New party threatens Jewish education
A NEW political party has been formed in Australia that takes a pro-Israel stance but threatens to remove Jewish education from public schools.
A NEW political party has been formed in Australia that takes a pro-Israel stance but threatens to remove Jewish education from public schools.
The Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) states in its manifesto that Israel is not deserving of the criticism levelled at it and that it is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
But it is the ALA’s policy that states “religious studies in public schools shall only take place for the purpose of historical analysis and sociopolitical education” that has drawn concern from the community.
It says that “major religions” in the Australian community shall be given time and resources in proportion to their prevalence and that “no partisan religious organisation may take part in production, or fund the production, of education material used in public schools”.
NSW Board of Jewish Education (BJE) president David Selig said that policy would deny a proper Jewish education to thousands of students.
“The role of Special Religious Education (SRE) as a means of educating students in public primary schools as to their specific heritage, culture, faith and language must never be diluted or restrained within artificial boundaries, such as solely being taught as a historical analysis or a sociopolitical education,” Selig said.
He said to do so is “flawed and by definition a prejudiced approach, that devalues the intrinsic importance and beauty of our faith”.
“On the contrary, all aspects of religious education must be encouraged and nurtured, a view that has consistently been enshrined in state legislation, for over 100 years, and for good and obvious reason.
“The Jewish student population in public primary schools is a minuscule minority of that school population – particularly in outer suburban regional and country government schools,” Selig said.
“Nevertheless, this minority represents a very significant proportion of the current and future NSW Jewish community.”
Earlier this month, the Australian Jewish Communal Lobby (AJCL) posted a link to the ALA on its Facebook page accompanied by the post “They are not pro liberal, they are not pro labor, they are pro Australia.”
The AJCL previously posted that it does not endorse any political party, “but there is a place for some of the ALA policies in Australia’s political landscape”.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff told The AJN, “It beggars belief that a Jewish organisation would publicise a political party whose policies could ultimately see the removal of Jewish education from public schools.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot distanced his organisation, and the community, from the Australian Jewish Communal Lobby.
“It is not affiliated in any way with any Jewish communal organisation, and does not represent the Australian Jewish community at all,” Goot said.
“Members of our community are perfectly capable of making up their own minds about the policies of the ALA, which are supposedly pro-Israel but include a proposal to deny boards of Jewish education any input into the content of Jewish religious education at public schools.”
The link on the AJCL page has since been removed. The group’s president Jaron Chester declined to comment when the post was still online, and had not responded to a request for a comment on its removal by the time The AJN went to press.
JOSHUA LEVI
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