The Jewish Council of Australia, or is it?
When a council is not a council.
It’s difficult to understand the psychology of people who seek to take advantage of other peoples tragedies. Some see opportunity in others misfortune — opportunity to manipulate others for their own personal interest, for their own personal gain. Which brings me to the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA).
The JCA was founded in 2024, not as a response to the atrocities of October 7, but as a way to show a united front in their “opposition to Israel’s continued policies aimed at the destruction of Palestinian life1.” The first clue to the misrepresentation is in their name. The sneaky addition of the word ‘council’ in the title suggests that the JCA is representative of the Jewish community in Australia, voted in by the people under a democratic and transparent election. This could not be further from the truth.
The structure, as described on their website is as follows: “The Jewish Council of Australia is made up of executive members as well as an advisory committee. We are independent and are all volunteers.” In other words, they are self appointed — which would be totally ok, if they were only claiming to represent their own views. But the addition of the ‘Council’ and ‘Australia’ appears to be an intentional ‘slight of hand’ to infer a level of authority or majority that they simply do not have.
Here are just a few links you can access from the Jewish Council of Australia’s linktree attached to their Instagram:
Denial in a time of Genocide (the genocide is referencing Gaza, in case you were confused)
Appointment of Israel lobbyist as antisemitism envoy will only drive further division
Universities must end disciplinary measures against anti-war students
“The Oldest Disease”: the charge of antisemitism as a weapon
Australia must cut all military ties and place sanctions on Israel
The list goes on and on.
The Jewish Council of Australia is not, as their website would have you believe, an expert body founded “in response to the rise in racism and antisemitism in Australia,” as they have only really addressed antisemitism as an afterthought when mentioning ‘islamophobia’. They are a rogue group of Jewish individuals that have aligned themselves with some of the most dangerous and divisive antisemitic and anti-Israel voices in Australia.
Self appointed Executive Officer Sarah Shwartz2, who prior to October 2023 was all but unknown, is now appearing on radio and television as a voice on Jewish matters — to the outrage of many Australian Jews, who unlike Schwartz, identify as Zionists. Sarah has been an avid supporter of Pro Palestine movement, The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), sanctioning Israel and anti-Israel propaganda. In November this year Schwartz wrote an article where she claimed “Horrific images… of Palestinian men, women and children being rounded up in large holes, and Palestinians burned alive in an Israeli strike targeting Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital”.
It seems Schwartz has forgotten that Israel are fighting terrorists in urban warfare. And she fails to mention the context of Al-Aqsa, which was of course that the IDF struck terrorists operating from a command centre inside the medical centre’s compound, and that much of the damage was from a secondary explosion, thought to be ammunition. Now you would expect such bias reporting from Al Jazeera or APAN — but from the Jewish Council of Australia, one would expect, as a bare minimum, a fair and factual report from sources other than Hamas.
In June of this year, Schwartz spoke on national radio3 to discuss the rescue of the four hostages, held captive in a refugee camp, where she parroted unverified Hamas casualty numbers of 610 (mostly women and children of course) as a result of the rescue operation. The IDF estimated the numbers to be 100, most of whom were combatants. Schwartz appeared more concerned about the ‘massacre’ of the people of the Al Nuseirat camp than the rescue of Israeli hostages abducted by force by terrorists. In fact Schwartz described the IDF soldiers entering the camp as ‘obscene’, yet makes no comment about the conditions that hostages were held in, or that they were being held amongst civilians within a REFUGEE CAMP. One can’t help but question Schwartz alliance.
In fact neither Sarah Schwartz nor the Jewish Council of Australia made any official comment regarding October 7 — what they did do however was release a statement around the one year anniversary of the massacre, which stated the following:
“One year on, Israel’s aggression continues unabated and we urge our politicians to act”4
Now Sarah Schwartz and her merry band of Pro Palestine advocates have the freedom to support and criticise whoever they want. That is the beauty of living in a free democratic society. Not everyone has to support Zionism, although close to 80 percent of Jews in Australia do, and many people have varying opinions on the Netanyahu Government. What I can’t help wondering though, is why the JCA didn’t call their organisation something more fitting with who they are, like ‘Jews for Palestine’, or ‘Jews against Zionism’, why the subterfuge?
The Council described itself as ‘a diverse coalition of Jewish academics, lawyers, writers and teachers’, but I can’t see where the diversity is. They are a small group, of around 600 members passing themselves off as a council that do little to support the Jewish community and far more to support the Palestinian Arab nationalist agenda.
Unfortunately the JCA has become a magnet for anti-Jewish and anti-Israel voices, to use the old adage — ‘look they are Jewish and they agree with us’ chestnut — when in fact they only represent a tiny percentage of the approximately one hundred thousand Jewish citizens in Australia.
The JCA burst onto the scene releasing a statement criticising the Australian government’s decision to suspend funding to UNRWA amid allegations that their staff participated in the October slaughter. It has since been confirmed that they did. Ironically the JCA claim to be troubled that ‘no consensus5’ was formed among Jews on the issue, yet consensus has been the least of their worries when when they speak for the Jewish community.
It’s not for me to hypothesise why Schwartz and the Jewish Council of Australia seem hell bent on supporting the very same organisations that are inciting so much division into an already divided society here down under. Not everyone shares the same perspective on the world, and I don’t expect them too. I also have my own strong opinions about the bright line between good and evil, and the battle we seem to be facing between barbarism and civilisation. But the difference is, I don’t call myself a council — I don’t claim, profess or even vaguely insinuate that I represent the views of Australia, or the views of anyone other than me.
https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/who-we-are
https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/who-we-are
https://www.instagram.com/jewishcouncil/reel/C8BPdwlPLxD/
https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/media/one-year-on-israels-aggression-continues-unabated-and-we-urge-our-politicians-to-act
https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/media/not-all-jews-agree-unrwa-funding-withdrawal
They are tools whether they realize it or not. So open minded their brains have fallen out. Jew haters will still hate them, and they will say, "We don't blame you for hating us."
1) Would LOVE to know who’s funding them. I’ll bet that it’s Iran or Qatar.
2) To your point, they’re no more representative of Jewish thought or values than JVP (the misnamed “Jewish Voices for Peace”, which is neither Jewish nor a voice for peace) is here in the U.S.