This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish life in Australia.
Australia
The Latest
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Fast Forward Australian Chabad Yeshiva Guard Found Guilty of Raping Boy
A former security guard at an Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne was convicted of child rape and molestation. David Cyprys, 44, was a contract worker for Yeshivah College, a Chabad-run boys’ school, when he abused nine boys in the 1980s and early 1990s. A jury at the County Court of Victoria found him guilty last…
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Fast Forward Joshua Frydenberg, Jewish Rising Star, Joins New Australian Government
The sole Jewish member of the new Australian government was appointed to a junior minister position. Joshua Frydenberg was promoted to parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister on Monday by the newly elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Abbott’s Liberal Party won the Sept. 7 election in a landslide over the Labor Party, ending its six-year…
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Fast Forward Leading Orthodox Rabbi in Australia Apologizes for Abuse Cover Up
The president of the Orthodox rabbinate in Australia issued an unequivocal apology to the victims of child sex abuse and urged perpetrators to turn themselves in to police. On the eve of Yom Kippur, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, president of the Organization of Rabbis of Australasia, said the “culture of cover-up” in Australia is wrong. “An…
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Fast Forward Staunch Israel Supporter Tony Abbott Wins Australia Premiership
Australia’s Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott, a staunch supporter of Israel, was elected the country’s new prime minister. The Labor government was swept from its six-year term in office on Saturday as the conservative Liberal Party won a convincing, and expected, victory. Abbott – a surf life-saver, volunteer fire-fighter and one-time trainee Catholic priest –…
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Fast Forward Maccabi Australia To Probe Abuse Scandal
Maccabi Australia will conduct an independent review of its handling of a child sex abuse scandal that resulted in a former basketball coach being jailed last month for eight years. Shannon Francis was found guilty of several child sex abuse offenses between 1999 and 2000, including sexual penetration of a minor, while he was coaching…
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Fast Forward Nod to Orthodox as ‘Sex Party’ Downgraded by Australian Candidate
A Jewish lawmaker in Australia is under fire for changing his sample ballot cards in deference to the large Orthodox Jewish community in his electorate. Michael Danby, a junior minister in the Labor government, placed the Sex Party last in sample ballot cards he sent to Orthodox Jewish voters in his Melbourne electorate ahead of…
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Fast Forward Australia Jews Swing to Right as Election Nears
Jewish community leaders in Australia have virtually abandoned support for the governing Labor Party, with most privately hoping the conservative Liberal Party wins the federal election next weekend. The near consensus in favor of Tony Abbott to replace Kevin Rudd as the nation’s next PM comes as the Liberal Party reportedly plans to upgrade relations…
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Fast Forward Former Aussie Maccabi Coach Jailed for Sexually Abusing Girls
A former coach of a Maccabi basketball team in Australia was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing four girls more than a decade ago. Shannon Francis, who is not Jewish, was sentenced Wednesday by County Court of Victoria Judge Meryl Sexton. Francis must serve at least 5 1/2 years before he is…
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