Student reflections on the address of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu

Emanuel students, along with those from Moriah College, Masada College, Kesser Torah and BJE had the privilege of personally hearing Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of our Jewish State together with Malcom Turnbull, the Prime Minister of our country. The views and perspectives of our students, like those of their peers who were present, are as diverse as their backgrounds, family history, personal experiences, maturity and evolving thinking. What they and we all share in common is our love for and commitment to Israel and how we may best secure its flourishing future in working together to help realise its promise and ongoing centrality in our lives and that of our people.

Please find below some reflections of our students on the recent visit and address of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In conclusion, we present a transcript of Netanyahu’s address.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel, Head of Jewish Life

Liahm Simon – Year 11

Last week the students in Years 11 and 12 were privileged enough to have the opportunity to attend Moriah College to listen to an address by Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull and Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The presentation that we were fortunate to hear was the first ever by a sitting Israeli Prime Minister in Australia. During the address each Prime Minister spoke of their dreams for Australian Jewry and were delighted at the opportunity to speak to the next generation of Jewish leaders. 

During both of the respective Prime Ministerial addresses, they each spoke of the delight and honour it was to be able to directly address us, the students of the Jewish Day Schools of Sydney, as the generation that will have to carry forward our Jewish tradition and ideology. Prime Minister Netanyahu referred to the resilience every Jewish person needs to succeed with the rise of anti-Semitism and adversity that we will face in our everyday life. 

Both Prime Ministers referred to the fact that the Jewish people have had to overcome adversity throughout history, with Prime Minister Netanyahu detailing a very personal story of when his brother heroically helped rescue 102 hostages from the arms of Ugandan terrorists, but tragically died whilst fighting for the hostages’ freedom. Detailing this story he was able to emphasise the reality that even the most powerful Israeli, one of the most powerful living Jews, faces adversity and it is how you overcome it that defines you as a person. 

This was very much intertwined with the sentiment that Prime Minster Turnbull delivered when he described the heroism of General Sir John Monash who was a member of the Australian Armed Forces during World War I and was able to single-handedly turn around the battle of Hamel that turned the fortunes of the ANZACS during their German offensive. Although General Monash is considered to be the greatest ever Australian General, he only became a full-time soldier when the war broke out, leaving behind a very successful engineering career to fight for our country. He was not a well-trained military man, he was not from a family of soldiers, but when his country called he responded and against the odds, succeeded. 

This sentiment of succeeding against the odds was one shared by both of the Prime Ministers of Israel and Australia. Each of their addresses was eye-opening and this trip by Prime Minister Netanyahu (also seemingly against the odds, when so many prominent Australian politicians were not in favour of his visit), showed us, the next generation, that  there is always hope and it is about holding onto the hope, not finding the darkness.

Sophie Lew – Year 12

Today, I sat in a lecture hall with over 1,000 other Jewish students from across Sydney to witness Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Malcom Turnbull give an address. And what, in theory, feels like it should have been a momentous occasion, in reality feels like quite the opposite. 

Despite having my qualms about both Netanyahu and Turnbull, I was really looking forward to hearing them speak and what they had to say. Yet, after the great anticipation leading up to hearing Netanyahu talk, I left the hall with a strong, lingering feeling of being underwhelmed. 

Netanyahu took to the stage to simply rehash the details of our past as the Jewish people, and ended the speech with something along the lines of “because we’ve come so far, that’s why you should be proud to be Jewish and support Israel”. Yet, not only had almost every child in the hall been able to tell you the Jewish history considering we all attended some sort of Jewish institution, but I have always felt that the anecdote of the oppressed Jewish past as a reason to be Jewish and be proud to be Jewish is firstly, clichéd, and secondly, very unproductive. 

I feel proud to be Jewish, not because we have been oppressed and “here we are today” but because of the culture, the values, the community of today. I do not feel proud to be Jewish because the Maccabees were victorious or because the Roman’s took Masada from us but we won it back. I feel proud to be Jewish because we have Jewish women like Natalie Portman who were courageous enough to take a stand against racism and sexism, because when something happens to just one of us, the whole community bands together to support them. I feel proud to be Jewish because I love the tradition of coming together every Friday night with my family to reflect on the week that has been. 

I am not proud to be Jewish because I feel like I have to be and because I feel like I have to blindly support Israel. The narrative of the Jewish people is one to commemorate and at times, feel proud of, yet it is not the reason why we should feel proud to be Jewish and to belong to the Jewish people. Mr Netanyahu and I disagree on many issues, perhaps the one closest to my heart is that we should feel proud to be Jewish primarily or only because of our past. Rather, we should feel proud to be Jewish because of our present. And our future.  

Sonia Redman – Year 11

On Thursday 23 February, Year 11 and 12 Emanuel students had the great privilege to listen to Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Malcom Turnbull speak at Moriah College. It was certainly an historic moment, being the first time an Israeli Prime Minister has visited Australia. I felt fortunate to be able to hear the thoughts of such influential dignitaries, and stand with them in support of Israel and the Jewish community in Australia.

It was inspiring to hear the Prime Minister of Israel and the Prime Minister of Australia speak about their shared values and respect of each other. Their friendship reiterated the importance of creating relationships with Israel. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke very highly of Israel and the Jewish community, associating Australia’s progression as a successful multicultural society to the contribution of the Jewish community. It was empowering to see the appreciation of young Jewish Australians, and hear of the potential we held in the future of Australian society, as the government is in unity with our values. 

