Australia’s peak Jewish organisation, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), has voiced strong support for the nation’s Indian and Hindu communities after they were subjected to public vilification and attacks on places of worship.
ECAJ President Daniel Aghion said in a statement that the communities had made an “outsize contribution” to Australia’s economy and society for generations.
“They are hard-working, family-oriented and peace-loving communities, and it is a national disgrace that they have been publicly vilified from any quarter,” he said.
“We empathise completely with what they are going through, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them.”
Mr Aghion warned that the rise in hate crimes and hostility towards ethnic and religious groups was eroding Australia’s social cohesion.
“It was not so long ago that hate crimes against places of worship, and other hate-filled behaviour against entire ethnic and religious communities, were unthinkable in Australia, and it is sobering to reflect on how often this occurs now,” he said.
“Ultimately, the deterioration in social cohesion makes all Australians less safe than we used to be.”
The ECAJ called on political and community leaders to unite in support of the Indian and Hindu communities and to denounce all forms of racial and religious hatred as “a blight on our nation’s dignity.”
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