Conflation of Jewish identity with Israel driving antisemitism, Jewish Council says in submission to royal commission

Far-right extremism and the conflation of Jewish identity with Israel are the main drivers of antisemitism in Australia, the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) says. In its submission to the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion, the liberal Jewish group calls for more focus on the “often overlooked” threat from the far right, and recognition of the diversity of views within the Jewish community instead of the “tendency to treat Jews collectively as representatives of Israel”. In the submission, which the JCA made public this week, executive officer Sarah Schwartz says the “resurgent Australian far-right is a hotbed of antisemitism even as it weaponises Jewish grief to legitimise attacks on migrant communities and religious minorities”. The submission says two important drivers of antisemitism are the “growth of far-right, neo-Nazi and conspiracist movements, which represent a significant and often overlooked threat to Jewish communities, and the aggressive actions of the state of Israel and conflation of Jewish identity with Israel”. That is “a conflation that the state of Israel itself has long cultivated and which causes direct harm to Jewish people worldwide when they are blamed for Israel’s actions”, the submission says. …