Jews for Refugees Media Release and a Reminder to Nicola Roxon

Dave Nadel is a longtime activist, and has made this comment about the media release:
This is particularly relevant this week. Nicola Roxon, granddaughter of Jewish refugees from Nazism, is allowing ASIO to get away with rejecting Tamil refugees who have already been cleared as genuine refugees. If the ASIO reports were made public they would undoubtedly reveal that ASIO is accepting advice from the Sri Lankan security forces who regard most Tamils as terrorists. This harkens back to 1939 when some German and Austrian Jews were barred as refugees from Australia and the US because of their “criminal records” They had criminal records because the Nazis considered all Jews as criminals and the local immigration officers were accepting information from the German police. Nicola Roxon should know better
Jews For Refugees Media Release: 16 May 2012
*Please forward on to your networks*
You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.
(The most often repeated injunction in the Torah – appearing 36 times)
The World Refugee Day Rally, endorsed by 50 organisations, will be held on Sunday 17 June and we invite people to join us under the Jews For Refugees banner. The rally starts at 12 midday on the steps of Parliament House in Spring Street and will march to join the Emerge Festival at the Fitzroy Town Hall. More details of our meeting point will be publicised well before the rally.
Ten years ago 700 people in the Jewish community publicly protested the plight of asylum seekers; people who had fled from war and persecution; people who literally arrived on our shores in boats seeking protection; people who were then locked up under an Australian government policy of mandatory, indefinite detention. That protest was co-ordinated by Jews For Refugees.
Mandatory detention is now 20 years old. Things have not changed. Asylum seekers arriving by boat are still locked up by the Australian government, and issues relating to who they are and how they arrive, are debated in a climate of fear, resentment and anger, largely directed at the very people who deserve a humane response from us – in a country blessed with the resources to assist those in need.
A new group of people in the Jewish community have restarted Jews For Refugees because many people in our community are aware, from their own family histories, of what it means to have been strangers; what it means to have a well founded fear of persecution; what it means to seek a safe haven; to seek asylum.
Spokesperson for the group, Max Kaiser said, “Actively working to help people in need is both an expression of contemporary Jewish attitudes and is strongly connected to Jewish values and ethics stretching back millennia”
For more details about Jews For Refugees contact Max Kaiser on 0423 234 069 or email ([email protected]). We can also be found on Facebook (search for ‘Jews For Refugees’ or go to https://www.facebook.com/JewsForRefugees).
Contact details: Max Kaiser Mob: 0423 234 069
Linda Briskman Mob: 0417 500 274

Jews for Refugees