B’nai B’rith: Politics Is No Place For Antisemitism

B’nai B’rith Anti Defamation Chairman John Searle

By Robin Rotfleisch
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem ----- May 12, 2008 ....... B’nai B’rith Anti Defamation Chairman, John Searle said today that he was disgusted and appalled at the anti-Semitic outburst allegedly contained in an e mail sent by a senior member of the Liberal Party.

Searle said that no tolerance at all should be granted in relation to this type of behaviour.

“It is entirely unacceptable. There is no place for such behavior anywhere in our society, let alone amongst the senior figures of one of our major political parties.”

“Fortunately, it appears to be the views as expressed by a single member of the Liberal Party and is not representative of the views generally held within the Liberal Party”, Searle said.

He added that he was satisfied upon reading the reaction to the comments by Liberal leader, Ted Baillieu. Searle expressed every confidence that Baillieu would deal with the situation in a swift and satisfactory manner.

Searle, a lawyer with a history of community involvement, is the founding president of Blake Street Hebrew Congregation and still sits on its executive. He is also an executive member of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, where he headed up the security arm of the organisation. He is currently vice-president of the Friends of Beit Halochem Victoria and a councillor with the Executive Council of Australia Jewry.

B'nai B'rith International is the world’s oldest and largest Jewish community service organisation, founded in 1843 in New York.

Antisemitism, racism and religious and ethnic vilification have the capacity to do untold harm to human beings in any society. The ADC aims to control the harm caused by people and organisations that engage in or encourage discriminatory behaviour in our society. Equally important, the ADC works to promote those democratic and humane values that serve to prevent such harm.

 

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