Yesterday we woke to news that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire deal with Hamas, many details of which are still unknown. The Jewish Council welcomes this ceasefire, and sends our solidarity to all who have suffered, and to those who have lost, and continue to lose, loved ones to this senseless violence.

While we breathe a sigh of relief for the likely end to this round of violence, this deal – a version of which Israel rejected in May 2024 – comes far too late. 

In the weeks to come, we will learn more about the extent of Israel’s devastation of Gaza. By many estimates, Israel has killed far more than the official number of 47,000 Palestinians. The UN says it will take 350 years to rebuild Gaza’s economy to pre-war levels.  

Respected human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have found that Israel has committed acts of genocide – the intentional destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza in whole or in part.

The Netanyahu government has repeatedly rejected deal after deal. Netanyahu has, in part, continued this genocidal war for his own political gain, disregarding not just the lives of Palestinians, but also the lives of Israeli hostages.

While Israel has continued to act in clear breach of international law, pro-Israel Jewish organisations in Australia have been blindly following it into the moral abyss, unashamedly beating the drums of war and attempting to silence those who have called for the violence to stop. The government-appointed antisemitism envoy has been amongst those doing so, arguing that the war must continue until Hamas is destroyed: a claim used to justify genocide. 

Israel's advocates in Australia and internationally bear significant responsibility for the destruction of Gaza and for this moment taking so long to arrive. The fact that they now appear to support a ceasefire deal, at the exact moment Netanyahu does, shows how closely they have aligned with his regime. Our government and civil society must see these organisations for what they have become, blind defenders of Israel’s genocide, and treat them accordingly. 

Now is the time for accountability, for Australia to throw its full weight behind international legal mechanisms, including the arrest warrant for Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court, and South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice, to hold the Israeli government and military accountable. Israel must immediately lift its blockade of Gaza and humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow. 

It is also the time for Australia to join with the international community in addressing the root causes of this violence: Israel's brutal occupation, unequal treatment, and continued campaigns of violence against Palestinians. 

For many Jewish people, in Australia and elsewhere, the past 15 months have forced a reckoning – with the State of Israel and the political ideology of Zionism. We all have a responsibility to continue to raise our voices to say that the violence of Israel and its advocates is not in our names, and to call for peace, equality, and justice for all people between the river and the sea.

We wish all of our supporters a a peaceful Shabbes / Shabbat Shalom / Gut Shabbos / TGIF