This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish life in Australia.
Australia
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Fast Forward Australia Rabbi Says Synagogue Vandals ‘Damn Lucky’ To Escape
A Sydney rabbi whose synagogue was spray-painted with swastikas excoriated the vandals on Facebook. “You were damn lucky that I wasn’t there to catch you,” Rabbi Yossi Friedman wrote Monday in a post that began with the words “I am furious.” His Maroubra Synagogue was vandalized over the weekend with several swastikas. The Nazi symbol…
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Fast Forward BDS Goes Down Under as Australia Party Seeks Ban on Israel Trips
A former national president of the Australian Labor Party has criticized its New South Wales branch following the publication of motions seeking to ban its members from participating in Jewish-sponsored trips to Israel. The motion will be raised at the NSW Labor conference to be held in Sydney on February 13 and February 14. Warren…
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Fast Forward Jewish Australians Pitch In for Victims of Massive Bush Fires
SYDNEY — Two Jewish men from Perth used Facebook to generate support for the victims of fires which destroyed the western Australian town of Yarloop claiming two lives. Shmoo Burnie, 34, and Daniel Gerson, 35, took to social media to seek support for the victims of the massive bush fires which have destroyed over 130…
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Fast Forward Australia’s Turnbull Kindles Hanukkah Lights at Sydney Central Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull participated in the Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony at Sydney’s Central Synagogue. Turnbull lit the shamash and held it during the blessings, passing it to Cantor Shimon Farkas to light the eight candles on Sunday night. The prime minister spoke to over 500 members of Sydney’s Central Synagogue community about the…
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Fast Forward Queen’s Australia Representative Visits Sydney’s Great Synagogue
Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Australia, attended a Shabbat service last at Sydney’s Great Synagogue with his wife. The synagogue’s Chief Minister Rabbi Benjamin Elton met the couple at the synagogue’s gates. The conregation’s roots date back to 1828, 40 years after British colonists first came to Australia. “Their Excellencies had…
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Fast Forward Historic Synagogue in Australian Outback Is Vandalized
A historic synagogue in the Australian outback mining city of Broken Hill was defaced with Nazi and Islamic symbols. The curator of the synagogue arrived at work Monday to prepare for a visit by tourists and found the front of the building had been vandalized. Margaret Price, the coordinator of the Synagogue of the Outback…
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Fast Forward Australian Lawmaker Blasts Mufti for Not Condemning Paris Terror
Australian lawmaker Josh Frydenberg said the grand mufti of Australia “failed in his leadership” by not condemning the Paris terrorist attacks. Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, the grand mufti, originally expressed sorrow over the deaths of at least 130 people in the wake of the attacks, but did not specifically condemn them. Media reports on the initial…
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Fast Forward Anti-Semitic Incidents Decline in Australia
The number of anti-Semitic incidents within Australia has decreased by 39 percent in the last year according to the latest figures released by The Executive Council of Australian Jewry. The organization attributed this to a spike in incidents in the previous year caused by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. In total, there…
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