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Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Aug 3 2014
Gaza conflict shouldn't spill into Sydney hatred
Kirsty Needham
When a Ukrainian Catholic Church was sprayed with racist graffiti in
Lidcombe in Sydney's west, Vic Alhadeff was swiftly onto the media to
raise the alarm.
As chairman of the NSW Community Relations Commission, Alhadeff led
the NSW Government's condemnation of the attack in June, which he said
echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on the Ukraine.
''It is deeply disappointing that some have seen fit to import
overseas conflicts and hatreds into our country and onto our
streets,'' Alhadeff said in a statement.
Earlier in the year, Alhadeff had been praised by NSW Labor for his
''eloquent and dignified'' words opposing the federal government's
proposal to weaken section 18C of the racial discrimination act. The
high profile new chairman appeared off to a strong start.
But when the turbulence of world affairs swept into Sydney for a
second time - as conflict between Israel and Hamas exploded in the
Middle East after the execution of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers,
and Israel unleashed its bombardment of Gaza - Alhadeff was among
those fanning the hatred.
It is not surprising that an email issued by Alhadeff in his capacity
as chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies expressed
Israel's line on ''the Hamas terror organisation''. He has been a
high-profile advocate of Israel for decades, and is paid to do so.
As has been repeatedly said since Alhadeff's resignation from the NSW
government commission, in the fallout from those comments, the problem
is with wearing two hats.
The important role played by the Community Relations Commission in
multicultural Sydney, that was handled so deftly by Stepan
Kerkyasharian for 25 years until his resignation last December, is a
delicate one.
There is no doubt that Alhadeff, through his work at the Jewish Board
of Deputies, has been an enthusiastic advocate for interfaith harmony,
and bringing young Sydneysiders of different cultural backgrounds
together to increase understanding. He has constantly spoken out
against racism.
But he does so from the perspective of trying to reduce anti-Semitism,
amid an apparent increase in vilification, and last year's awful
physical attacks on a Jewish family in Bondi.
The Community Relations Commission's role is to represent all in the
wildly mixed bag of multicultural backgrounds that make up the NSW
population.
Kerkyasharian was the son of Armenian genocide survivors who spoke
Turkish, and carefully avoided being drawn into simmering hostilities
between the two groups over history.
Alhadeff's appointment had raised eyebrows from the start. Then
Premier Barry O'Farrell was close to the Jewish community, having
recently been awarded the Jerusalem Prize by the World Zionist
Organisation and relaunching the NSW Parliamentary Israeli Friendship
Group.
But even within the Jewish Board of Deputies, questions were asked
about how an inevitable conflict of interest between the commission
and the Jewish community would be dealt with.
O'Farrell's solution was to split the commission's leadership into two
roles: Alhadeff as the chairman, and Hakan Harman, a Turkish-born
public servant, as chief executive.
Both Muslim and Jewish communities would be represented.
This attempt at balance failed. Alhadeff energetically pursued the
intersecting interests of NSW's ethnic groups and the Jewish community
- primarily opposition to the Abbott government's repeal of 18c - in
the media spotlight. Harman quietly went about reviewing the work of
the commission. While of Muslim background, he wasn't closely involved
with Sydney's increasingly aggrieved Muslim community.
With Alhadeff gone, Harman will step into a more public role for the commission.
Alhadeff's downfall was partly bad timing, said one insider. His email
preceded a massive escalation of the Gaza conflict, and horrible daily
images on Australian television screens of injured and dead
Palestinian children. ''He became the live local person to hurl rocks
at,'' said the source.
That's not a position any multicultural agency head should ever place
themselves in.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/gaza-conflict-shouldnt-spill-into-sydney-hatred-20140801-zzi7i.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Aug 3 2014
Gaza conflict shouldn't spill into Sydney hatred
Kirsty Needham
When a Ukrainian Catholic Church was sprayed with racist graffiti in
Lidcombe in Sydney's west, Vic Alhadeff was swiftly onto the media to
raise the alarm.
As chairman of the NSW Community Relations Commission, Alhadeff led
the NSW Government's condemnation of the attack in June, which he said
echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on the Ukraine.
''It is deeply disappointing that some have seen fit to import
overseas conflicts and hatreds into our country and onto our
streets,'' Alhadeff said in a statement.
Earlier in the year, Alhadeff had been praised by NSW Labor for his
''eloquent and dignified'' words opposing the federal government's
proposal to weaken section 18C of the racial discrimination act. The
high profile new chairman appeared off to a strong start.
But when the turbulence of world affairs swept into Sydney for a
second time - as conflict between Israel and Hamas exploded in the
Middle East after the execution of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers,
and Israel unleashed its bombardment of Gaza - Alhadeff was among
those fanning the hatred.
It is not surprising that an email issued by Alhadeff in his capacity
as chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies expressed
Israel's line on ''the Hamas terror organisation''. He has been a
high-profile advocate of Israel for decades, and is paid to do so.
As has been repeatedly said since Alhadeff's resignation from the NSW
government commission, in the fallout from those comments, the problem
is with wearing two hats.
The important role played by the Community Relations Commission in
multicultural Sydney, that was handled so deftly by Stepan
Kerkyasharian for 25 years until his resignation last December, is a
delicate one.
There is no doubt that Alhadeff, through his work at the Jewish Board
of Deputies, has been an enthusiastic advocate for interfaith harmony,
and bringing young Sydneysiders of different cultural backgrounds
together to increase understanding. He has constantly spoken out
against racism.
But he does so from the perspective of trying to reduce anti-Semitism,
amid an apparent increase in vilification, and last year's awful
physical attacks on a Jewish family in Bondi.
The Community Relations Commission's role is to represent all in the
wildly mixed bag of multicultural backgrounds that make up the NSW
population.
Kerkyasharian was the son of Armenian genocide survivors who spoke
Turkish, and carefully avoided being drawn into simmering hostilities
between the two groups over history.
Alhadeff's appointment had raised eyebrows from the start. Then
Premier Barry O'Farrell was close to the Jewish community, having
recently been awarded the Jerusalem Prize by the World Zionist
Organisation and relaunching the NSW Parliamentary Israeli Friendship
Group.
But even within the Jewish Board of Deputies, questions were asked
about how an inevitable conflict of interest between the commission
and the Jewish community would be dealt with.
O'Farrell's solution was to split the commission's leadership into two
roles: Alhadeff as the chairman, and Hakan Harman, a Turkish-born
public servant, as chief executive.
Both Muslim and Jewish communities would be represented.
This attempt at balance failed. Alhadeff energetically pursued the
intersecting interests of NSW's ethnic groups and the Jewish community
- primarily opposition to the Abbott government's repeal of 18c - in
the media spotlight. Harman quietly went about reviewing the work of
the commission. While of Muslim background, he wasn't closely involved
with Sydney's increasingly aggrieved Muslim community.
With Alhadeff gone, Harman will step into a more public role for the commission.
Alhadeff's downfall was partly bad timing, said one insider. His email
preceded a massive escalation of the Gaza conflict, and horrible daily
images on Australian television screens of injured and dead
Palestinian children. ''He became the live local person to hurl rocks
at,'' said the source.
That's not a position any multicultural agency head should ever place
themselves in.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/gaza-conflict-shouldnt-spill-into-sydney-hatred-20140801-zzi7i.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress