“Shul Ban Is Reward for Terrorists”

Rita Panahi, HERALD SUN

Religious extremism and the threat of terror cannot be met by cowardly appeasement.

The decision by a local council in Sydney, backed by the Land and Environment Court, to block the construction of a synagogue in Bondi because it might become a terrorist target is repugnant and at odds with Australian values.

There’s something perverse about trying to reduce the risk of Islamist terror by making a decision that accommodates the most violent, intolerant members of the community.

Victim blaming has reached new lows when government authorities cave in to extremists and punish victims for being the targets of hate.

It’s akin to the twisted thinking that forces women to cover their bodies to reduce the incidence of assault.

The rights of a peaceful religious minority should not be impinged upon in a free society. The Jewish community has every right to label this decision as “rewarding terrorism”.

Head of the local Jewish community, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, said: “The decision is unprecedented. Its implications are enormous. It basically implies that no Jewish organisation should be allowed to exist in residential areas.

The proposed synagogue at 105 Wellington Street, Bondi was rejected due to terrorism fears.

“It stands to stifle Jewish existence and activity in Sydney and indeed, by creating a precedent, the whole of Australia, and by extension rewarding terrorism. By pulling the terror threat argument they have shown that they are completely out of touch both with the reality and with needs of their constituency.”

Following condemnation of the decision, the Waverley council distanced itself from the decision. “It was the Land and Environment Court’s decision to dismiss the appeal put forward by the applicant and refuse the development application,” a spokeswoman said. “Waverley Council has a strong history of partnerships with the Jewish community and will continue to work closely with the Jewish community and Jewish organisations.”

But the application went to the Land and Environment Court only because of council’s failure to respond to the Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe’s application.

Nothing changes the fact that the council abandoned its Jewish community and presented “evidence to the court in support of refusal of the application” based partly on the site being unsuitable because of the potential risk to users and the public.

In upholding the council’s decision, the court found that the “potential terrorist threat” required greater consideration and agreed with Waverley Council that “the physical measures proposed to deal with the identified threats will have an unacceptable impact on the streetscape and adjoining properties”.
The decision is all the more galling given the hostility Jews face in this country.

Jewish centres and schools often have heavy security measures.
If you’ve ever visited a Jewish centre or school you would likely notice the heightened security including CCTV cameras and armed guards.

Jews remain the biggest target of hate crimes in much of the Western world and face extreme persecution in many countries, particularly in the Middle East and parts of Africa.

There are 16 Muslim majority nations that refuse anyone with an Israeli passport entry to their country, including Malaysia, Bangladesh, Algeria and Brunei.
Even more extreme is the fact that eight countries — Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Syria and Kuwait — forbid entry to anyone who has travelled to Israel.

That means I cannot visit my parents’ homeland of Iran because I once spent a week in Israel.

In the past decade, the hostility towards the Jewish community has spread to parts of Europe, resulting in a mass exodus from countries such as Belgium and France.

In France there has been a steep rise in the number of hate crimes against Jews, with the number of incidents doubling between 2014 and 2015, according to Human Rights First. An Ipsos survey released last year showed that one in 10 Jews in France had been physically assaulted. It’s no wonder Jews are leaving in record numbers for Israel and the US.

The rise in anti-Semitism has coincided with an increase in Muslim migration.
“The majority of people who are going to call you ‘dirty Jew’ in the street are Muslims, not French, at least 99 per cent of the time,” said Grand Synagogue of Paris rabbi Moshe Sebbag.

Anti-Semitism Index Measures Perceptions of Jews
When you look at the treatment of Jews around the world, it’s easy to see why the local community is so outraged by the Bondi synagogue ban.

“This ruling appears to set a very worrying precedent,” said the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’s director of international and community affairs, Jeremy Jones.

“This is the demographic heartland of Sydney’s Jewish community and there are a number of synagogues within the local government area and adjoining suburbs.
There are also kosher food outlets, Jewish educational institutions, sports grounds used by Jewish teams, to say nothing of the many Jewish people who live in the area and are very visible.

“The court appears to imply that our presence threatens the safety of others — which would seem to be an amoral and misguided way to address serious issues of terrorism and anti-Semitism.

This issue cannot be allowed to end here, given the way it appears to fly in the face of religious freedom, human rights and common sense.”

We must stand with the Jewish community who have contributed so much to this country despite making up only half a per cent of the population.

Australia cannot afford to be complacent about anti-Semitism nor give in to extremists who see the erection of a synagogue as a provocative act”.

—-

Sign a petition to Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull requesting Reversal of LEC Ruling against Bondi Synagogue (F.R.E.E)

Click here