New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies is the umbrella organisation for almost every Jewish group within the State.

Contact details

CEO: Vic Alhadeff

Tel: 9360 1600

NSWJBD NEWS

A Voice from Arab Jerusalem

Khaled abu Toameh, who describes himself as an “Israeli, Muslim, Arab Palestinian” journalist and spoke yesterday to Sydney media…

His career started 27 years ago working as a journalist for the PLO at a time when Israel “turned a blind eye” to the publication of a Palestinian press within its borders.

Toameh 47, worked for the organisation for seven years before moving to the Jerusalem Post.  He told the meeting that foreign media is never threatened within Israel for writing anti-Israel material adding that the story was quite different for those journalists working within the Palestinian community. He said that the foreign media’s freedom in the West Bank and Gaza was curtailed for a number of reasons including lack of  easy access to Palestinian leaders, a need for translators and the need for a guide….all services he has provided for 22 years. Toameh has written for leading newspapers throughout the U.S. and Europe and has produced TV news ducumentaries for a world-wide audience including Australia’s “Sixty Minutes”. Nine years ago, he joined the Jerusalem Post as a journalist focusing on Palestinian affairs but continues to work with foreign media and is a correspondent for America’s NBC network.

Toameh has been accused of being pro-Israel. He told the meeting “I am not pro-Israel, I am not pro-Palestinian, I am not pro-American, I am not pro-Russian.” Toameh said that his main criterion was to work for an organisation where he had “a free platform”. He said: “As an Arab Moslem living in that part of the world, the only place where I can express myself freely is in a Jewish newspaper.” Toameh said that his work at the Jerusalem Post had not interfered with his connections with Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank and Gaza and that they are aware that “the best way to relay a message to the Israeli public is through the media.” He added that not a single member of Hamas or Gaza had denied him an interview because he was working for an Israeli newspaper.

He told the meeting that he believed in separation between Jews and Palestinians and in ending occupation. He criticised the international community for giving enormous amounts of money to the late Yasser Arafat in the belief that if he was funded, peace had a chance. He told the meeting that very little of the money had reached the Palestinian people. Between 1994 and 2001, Arafat received almost $10 billion, mostly from America. He said that a casino was built instead of hospitals and schools. “I tried to alert my foreign colleagues in 1995 amd 1996 to let them know that the funds were not going to the people.” Toameh reminded the meeting that he was working for Arafat at the time, and that the foreign media had questioned him as to whether or not he was “a Zionist agent”.

Toameh told the meeting that the foreign media’s answer was that Arafat’s corruption “did not fit into their narrative” and that an anti-Israel anti-occupation story would “make their lives much easier”.  He said that the Palestinian people did not benefit from the funds received by Arafat causing them to become disillusioned and radicalised. Hamas then become stronger, running their election under the banner of change. The Palestinians had nothing to lose by voting for Hamas. He said that the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas has claimed the lives of over 2,000 Palestinians. In July 2007, when Hamas won the elections, Fatah supporters tried to flee Gaza but the Egyptians closed the borders and “Israel was the only country in the world which sent help to stop Moslems being slaughtered by Moslems”.

He said that if Israel deployed its forces from the West Bank, Hamas would take over the area. On the subject if the peace process Toameh was critical of the U.S. president’s current initiative saying that the biggest mistake Obama is making is to attempt to drag the parties to the negotiating table when the gap between them remains as wide as ever. He told the meeting: “It would have been better to have a ceasefire in Gaza and to  improve the economy in the West Bank..and then just waiting. But to talk at the table at this time about explosive issues..it is only a matter of time before it explodes in our faces again. We have had a period of stability in the last year or two. Things have been calming down and there has been an improvement in the economy in Gaza.”

J-Wire asked him what he meant by waiting. Toumeh replied: “They should wait until things improve. Until the economy in the West Bank is strong. This will have a moderating effect on the people which will lead to them be more willing to make compromises and concessions for peace in the future.”

Media members asked him how he saw matters panning out over the next ten years. He replied that he could not even judge what will happen over the next ten minutes.

