefty 15,000 Facebook followers. Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett asks its president what the AJA stands for and why it strikes a chord

IN 2017, PLUS61JMEDIA reported on the establishment of the Australian Jewish Association. At the time, the Association’s President, Dr David Adler, claimed the AJA represented the “groundswell” of long-ignored politically conservative Jewish Australians overlooked by existing community bodies.

Back then, Adler was reluctant to specify how many had joined the organisation. The AJA had a baptism of fire: In its first year, it faced a backlash for its intermittent involvement with far-right Australian activist Avi Yemini. Two Melbourne Jewish venues refused to host its events.

I was one of the many who wrote off the AJA’s prospects of survival. I had watched conservative splinter groups fizzle out chasing “silent majorities” before and I expected to witness it again.

Four years later, in an interview with The Jewish Independent, Adler claimed “the AJA is the largest Australian Jewish organisation on social media” in terms of engagement, with 15,000 Facebook followers, strongrelationships in Parliament, the media and various think tanks.

The group has received gushing endorsement from Coalition Senator James Paterson and hosted an event with Mark Latham, now the leader of the One Nation party in the NSW parliament.  Adler has appeared on Sky News,the Spectator and was booked as a speaker for the conservative political group CPAC Australia.