Grapevine November 11, 2025: Australian solidarity

In less than a month he was in Jerusalem for the official opening of the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah-University Medical Center, on Mount Scopus; he was in Beersheba to commemorate the Battle of Beersheba, which in 1917 was won by Australian and New Zealand forces fighting as part of the British Army against the Turks and the Germans; and on Sunday he was at Tel Aviv University’s Jaglom Auditorium in the Senate building, where dozens of Australian-Israelis and visitors from Down Under had come to demonstrate solidarity with the Jewish communities of Australia, which are facing the worst incidents of antisemitism ever experienced in the southernmost continent.

“Antisemitism does not only affect the Jews; it affects the quality of our country,” said King.

The event was jointly organized by the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce, headed by Paul Israel, Tzofim Olam, the Facebook group of Australians living in Israel, WIZO, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, JNF-Australia, and the Jewish Agency.

The moderator for the evening was Gideon Shavit, the JNF-Australia representative in Israel. Participants were welcomed by TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat, Yaron Shavit, deputy chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, Yuval Yenni, chief financial officer and acting head of resource development at KKL-JNF, and Doron Lazarus, CEO JNF-Australia.

Australian Jewry is recognized within the global bodies of the Zionist movement as one of the most Zionist Jewish communities in the world, and its per capita ratio of financial support for Israel is among the top three in the world.

The Zionist movement of Australia was founded in 1927. Australians were among the early settlers of Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, which was founded in the Galilee in 1938, and Australians also fought in the War of Independence.

Today, Australian immigrants live in kibbutzim, moshavim, development towns, and cities all over Israel, and contribute in many ways to the country’s development.

Herzog has yet to visit Australia in his present role, though he did visit in another capacity. In November 1986, his father, Chaim Herzog, who was Israel’s sixth president, was the first president of Israel to pay a state visit to Australia.

In his remarks in the video, he seemed to be unaware that he was speaking to Australians living in Israel as well as to those visiting as members of the A Project (which aims to strengthen Jewish identity), the Zionist Federation of Australia, and JNF-Australia.

Those living in Israel came from all over, including southern and northern border communities.

Israeli speakers took pains to assure the Australian visitors that Australian Jewry is not alone; and the Australian speakers assured the Israelis that they are not alone.

Most of the speeches contained references to shock, hope, resilience, mutual responsibility and reliability, and the need to speak out against injustice. “Despite our differences, we continue to show up for each other,” said Herzog.

On October 6, 2023, Doron Lazarus, the CEO of JNF-Australia, was in Tel Aviv with his daughter. “None of us could have imagined how everything would change for Israel and the Jewish world overnight,” he said. The Australian Jewish community was shaking, he recalled.

The best way to fight antisemitism, Lazarus continued, is through action and the strengthening of Jewish identity. “Hope and faith help us to prevail, but we also need to act,” he said.

Michal Uziyahu, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, which is in the Gaza border area, said that 200 people from that region had been murdered by Hamas.

“It was a collective trauma,” she said, but noted that 90% of the population that was evacuated has returned. She attributed the resilience to collectivity, because almost every family had a relative who had been murdered or wounded.

She is also very conscious of the help that the Eshkol Region has received from JNF-Australia. Australian Zionist organizations are presently contributing to 101 projects in Israel.

Sarah Vanunu, a KKL-JNF emissary to Australia, is a dual national who was born in Australia, but who has lived for near-equal periods of time in both countries, said that “solidarity is a two-way street.”

Of the Australian residents in Israel, 5,000 are registered with Australians Living in Israel, the Facebook site of which she is a co-founder. Over the past two years, she said, they have not only reached out to Jews in Australia but also to each other, offering all kinds of help to anyone living in a vulnerable area.

“After 9/11, I was an American,” he said. “After October 7, I was an Israeli and still am. I will not be a bystander. I am with you in good times and bad. For as long as it takes, we will prevail.”

Many of those present were familiar with his book A Light Still Burns: Israel and the Values Worth Defending.

Coby Felbel, an Australian student at TAU’s Lowy International School, struck a positive note when he said that there has been a renewal of Jewish identity in Australia from the bottom up. On the negative side, he spoke of a Canberra University student whose roommate ousted her because she’s a Zionist.

Philip Chester, former president of the Australian Zionist Federation, who was in Jerusalem on October 7, confessed to being taken aback at how the Australian Jewish community was affected by the rapid surge of antisemitism, which he said has become more toxic over the past two years.

Nonetheless, the community has remained stoic and involved in solidarity activities, he said. But in his view, Australia has changed and “is no longer the welcoming haven that our parents and grandparents flocked to after the Holocaust.

“Ties between the Australian Jewish community and Israel have always been strong, but now they are stronger than ever,” he said.

■ ALTHOUGH she joins her husband in the vast majority of his activities, Michal Herzog, the wife of the president, also has her own interests and agenda.

On Sunday, she was in Beersheba visiting The Kindergarten of Dreams of the Larger Than Life association, and was impressed with the unique model of the kindergarten for children with cancer and their families.