Khaled abu Toameh visited Sydney under the auspices of the United Israel Appeal the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council. He addressed Sydney’s major media outlets, universities, the Jewish community and political identities. He will also visit Canberra and Melbourne.

Margo lays a wreath

Robin Margo SC, President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, laid a wreath at a Jewish commemoration service on Sunday to mark ANZAC Day.

Margo’s parents served in the Eighth Army in North Africa and Italy, his father as a sapper and his mother as an army nurse. They married in uniform in the Rome Synagogue after the Italian armistice. The service was organised by the NSW Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women at the NSW Jewish War Memorial Building in Darlinghurst.

Margo appointed director of Sydney Alliance

Robin Margo, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, has been appointed to the board of the Sydney Alliance.

The organisation is spread across the city’s religious and union groups seeking a common effort for better communication and understanding.

Margo’s has been elected to the role of Religious Director.

Mar-16 Sydney: Focus on University anti-Semitism

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies will discuss campus anti-Semitism at its plenum this evening.

There will be a panel discussion on antisemitism on campus (ie university campuses) – at our plenum  at 7.30pm. The 4 speakers will be

Dr Julie Kalman is a lecturer in Judaism, Zionism, Israel and the Holocaust at the School of History and Philosophy at the University of UNSW. She will give an academic’s perspective on the sources of (and trends in) campus antisemitism.

Glen Falkenstein (National Vice Chairperson of AUJS) and Daniel Rod (NSW Chairperson of AUJS) will both speak about antisemitism on campus from a student’s perspective. They will share their campus experiences and outline the programs AUJS is developing in order to combat racism and anti-semitism at our local universities.

Sasha Uher, is the Tertiary Institutions Liaison Officer for the NSW Young Liberals and Vice President of the Australian Liberal Students Federation. Sasha will discuss the problems of racism at university more generally and she will provide insights on campus antisemitism from a non-Jewish perspective.

Call 9360 1600 for details

50 years’ service to the NSW community

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has honoured Joyce Falk, who has completed more than fifty years of service as a Deputy.

Board President Robin Margo recalled the outstanding contribution that 88-yr-old Joyce, her husband Gerald, and their children, Jacki and Anthony, have made to the community.

“Gerald Falk was President when the Six-Day War erupted in June 1967 and the very existence of the State of Israel was in the balance,” he said. “He sprang into action, with Joyce by his side, co-ordinated the largest solidarity rally Sydney had seen, helped organise an action committee of the presidents of more than 50 organisations and chaired an emergency fundraising appeal for Israel.

“Donations came in from Jews and non-Jews, and more than 400 volunteers were sent to Israel, 133 of them non-Jewish. Within 14 days, 73 medical volunteers were also on their way to Israel.”

“In that same year, 1967, inspired by the communal unity forged during the Six-Day War, Gerald set up with others the Jewish Communal Appeal. He was still President of the Board but, for the crucial first two years of the JCA, he served also as foundation Chairman of the JCA Presidents Council, known today as the Board of Governors.

“The JCA concept results in more efficient collection of funds from the community than multiple separate appeals, and in fairer distribution of community donations so that smaller organisations are also taken care of. It is an aspirational model for Jewish communities and non-Jewish communities throughout Australia.  The JCA was set up `by the people, for the people’, and the Board of Deputies was midwife at its birth.”

Margo also referred to the Falk family’s tireless work for Soviet Jews.

“Gerald continued to work for the community for another 24 years after he stepped down from the presidency. When Jacki served as chair of the Youth Committee, father and daughter were members of the same Executive – something that, as far as I am aware, has not happened since. Joyce and Anthony were also Deputies.

The service provided by Joyce, as constant supporter of Gerald, and by their family, has become part of the fabric of our community and always will be.”

At the plenum to watch Joyce receive her award were Joyce Falk; Jacki, her husband Joseph Gluck and their children and Joyce’s grandchildren, Aryeh, Devora, Dovid and Akiva; Antony’s son, Ben Falk, his mother Roslyn, and Roslyn’s husband, Dovid Fraser.

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