Jerusalem responds to Bondi attack
Efi Stenzler, world chairman of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, has announced that he will convene an emergency meeting of his organisation’s international representatives following the beating of Australian emissary Shlomo Ben-Haim in Sydney on Friday night.
Ben-Haim and four other Jews were beaten on their way home from synagogue, resulting in wounds requiring hospitalisation.
“The violent Sydney attack, which came just hours after an anti-Israel protest in Denver, Colorado, as well as demonstrations in France and Belgium, require that we address the situation immediately,” Stenzler said.
The KKL-JNF executive was referring to protests outside of the home of Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who was hosting KKL-JNF officials in Denver for their annual conference.
The protesters, who also gathered outside the hotel in which the event was being held, waved signs calling for the end of Israeli “ethnic cleansing”.
“Attacks and demonstrations against us [Jews] have picked up momentum of late; we are targeted first and foremost because we are helping to realise the Zionist vision,” Stenzler said. “The protesters denounce KKL-JNF since they recognise us as an organisation that realises the vision of Zionism.”
In a statement emailed to The Jerusalem Post by a KKL-JNF spokesman, Ben-Haim stated that Saturday’s events “proved beyond doubt how the State of Israel is crucial for any Jew”. The attack, he asserted, was an indication of the importance of his work in connecting Australian Jewry to Israel.
Ben-Haim’s sentiment was echoed by Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, who told the victims that the entire Jewish nation was with them and that the violence of the type seen during the Holocaust “will never return”.
Jewish groups in Australia were quick to say that violence against their community was a rarity.
MK Yoel Razbozov, who heads the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee, wrote to Australia’s Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anna Burke, to ask that she oversee the investigation into the case.
“The State of Israel is alarmed at the anti-Semitic incidents that took place in Sydney,” he said.
“I believe the Australian government and local police forces are making all efforts to bring to justice the assailants of the five Jews, but I would like the Australian House of Representatives to ensure that all relevant bodies are pursuing the issue and execute their work faithfully.”
THE JERUSALEM POST
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