This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish life in Australia.
Australia
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Fast Forward Australia Promotes Ally of Palestinians to Key Post
Australia’s new deputy prime minister is a founding member of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group. Anthony Albanese, a longstanding member of the left faction of the Labor Party, was sworn in by Australia’s Governor-General Quentin Bryce Monday as part of Kevin Rudd’s new cabinet. Rudd was parachuted into power last week for his second…
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Fast Forward Chabad Rabbi Sorry for Suggesting Australian Boys Agreed to Sex Abuse
The Chabad rabbi at the center of a scandal surrounding his views on allegations of child sex abuse in Sydney two decades ago has apologized. Rabbi Baruch Lesches, who now runs the Lubavitch community in Monsey, N.Y., issued a statement Monday saying he “deeply regretted” comments attributed to him in news reports Sunday and stressed…
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Fast Forward Chabad Rabbi Suggests Australian Child Victims Agreed to Sex Abuse
A former senior Chabad leader in Sydney suggested that some of the Jewish victims of alleged child sex abuse in Australia may have consented. Rabbi Boruch Lesches, who now heads the Lubavitch community in Monsey, N.Y., was a top leader at the Sydney Chabad for 20 years starting in the mid-1980s. In recordings of a…
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Fast Forward Australian Police Identify Suspects in 1982 Terror Bombing Aimed at Jews
Police in Australia say they now have four primary suspects in the 1982 bombings of the Israeli Consulate and the Hakoah Club, and offered a $100,000 reward to help flush them out. Detective Chief Superintendent Wayne Gordon, the commander of the terrorism investigation squad, told reporters Thursday in Sydney that he hoped the money would…
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Fast Forward Australian Jewish Umbrella Organization Condemns Groups Who Back Israel Boycott
Melbourne Jewry’s umbrella organization voted to condemn a Jewish group that supports the boycott of goods from the West Bank. The Jewish Community Council of Victoria in a 29-4 vote on Monday passed a motion condemning “in the strongest possible terms” the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The debate on the motion, which was brought by…
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Fast Forward First Jewish Funeral Held in Australian Outback Town Since 1943
The first Jewish funeral in an Australian Outback town since 1943 was held with the aid of a Facebook and Twitter campaign. On Sunday, more than 20 Jews came to the cemetery in the rural town of Goulbourn, about 125 miles south of Sydney, for the funeral of Wayne Robinson, whose dying wish was to…
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Fast Forward Australian Jewish Man Saves Dying Stranger With Stem Cell Donation
The stem cells of an Australian Jewish man are a perfect match for a critically ill Jew who is believed to be dying from a rare blood disorder. Craig Rosen, 42, from Melbourne, began donating his stem cells three months ago and underwent procedures until May 20, Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper reported. “This patient I…
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Fast Forward Australia Abuse Victim’s Brother Tussles With Chabad Rabbi in Synagogue
A senior Australian Orthodox rabbi had his glasses ripped from his face during a synagogue altercation with a relative of a prominent advocate for sex abuse victims. Rabbi Zvi Telsner, the spiritual leader of the Yeshivah Center, which houses the city’s Chabad headquarters, offered festive greetings to Chaim Waks at the end of the Shavuot…
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