The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) has today condemned the conservative lobby group Advance for providing a platform to grotesque antisemitic and anti-immigration rhetoric that downplayed the horrors of the Nazi regime.
As ABC reporting has revealed, at a recent conference in Sydney attended by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and sitting Liberal Senators, MAGA-affiliated speaker Benjamin Harnwell claimed that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policy “did more damage to Germany than Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.”
Speaking in response to these revelations, JCA executive officer Sarah Schwartz said:
“To suggest that a democratic leader’s welcoming of Syrian refugees is more damaging than the genocide of six million Jews and millions of others is a textbook example of Holocaust minimisation and flagrant antisemitism.”
“These comments expose a form of antisemitism that has been largely ignored by political leaders—one that fuses Islamophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric to advance a far-right bigoted agenda.”
“We call on Liberal politicians in attendance to apologise for their appearance at this hate-fest, and our leaders to condemn Advance Australia as an extremist hate organisation.”
As the Royal Commission into Antisemitism begins this week, the Jewish Council of Australia is calling on leaders to speak out against these antisemitic remarks and the threat that they pose to the safety of Jews, migrants and other marginalised communities.
Speaking on the Antisemitism Envoy’s role, JCA executive member Bart Shteinman said:
“Given that the Special Envoy Jillian Segal’s husband donated $50,000 to the organisers of this conference, Jewish Australians want to know whether she will be demanding an apology from Advance for providing a stage to someone who has engaged in Holocaust minimisation?”
What this conference has demonstrated yet again is that the far-right is obsessed with attacking minorities of all backgrounds. The fight against antisemitism is intertwined with the fight against all forms of racism and bigotry, including Islamophobia and anti-immigration rhetoric. The Advance conference brought together hateful figures obsessed with opposing migrants and committed to Islamophobic, antisemitic rhetoric.
“If the Antisemitism Envoy does not explicitly condemn Advance and this rhetoric, it only reinforces serious questions about her credibility and the purpose of the role. You cannot claim to combat antisemitism while remaining silent in the face of far-right racism and Holocaust minimisation.”
For media inquiries or to arrange an interview:
Email: media@jewishcouncil.com.au
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