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Jewish concern over
Hezbollah TV station
MELBOURNE, Australia—Jewish groups have reacted with disappointment to news that the Australian Communications and Media Authority will allow the Hezbollah TV station, al-Manar, to broadcast into Australia.
Australia & Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein said Australia’s anti-terrorism standards had been watered down to the point of being ineffective.
“ACMA’s guidelines appear to make it legal for terrorist organisations to establish television stations broadcasting to Australia, and even solicit recruits and funds, as long as they omit requisite details on joining or providing donations,” he said.
“It is under these guidelines that al-Manar has legally broadcast into Australia content that seeks to incite to violence and hatred, particularly of Jews but also of other people, and to encourage donations to Hezbollah. Raising funds for Hezbollah is illegal under Australian law.”.
According to Dr Rubenstein, the messages broadcast on al-Manar haven’t changed but Australian standards have.
“Al-Manar is banned in France, Germany, Spain and the United States. It should also be banned in Australia.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot said the anti-Semitism spouted by al-Manar was more concerning than a potential breach of anti-terror laws.
“We were and remain focused on how their programming can be seen with regard to the Racial Discrimination Act,” he said.
“If the programs to be screened to al-Manar’s subscribers have similar content to those previously shown, then there may well be cause for concern and justifiable action under the act.”
From tragedy to triumph
to Courage to Care
SYDNEY—It was a beautiful day in 1968 over the long weekend of Australia Day. Gary Cohen, then 14, was on a hike to receive a scout award.
“I returned home to find my family in ‘mourning’ - I thought someone had died. What I learnt was that my brother Brian [then 16] had broken his neck that day diving into a sand bank on Bondi Beach,” Gary, 55, recalled.
It is the brothers’ journey from tragedy to triumph creating one of the world’s leading health IT companies - that Gary discussed at Courage to Care’s annual appeal function on August 9 at the B’nai B’rith Centre.
Courage to Care chairman Andrew Havas said proceeds will be put toward funding for two exhibitions.
“I stand in awe of Brian [now 58] and his accomplishments. His setbacks - and there have been many - have been met with the same disregard of misfortune as the day he had his accident,” Gary said.
Up until he became a quadriplegic, Brian had been a great all-rounder and even travelled to the world scout jamboree.
“All of a sudden the outlook for him was very bleak if not black,” Gary said, explaining that at the time, they didn’t know if he would even live.
Brian was in hospital for 12 months. He had a caliper on his skull and could only move his face and arm.
In the months after the accident, Gary said it was the constant “wall of love” provided by family and friends, and his brother’s optimism that pushed the family through.
“Brian’s inner strength was the guiding light for us all. His attitude enabled us all to adapt to this new world.”
Brian insisted on completing his Higher School Certificate and did so from hospital by dictating into an amanuensis. He came 100th in NSW in maths and won a scholarship to go to university, along with government support for assistance.
“When I went to university to study law, I became my brother’s keeper. Our lives became quite intertwined,” Gary said.
Brian went on to be awarded the university medal in science, majoring in computer science, and then a doctorate.
When he was 32, Brian moved to Singapore and established a software company, which formed the basis of a company specialising in healthcare. In 1995, Gary decided to join him.
Back then the business had $2 million revenue and 10 staff. They listed it on the stock exchange in 2000, and today have a revenue of $540 million and more than 4500 employees in 38 countries.
Gary hopes Brian’s achievements will be an inspiration to others.
“Brian doesn’t believe in looking backwards, the past has happened and you can’t change that. You can, with mazal and hard work, change the future.”
Courage to Care is a travelling exhibition, which has been developed by B’nai B’rith, designed to convey a message of communal tolerance and living in harmony.
Security grants for Jewish schools
 CANBERRA- The Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor visited Mount Scopus College on Thursday to announce the next round of school security grant recipients.
Five Victorian Jewish schools received a share of the $2 million allocation to build or maintain security infrastructure. The funding was awarded to Adass Israel College, Leibler Yavneh College, Sholem Aleichem College, Yesodei Hatorah College and Mount Scopus as part of the $20 million, four year Secure Schools Program.
