J , AUJ LLLA
PRIME MINISTER
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
ANNIVERSARY OF THE CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE
BONDI JUNCTION, 22 FEBRUARY 1987
Mr Ron Nowman, President of the Central Synagogue,
Rabbie Dr Nisson Schulman,
Professor Graham de Vahi Davies, President of the Jewish
Board of Deputies,
Members of~ the Jewish Board of Deputies,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Thank you for your welcome. You have done Hazel and me a
great honour by inviting us again to this Synagogue, this
time to celebrate with you your 75th anniversary.
We were honoured in 1985, to be present when, Rabbi
Schulman, you became Chief Minister of this, the largest
congregation in Australia.
More than 2000 people belong to the Synagogue today a far
cry from your early days in Dowling Street, where the
Synagogue first held servies in 1912, and then in Grosvenor
Street, where the Synagogue spent more than three decades
from 1922.
In the post-war years the Central Synagogue grew with the
waves of immigration from Europe and it includes among its
members survivors of the Holocaust.
In the 1950s, it became apparent that the Synagogue might
again have to find new premises to cater for its growing
numbers. Thanks to the vision and skills of many people, we
find ourselves today in this fine building celebrating your
anniversary.
The Synagogue has benefited profoundly from the European
learning and tradition your members have brought to us, as
indeed the whole of Australia has benefited from the
contribution made by the Jewish community to our society.
To name a few of the great Australians who have been members
of the Jewish community is to appreciate just how
substantial that contribution has been: Monash, Head of the
Armed Forces; Isaacs, Chief Justice and Governor-General;
Cowen, Governor-General; Stone, jurist and teacher.
Youts is a remarkable and vibrant community and a special
occasion like the 75th anniversary of the nation's largest
congregation is an appropriate and proper time to
acknowledge that fact.
over the last 75 years this Synagogue has seen many
developments in this country and in the history of the
Jewish peopl. Not least among these was the formation and
development of~ the State of Israel.
Australians have every reason to be proud of their
involvement in the events leading up to the creation of
Israel in 1948.
Australian soldiers played a valuable role in the Middle
East in two World Wars.
We are proud to have been able to champion the cause of
Israel in the UN Special Committee on Palestine in 1947,
which led to the UN Partition Resolution and the
establishment of the State of Israel.
I am especially proud that it was H. V. Evatt, Foreign
Minister in an Australian Labor Party government, who was
the General Assembly President when Israel was admitted to
the United Nations. In that forum on many occasions since
then, Australia has been noted for its support for Israel.
my personal interest in Israel was sparked the first time I
set foot there in 1971.
I was impressed by and indeed envied the electoral and
administrative success of the Israel Labor Party, which had
then been in power for over twenty years especially since
at the time the Australian Labor Party had been out of
office for about the same number of years.
I was impressed too by the strength of the Trade Union
Movement, the Histadrut. And as a social democrat, I could
not fail to respect the way in which Israel had incarnated
the vision of David Ben Gurion of a working class building
its own nation through its own physical and intellectual
labour.
What particularly impressed me, however, was the fundamental
fact that Israel was a democracy, a remarkable democracy,
incessantly engaged in democratic disputation about every
aspect of national policy.
The respect which I felt for these aspects of Israeli life
has been fortified on every subsequent visit I made there
and most especially on my most recent visit in late January.
On that occasion I had the honour, having accepted an
invitation from the President of Israel, His Excellency Mr
Chaim Herzog, of becoming the first Australian Prime
M4inister to visit Israel.
I was received with very great generosity by President
Herzog, Pri-. ne Minister Shamnir, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon
Peres and other outstanding personalities such as Abba Eban.
I held talks with them and a large number of Ministers and
leader of che Labor Party and Trade Union. It was a great
pleasure for me to be among old friends.
A personal highlight of the visit to Israel was the gesture
of Hebrew University in Jerusalem in honouring me with the
award of an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy. I do not need
to remind this gathering of the brilliant intellectual
tradition~ s of that great university.
While in Jerusalem I also had the moving experience of
meeting with mothers and relatives of refuseniks people
who have been prevented, often over many years, from
reuniting with their families who are unable to leave the
Soviet Untion.
One case struck me as particularly unjust: it involves a
woman, Mrs Sofia Landver, who had applied for a visa to
enter the Soviet Union to see her mother who was dying of
cancer. After our meeting, I took steps to have Mrs
Landver's case investigated, and was delighted to hear
that she was granted a visa. Tragically, however the news
came too late her mother died before they could be
reunited.
At least it can be acknowledged that the Soviet authorities
granted Mrs Landver a visa and I understand that two other
relatives of Mrs Landver's mother have since been given exit
visas to leave the Soviet Union.
As I said in Parliament on Tuesday, since coming to office
the Government has taken every available opportunity to
raise its concerns about the plight of the Soviet Jewry. Mr
Hayden, -the Minister for Foreign Affairs, raised the matter
directly with the Soviet authorities in Moscow in 1984. I
think it is well known that I have raised it on occasions
with the Soviet Ambassador. An Australian parliamentary
delegation to the Soviet Union last year again raised the
question with high level authorities. This delegation made
a new appeal for the release of Jewish activists still
imprisoned in the Soviet Union especially, Dr losef Begun
who was in detention for having taught Hebrew in the Soviet
union.
4.
I know that all of us here would have been heartened by the
news after some days of confusion that it has been
confirmed that Dr Begun has been released.
I have made it clear that when the Soviet Foreign Mlinister,
Mr Shevardn. dze, visits Australia next month, I will be
raising with him the question of the treatment of Soviet
Jewry. while I was in the Middle East I1 spent much of my time
discussing v-ith the government leaders the complex issues
underlying the Arab-Israeli dispute.
The fundamental theme that emerged from my talks in all the
countries I visited Jordan and Egypt as well as Israelwas
the desire of all the governments for peace.
This sincere desire was marked not just by a yearning for
the absence of conflict but by a perception that real and
lasting peace will permit economic development, and yield
improvements in the quality of the everyday life of the
peoples of nll nations there.
Nobody should pretend that such an outcome is easy or is
likely to come soon. Indeed my visit took place at a time
when progress towards peace seems to have stalled.
There are nc immediate prospects for a breakthrough. At the
same time I was encouraged by the fact that the commitment
to peace by the nations I visited has not died.
Indeed, I detected a sense of realistic determination to
continue, slovwly but persistently, the search for progress.
Moreover, as I told Parliament this week, I believe there
are ideas and concepts which, if pursued, would offer a way
ahead.
Australia socks no mediating or other role in the Middle
East peace process. However, as I made clear during my
visit, we are willing, if requested, to do all we can to
help bring peace to this divided yet fundamentally
interrelated region. I believe no Australian Government can
or should offer less.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I said at the outset that the 75 years in which this
Synagogue hc. s served the community have witnessed some of
the most momentous events in the history of the Jewish
people. Let uis all hope that we witness another, greater,
chapter: the attainment of real peace in the Middle East
and the consequent improvement in the quality of life for
all the peoples of the region.