The Jewish Council of Australia condemns the decision by Jewish communal organisations Adamama and Shalom to pull out of a partnership with Limmud Oz, because of the programming of progressive Jewish comedian, Jacob Sacher, for his affiliation with the Jewish Council of Australia and Palestine advocacy.
The Council views the collapse of this collaboration as a symptom of an insular establishment that refuses to tolerate internal differences. Rather than fostering open dialogue, outdated communal organisations are increasingly choosing censorship and division when confronted with progressive perspectives on human rights.
Speaking in response to this development, Bart Shteinman, Executive Officer of the Jewish Council of Australia said:
“Walking away from a cultural partnership simply because a Jew critical of Israel is speaking reflects a fragile and defensive communal leadership.
“This boycott shows how closed-minded our legacy communal institutions have become.
“Jacob is an incredible writer, an award-winning comedian and he wasn’t even speaking about Israel at Limmud. The choice of some organisations to seek to cancel him nonetheless says more about them than it does about him.”
The public justification for the boycott, amplified by figures like the Jewish National Fund shaliyach (emissary), perfectly illustrates this defensive mindset.
By arguing that the communal tent must exclude anyone who questions Israeli state policy, outdated gatekeepers are attempting to enforce a strict political loyalty test.
This exclusionary logic falsely implies that access to Jewish culture and education should be conditional on supporting a foreign government, a position that actively hollows out our communal life.
Speaking in response to this controversy, one Limmud organising committee member rightly observed “Jewish ideas and Jewish text and Jewish tradition is the province and inheritance of every single Jew.”
This incident highlights a broader trend of censorship and social ostracisation that is caused by the conflation of Jewish identity with support for Israel.
Bart Shteinman, Executive Officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, stated that: “The establishment’s inability to accommodate diverse views is alienating a huge portion of our community. Jacob Sacher is a valued independent voice, yet mainstream organisations treat his presence as an existential threat.
“We cannot build a sustainable or healthy community on a foundation of enforced conformity and political loyalty tests.
“We look forward to the day when communal Jewish institutions will open the doors again to Jews who are critical of Israel – without censorship or cancel culture.”
The Jewish Council stands in full solidarity with Jacob Sacher and will continue to challenge the narrowing of Jewish public life. The Council maintains that communal health and safety are advanced by embracing a plurality of voices rather than retreating into an insular echo chamber.
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