“There are some in our community that are not as secure as others,” O’Connor told Jewish school principals and presidents gathered at Mount Scopus.
He said it is incumbent on the community and the government to provide for the security of students, and that is why the federal Government is financing new fences, closed-circuit television cameras and other security infrastructure.
“I’m sure these measures will ensure these schools are safer places,” he said, adding that later in the year he will be seeking advice from state governments about strategies for future school security funding.
Mount Scopus Rabbi James Kennard, like the other recipients, welcomed the additional funds. He said the schools are not only potentially threatened by terrorism, but also by locals committing hate crimes.
“Until today, security was a burden shouldered by the schools and the parents along. From today, that burden is shared,” he said.
He praised Melbourne Ports MP Michael Danby, who was present at the announcement, for his decade-long fight to obtain government funding for at-risk schools to spend on security. He also thanked local member Anna Burke for her assistance.
Ten Australian Jewish schools received funding in the first round allocation announced in April. These included five Sydney Jewish schools, Carmel School in Perth and Sinai College in Brisbane. A number of Islamic schools and some government schools also received funding for security in that round.
ALP commits to two-state solution at National Conference
SYDNEY- The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has committed to supporting a two-state solution in the Middle East.
At its national conference last week, a resolution was passed on the issue during the three-day conference in Sydney, after being nominated by Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support and Water Dr Mike Kelly and supported by former ALP national president Warren Mundine.
The resolution reads: “That Conference supports the latest peace initiatives to support a two-state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians live in peace and within secure borders.”
When asked about the brevity of the statement considering the complexity of the issue, Dr Kelly issued a statment - “I believe this says all that needed to be said given our clear policy and statements by the Government on the Middle East peace process.”
In his speech, Dr Kelly stressed that heated debate using extreme language was not the “path to peace”.
“In speaking to the resolution I called on our Labor movement to contribute to the process of moving forward rather than wasting energy looking back, and using all our endeavours and opportunities to help achieve a peaceful outcome.
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“Those interested in this issue know well that the broad outlines of a solution are there and we must now find a way to take it the final mile.”
He added that social democrats, such as ALP members, must keep up the fight against Islamic extremism “given its fundamental denial of human rights, its tenets of gender inequity and intolerance of social and religious diversity”.
Meanwhile, Mundine -– who has visited Israel twice, including most recently with Julia Gillard on the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange-organised trip -– hit out at people who claim to be friends of Palestine, but who did not work towards peaceful ends.
“If they are real friends, they have got to work with Israelis, work with Palestinians,” he said.
“I’m very optimistic things can happen. Real friends work in conversation and urge each other forward to the peace process.”
Last month, Mundine visited the West Bank for the second time. He said he was pleased to see increased economic activity and improved governance structures: “It was a hell of a lot better than it was in when I visited in 2006.”
He said these two areas -– governance and economic activity -– were the key to peace.
“If those things work together that will lessen the tension, it will give people jobs. It will give people a future and people will have a stake in the area, which will help in the process to peace.”
War of words over terrorism
SYDNEY - The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has issued a warning against being overly politically correct when talking about terrorism.
Last month Attorney-General Robert McClelland welcomed the decision by law enforcement agencies and multicultural bodies to create a Lexicon of Terrorism.
“Experience has shown that the language used to describe terrorism can be counter-productive,” McClelland said. “Certain words have the potential to glorify terrorism and terrorists, while others can cause anxiety among Australians and create divisions within and between communities.”
He said the project would consider words such as “war” when used to describe the idea of combating terrorism, and the word “jihad” when talking about a struggle between religions and values.
He said the lexicon would come up with “strategies to reduce counter-productive languagE."
“This project will help governments frame effective public information messages on national security issues by strengthening community harmony and disempowering potential violent extremists,” McClelland said.
But ECAJ president Robert Goot issued a warning last week saying it was important to be upfront when talking about terrorism.
His warning was timely, coming just before a joint operation by Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police and ASIO that led to the arrest of four men. The men have been charged with terrorism-related offences over an alleged plan to undertake a suicide attack on an Australian Army base.
While the men have African and Islamic background, leaders from those communities have been outspoken in their calls for people to avoid making assumptions about ethnic or religious groups based on the arrests.