The association conducts an educational rehabilitation center for children with cancer and those in the process of rehabilitation from the disease. The Kindergarten of Dreams, located near Soroka Medical Center, operates in sterile conditions specially adapted for children with weakened immune systems, and combines education, paramedical support, emotional support and meticulous nutrition – all in a safe and protected space that allows children to continue to develop and dream, even in the most difficult times.

Herzog mingled easily with the children and their parents, as well as with the staff, and said: “When a family member is diagnosed with cancer – and even more so when it is a child – the life of the entire family changes. The struggle is daily, full of challenges, hope and worry.

“The fact that you, at Larger Than Life, have taken on this enormous task – to help families and stand by them – is amazing to me.

“In the end, we all want to see the child recover, but at the same time it is so important that the family remains strong, united, and involved.

“It is very moving to see the children here – the light in their eyes, the songs, the laughter. Those who look on from the sidelines, without knowing it, see truly happy children with big hearts, full of joy and life.

“Seeing the mothers so happy that they have found a framework that understands, that embraces, that allows a moment of routine and breathing – this indicates that they are doing something right here, something that is nothing less than a mission.”

Larger Than Life CEO Efrat Lichtman emphasized the importance of Herzog’s visit, saying that it strengthens the children, their families, and the dedicated staff who work on their behalf every day. “The emotional, social, and educational rehabilitation of children dealing with cancer is an integral part of their recovery process. This visit is an expression of trust and hope that the State of Israel will recognize the importance of rehabilitation for children with cancer and will lead a national movement to promote the issue, which is currently lacking in the Israeli healthcare system.”

CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS and pediatric wards in hospitals are now coming up with a variety of programs and projects that are beneficial to both the young patients and to the environment.

At Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel, Petah Tikva, for instance, a wish garden area with plant boxes of different sizes in which patients, together with their parents or with therapists, plant lots of greenery was recently inaugurated.

In addition to being an absorbing form of occupational therapy that aids rehabilitation, it is also a means of learning about ecology, medicinal research, and plants with medicinal properties.

The inauguration of the garden, in which each child has his or her own box, was held in the presence of patients and their families, therapists, the Schneider team, representatives of Clalit Health Services, and representatives of the Davidson Institute for Science Education, which is the extracurricular educational branch of the Weizmann Institute.

■ HOPE IS the new watchword, following experiences of the past two years: hope for the release of all the hostages from Gaza; hope by families of hostages that those still alive would include their loved ones; hope that people evacuated from their homes would soon be able to return; hope that soldiers in combat units would come back safe and sound; hope that a state commission of inquiry into the flaws that led to the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas and its aftermath would be established free of political bias but purely with the aim of preventing another surprise attack; and now hope for peace, as US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan gets under way.

On Thursday, November 13, the Mitvim Institute will host its eighth annual conference under the title of “Building Hope: Choosing the Diplomatic Path.”

The impressive lineup of speakers who will gather on Thursday, 4 p.m.-8 p.m., at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv includes Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats Party; Ambassador Michael Mann, head of the delegation of the European Union; former, past, and current Israeli diplomats Liora Herzl, Colette Avital, Rodica Gordon, Jeremy Issacharoff, Danny Carmon and Irit Lilian; retired Egyptian ambassador Salaheldin Abderahman; and MKs Karine Elharrar and Ram Ben Barak.

■ THAT NORTH AFRICAN and other Sephardi Jews were victims of the Nazis, and were refugees who either fled or were expelled from their home countries, comes to light every year on November 30, which has been designated in Israel as Refugee Day.

Toward the end of last month, some of these former refugees – mostly from North Africa – came together at the Jerusalem International Convention Center to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the World Federation of Sephardi Jews.

Many of those present were the offspring of truckloads of immigrants who were driven to transit camps in the desert, and who later formed the foundations of development towns, which were more in the nature of towns of deprivation than development.

But many of the children who grew up in the transit camps and development towns are today government ministers, legislators, doctors, lawyers, scientists, high-ranking officers in the IDF, real estate developers, social entrepreneurs, and more. It’s possible to make an amazing leap in only one generation

Some of the people who celebrated the centenary of the World Federation of Sephardi Jews will be at the National Library in Jerusalem on November 30 for an afternoon symposium and a special exhibition to mark the library’s receipt of the archive of Sephardi Voices testimonies. Some of the stories have never previously been made public.

The digital archives consist of close to 450 oral history interviews in English, Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, French, and Italian, as well as portraits, documents, and photographs chronicling the life stories of the worldwide Sephardi-Mizrahi community.

There were some countries in which Jews lived in harmony with their neighbors, and others in which they were persecuted by the Nazis, and then by local inhabitants following the passing, on November 29, 1947, of the UN resolution on the partition of Palestine.

