The Jewish Community Council of South Australia (JCCSA), as the supreme elected representative body of South Australian Jews, is pleased to acknowledge that the South Australian Legislature on 7 July 2022 recognized the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitic.
JCCSA member Norman Schuyler told J-Wire:
“I was surprised to learn that the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) has contacted the local MP about this proposal. The AJA has no interest or representation in South Australia.
The Australian Jewish Federation enlisted the services of One Nation Member of Parliament Sarah Game to help secure a majority, as not everyone in the South Australian Parliament was keen on the idea.
Norman Schuyler, who has important and long-standing connections in the state legislature, and JCCSA chairperson, Anitay Sapir Henderson, also worked behind the scenes to get the proposal through.
Sarah Geim told J-Wire:
He added, “The fact that there were representatives of the Labor Party who did not want to accept this proposal caused difficulties. In the end, I got half of the Labor Party and the entire Liberal Party on my side.”
Kiam Maher, South Australia’s first Aboriginal attorney general, was present in person to vote on an important proposal for the Jewish people.
In December 2021, New South Wales became the first Australian state to formally adopt the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism, after the federal government endorsed the recommendation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in October.
The Prime Minister of New South Wales, Dominic Beirut, explained the decision as follows:
“To be able to fight something, you have to identify it, you have to be able to describe it, you have to be able to name it”
– Tell.
“Identification is an essential and important tool. It is a tool that empowers everyone who is fighting this battle.”
Beirut also said that anti-Semitism “contradicts everything our proud, strong, multicultural country stands for.”
“We listen to the Jewish community and stand by them today in the fight against anti-Semitism. This definition will make a difference. It will help people stop anti-Semitism wherever it is – on social media, in educational universities,” he added. [és] On the streets of New South Wales. Adopting this definition is an important step in ensuring the survival of our peaceful, prosperous and multicultural society.
A Muslim boy forced his Jewish colleague to “kiss his shoes”.
