The umbrella organisation, of which the Board of Deputies is a member, represents some 90 per cent of the Jewish diaspora worldwide
December 11, 2025 13:21
The J7 coalition of international Jewish organisations has wrapped up its visit to Australia by urging the country’s federal government to take more action over antisemitism, including implementing its recently released antisemitism action plan.
The group, which represents Jewish communities from Britain, France, Germany, the US, Canada, Argentina and Australia, called on ministers to “take all necessary steps to fight antisemitism and ensure the security of the Jewish community”.
In a closing statement, the delegation said: “We came from around the world to show our solidarity with the Australian Jewish community and make clear that we are one Jewish family.”
During the visit, which marked the first anniversary of the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, the delegation met government officials, Jewish community leaders and students. The J7 represent communities that are home to 90 per cent of the Jewish diaspora.
Alongside the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the J7 pressed the Australian government to adopt and carry out the antisemitism action plan drafted by Special Envoy Jillian Segal AO.
Segal’s plan is based on the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism, which Australia formally adopted at the national level in 2021.
Critics of the plan argue that the IHRA definition is too broad and vague, whilst conflating valid criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
But the strategic action plan, which was delivered to the government five months ago, has been met with “unacceptable” silence, ECAJ president Daniel Aghion claimed.
He described Australia as “leading an international race to the bottom” when it came to combatting antisemitism.
The country has seen rising antisemitism and a spate of anti-Jewish attacks in recent years. According to the latest annual report compiled by ECAJ, there were 1,654 incidents of antisemitism in Australia over the past year, with 738 in the state of Victoria alone. Melbourne, Aghion claimed, is “now the most unsafe place in Australia to be a Jew”.
According to a survey earlier this year by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, fewer than a quarter of Australians held positive views toward Jewish people, and 28 per cent held negative to very negative views.
And, in 2024, polls showed that one in five Jewish adults had personally experienced insults or harassment because of their background in the months following October 7.
Shortly after the attacks in Israel, in a now-infamous incident, around 1,000 people marched on the Syndey Opera House and chanted what some believe was “gas the Jews” and “f*** the Jews”.
In December 2024, an arson terrorist attack took place on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, resulting in one injury and significant damage to the building. It was later determined that Iran was involved in planning the attack. Iran was also behind an arson attack in October 2024 on a kosher restaurant in Sydney.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated in August that Australian intelligence had found that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were behind both attacks, and the group was proscribed, while the Iranian ambassador to Australia was expelled from the country – the first time the country had expelled an ambassador since the Second World War.
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