Australia Mayor With Jewish Roots Shuns Synagogue in Israel Feud

Peter Abelson Image by Flickr

By Dave Goldiner January 16, 2017

An Australian mayor whose father’s family is Jewish is under fire for boycotting an annual synagogue event because of what he called Israel’s “illegal” and provocative policies.

Peter Abelson, the mayor of Mosman, near Sydney, said he wouldn’t go to the new year event at the Great Synagogue in Sydney because of Jewish support for Israel.

“I should express my deep personal concern about the gross and illegal occupation of the West Bank which creates intense international division and bitterness and, unresolved, will cause endless terrorism across the globe,” said Peter Abelson, the mayor of Mosman, near Sydney.

Rabbi Benjamin Elton of the Great Synagogue said he was flabbergasted by Abelson’s response, which he called blatantly anti-Semitic.

“I’m astonished, really,” Elton told the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies. “To boycott a Jewish event in Sydney because of the actions of Israel, that’s a form of anti-Semitism.”

Abelson, who is also a university economics professor, countered that he has Jewish roots and has every right to speak out against Israel.

“To say someone who is critical of the West Bank is anti-Jewish is just nonsense,” he said.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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