Islamic Council of Victoria spokesperson Sherene Hassan told The Age that the Muslim community was “more in shock, more concerned than the rest of Australia” at the prospect of a local terrorist attack.
Roland Jabour, from the Australian Arabic Council, also told The Age that the whole Australian-Lebanese community suffered when there was negative publicity.
However, speaking before these arrests were made, Goot explained that in some cases it is “relevant and necessary” to publicise the ethnic or religious background of terrorism suspects.
“We accept that such cases would constitute a minority, but where there is a direct link between religious or racial belief and a criminal act such as the terrorist acts recently perpetrated in Jakarta, where the perpetrator believes that he or she has a religious obligation to commit the act the ECAJ submits that it would be a disservice to the larger Australian community if such motivation was not mentioned as relevant,” Goot said.
Identifying these details and examining the motivations of terrorists would help counter violent extremism, and ECAJ would be happy to make a formal submission to the team putting together the lexicon, he added.
The Lexicon of Terrorism is being developed by Victoria Police in conjunction with the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Victoria, the Attorney-General’s Department in Canberra and the Australian Multicultural Foundation.
Goldstein stars on football field
MELBOURNE, August 9—North Melbourne football team - The Kangaroos - ruckman Todd Goldstein enjoyed the best outing of his 10-game AFL career against Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The 21-year-old, currently the only Jewish player on an Australian footbal league (AFL) list and just the 10th to play the top level, booted five goals in his side’s 62-point win over the battling Demons.
Goldstein had 17 possessions, took seven marks and enjoyed 17 hit-outs in what it is hoped will become his breakout performance.
For those who play fantasy football, Goldstein also racked up a handy 121 Dreamteam points.
Goldstein was drafted by the Kangaroos in late 2006 from the Oakleigh Chargers. He attended Trinity Grammar in Melbourne and is a relatively late convert to Australian football, having played basketball while growing up.
He is involved in a tight competition to become the starting ruckman at North Melbourne, alongside Hamish McIntosh, Drew Petrie and David Hale.
Community tribute to Wrublewski
SYDNEY, August 10- Almost 600 members of the Sydney Jewish community led by family, friends, the Maccabi community and basketball greats gathered at CarriageWorks on Saturday night to pay tribute to former Sydney Kings owner Mike Wrublewski.
The event celebrated his 63rd birthday, but doubled as a rousing tribute to Wrublewski as he bravely fights pancreatic cancer.
“Even today I still don’t believe them and I still won’t accept that the prognosis they’ve given me is the prognosis that I’ve got,” Wrublewski told the packed audience.
“I’ll do everything to fight it, and if we can have another bloody reunion next year, it’ll be worth it. And if we can’t, well, I want you to know I’ve got absolutely no regrets.”
An emotional Wrublewski took the microphone after being appointed Sydney Maccabi Basketball’s patron in perpetuity by current president Michael America. The night was full of anecdotes and memories in a “roast” from a panel, led by his brother Harry and former Kings star and Fox Sports personality Steve Carfino.
Tom Goldman and Tom York reflected on their friend’s progression from a passionate Maccabi participant into a Maccabi Australia president, the creator of Maccabi Junior Carnival, Maccabiah head of delegation and member of the Maccabi World Union.
Former Kings colleagues Lorraine Landon, Andrew Lazarus, coach Bob Turner and almost every player recruited by Wrublewski to the Sydney Kings and Sydney Flames came on stage for a nostalgic look at basketball’s halcyon days in Sydney under Wrublewski’s stewardship.
Former Kings coach Bob Turner flew in from Singapore and Kings stars from the mid-1990s Dwayne “The D-Train” McClain and Leon “Above Da Rim” Trimmingham came from America for the event, where they paid homage to the man who revolutionised sport in Australia by making the Kings the country’s first professional outfit with full-time paid players.
But for all the achievements listed and tributes paid to Wrublewski, he thanked the packed audience for their role in his life.
“I know that you’re all saying that I have added to your life, but you’ve added to my life,” he said. “It’s a very special time in my life.”
The function also launched the Michael Wrublewski Foundation, which will provide support for any young athlete in need.
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The Jews Down Under 