The November 30 event, under the title of “The Other Refugees – The Untold Stories of Sephardi-Mizrahi Jews,” will include the symposium at 5 p.m., where testimonies will be given by members of the last generation of Sephardi-Mizrahi Jews born in North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran, as well as liturgical songs, as sung in Iraq, performed by Rabbi David Menachem, who inherited them from his grandfather.

Throughout the day, there will be a special exhibition of items from Sephardi-Mizrahi Jewish communities, and a presentation of video testimonies from the Sephardi Voices archive.

■ FOR THE past two years, the Foreign Press Association in Israel (which includes Palestinian journalists) has been complaining that the Israeli authorities, in denying FPA members access to Gaza, prevent them from doing their jobs.

Now there is a more serious complaint. This week the FPA released a statement underscoring that it is “appalled by recent attacks by Israeli settlers against journalists while reporting in the occupied West Bank.” It “calls on Israeli authorities to halt this violence immediately. Journalists, both local and foreign, have proven to be a clear target as they document an unprecedented level of unchecked violence against Palestinians during this year’s olive harvest.

“On Saturday, November 8,” the statement continued, “two Reuters employees wearing clearly marked press vests and helmets were assaulted by masked Israeli civilians armed with clubs and rocks, close to the Palestinian village of Beita. A mob of dozens of settlers beat one of the employees, a female reporter, while she was already on the ground, resulting in severe injuries. They also attacked those who tried to help her. A Reuters security person was hit, and two Palestinian freelance journalists were injured while being chased.

“On Saturday, October 10, a veteran AFP photographer was filming the olive harvest in the same area when Israeli settlers violently beat him with sticks. They pelted his car with stones and then set it on fire. The photographer, who testified it was one of the worst attacks in his 30-year career, reported that Israeli forces at the scene refused to intervene, instead firing rubber bullets and tear gas at olive pickers and activists accompanying them.

“These are but two examples of similar incidents that have taken place in the last few weeks. It is the responsibility of Israeli soldiers and police to protect civilians, including journalists. Instead, Israeli forces routinely harass and intimidate journalists, in some cases detaining them and threatening them with deportation. This is all part of a deepening climate of hostility toward the media by Israeli authorities.

“We call on the authorities to investigate these incidents and hold those responsible accountable. In particular, we urge Central Command head Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth and police commander Moshe Pinchi to uphold their duties to ensure that journalists can work freely and safely. There cannot be press freedom in an environment in which journalists are threatened and harmed with complete impunity.”

As reminded this week by Susan Hattis Rolef in her weekly op-ed in The Jerusalem Post, Israel often censors unpleasant aspects of its history in books and articles. Of course, we don’t want to know nasty things about ourselves that tarnish the image we want to convey, but if they are hidden from the public eye, they also escape enactment of one of the greatest of Jewish missions: tikkun olam, repairing the world. You can’t fix something if you don’t know about it.

All human beings, regardless of faith, nationality or ethnicity, have good and evil impulses. If the evil is not checked, it grows and becomes the norm. Is that what we want for ourselves?

■ IF ANYONE was looking for Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan on Sunday night, he was in New York to attend the annual Kristallnacht memorial event “Spread the Light in a Shattered World,” hosted by the Yad Vashem USA Foundation.

The program brought together leaders, influencers, and community members for an afternoon of reflection, Holocaust remembrance, and renewed commitment to combating antisemitism and needless hatred.

This year’s commemoration held special significance following Yad Vashem’s recent announcement that it has now documented the names of over five million of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust – a historic milestone in this seven-decade mission to preserve every individual story.

“Kristallnacht was not only a night of shattered glass – it was a night that shattered humanity’s conscience. Our duty today is to ensure that the world never again stands silent in the face of hatred.

“As we mark the milestone of identifying five million of the six million names of victims murdered in the Shoah, we affirm that memory must become our shield, and moral courage our light,” said Dayan.

“The act of remembrance is not only about the past – it is our responsibility to bring light into a world that still struggles with darkness,” said Tamar Major, head of the Yad Vashem USA Foundation. “This milestone reminds us that behind every number is a name, a life, and a legacy that must never be forgotten.”

■ IN AN era dedicated to renewal, in which some people buy a new car every year, members of the 5 Club, who are all owners of classic cars dating back in some cases to more than half a century, would not trade them in for anything.

For the second consecutive year, a convoy of 100 classic cars drove up to the Neptune Hotel in Eilat, which is part of the Dan chain, enabling collectors from all over the country to meet and exchange compliments on their vehicles.

Throughout the weekend, classic cars – such as a 1962 model of the Triumph Spitfire and a 1952 model of the MG Roadster – were displayed in the hotel lobby and aroused interest among other guests, who kept photographing the different cars.

The car owners, along with everyone else in the hotel, enjoyed live performances of songs from the 1960s and ’70s, particularly those of The Beatles.

On Friday, all the cars went on display in Eilat’s main parking area, and provided a happening for locals along with Mayor Eli Lancry, Shimon Kipnis, the director-general of Dan hotels throughout Eilat, and Arnon Lavie, the general manager of the Neptune Hotel.