However, with all respect to the magnitude of the event, and the efforts of the co-ordinators, I felt that the true character of our culture was marginalised in favour of a focus on hardships and adversities.

Jewish identity comprises the past, present and future. While we cannot build our future as the Jewish people, loyal to the State of Israel, without faith in the values of our traditions and history, it is important not to use the plight of the Jewish people in the past as the core of our cultural identity. Prime Minister Netanyahu encouraged us to reflect on the oppression and exile of the Jewish people throughout history, and to recall the atrocities of the Holocaust. While this is important and deserves thoughtful commemoration, using these circumstances as the sole proof that Jews need an autonomous, national homeland in order to ensure security from the world’s impending doom, diminishes the value of the nation, and creates a narrow-minded perception of its purpose. 

Through the “never again” mentality that pervades Israeli society, the military is of more prominence in the culture of Israel than I expected, and Prime Minister Netanyahu embodied this by his focus on the strength of the IDF and their various successes. Historically, the emphasis on military duty makes sense, due to the constant existential threat from hostile neighbours. But in recent years, the Israeli army has become much more powerful than these neighbours, and workable peace has been proven successful in circumstances with nations like Egypt and Jordan. Yet the military remains deeply ingrained in Israeli society, and as the Prime Minister implied, thus in our identity as young Jewish Australians who want to connect to Israel.

Without a doubt, Judaism and Israel are a fundamental aspect of who I am, but my identity interacts differently within my Australian context, than it would in Israel. As young Jewish people in Australia, we do not face the same independence and reality of teenagers in Israel, preparing for their service in the army. Though we should support those who protect the land of such importance to our culture, our role in the continuation of our tradition and culture is not relevant to military and warfare. We must instead, from our position as young Jews in the Diaspora, work to support Israel from more productive ways, such as advancement in technology, acceptance and diplomacy that Jews have thus far been successful in. 

It’s about nature and nurture. Young Israelis our age, were born into their roles, and by circumstances, educated about their duty to defence as Israeli citizens. But security alone is short-sighted and does not constitute a long-term solution. In reality, a lasting solution will never exist as long as the different sides see each other as an existential threat, in which case violence is inevitable. But I don’t want my Jewish identity to be defined by Israel’s defence against threats, and my connection to Israel about strengthening its security, I want to focus on progress, innovation and peace. 

In his address, Prime Minister Netanyahu began by listing different tragedies that the Jewish people have overcome, unified in military strength. Though this displays the strength of Jewish character, it also freezes the Jews in the role of the victim, a dangerous position, as it could potentially be used to justify all Israeli actions and theoretically places Israel in a blameless state. His idea of unification through the struggles of our people puzzles me. Why should we have to claim oppression in order to find our peoplehood? Just as difficulties you face throughout your life don’t define the person you become and aspire to be in the future, the persecution of the Jewish people should not define the sense of self and cultural identity that Jews have developed in our society today. Healing from trauma does not mean reclaiming the same stories that reinforce our sense of perpetual victimhood. 

Instead, we should look around our growing and multicultural society we are so privileged to have in Australia and the opportunities to strengthen our Jewish identity in ways that don’t rely on our past oppression to define us. 

Focusing on the discrimination of the Jewish people in the past also confuses me because there have since been so many instances in which others, globally, have stood in solidarity with us. Yes, our past and the narrative of the Jewish people is wrought with great battles, exile and the return to the Jewish homeland despite all odds. But, what about the morals, the stories of great achievements and ideological advances that have placed Judaism in the centre of innovation and progress? Why concentrate on the past as a motive to stand with Israel and not consider the examples in which Israel and the Jewish people have been accepted by many different societies, welcomed and appreciated for our contributions around the world. It is a much more effective way in expressing Israel’s growing success and values, and, by incorporating the breadth of the Jewish Diaspora, we are recognising the efforts of Jews who formed their Jewish identities outside of the State of Israel, in places like Australia, where security and defence against threat are not their main priority and not the sole inspiration for Jewish unity and community. 

My disagreement with the Israeli Prime Minister should not be viewed as disrespect. In fact, it is a vital part of Judaism. It positions us in the tradition of Jewish argument, dating back to the Talmud, which encourages that we should engage in disagreement for the sake of a higher purpose. 

The Prime Minister had the great potential to provoke thought in our young minds, realising our vision for the progression of the Jewish community and the importance of Jewish homeland to our identities, not just a blind acceptance of it as our right because we overcame oppression. I would rather such an influential leader had spoken about the ways in which Israel has solidified its place in modern society, through the groundbreaking settlements in the Negev, the advancement of science and technology innovations, and the prominence of Jewish culture and heritage throughout the land, the true Jewish homeland. 

I hope my perspective on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address makes you think of the true heart of your own Jewish identity, and how you may wish to solidify your connection to Israel.  

Pnina Hagege – Year 12

The news of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit had me riddled with excitement! Since witnessing Israel’s prosperity in person on Chavayah, I couldn’t help but admire the people behind the country’s success and, despite its inherent turbulent circumstances, the warming nature that has become a part of Israel.

So, when I experienced Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Moriah, I constantly kept in mind these things. After both Prime Ministers concluded their speeches that reflected the strong relationship of our nations, I left the auditorium feeling proud of the leaders of my two home countries. After being constantly exposed to leaders that never fail to absorb our social media, news and televisions with their negative attributes and decisions, it is comforting to know that there are still leaders out there who constantly maintain their morality. Thank you to these dignitaries for leaving me feeling hopeful for our future!

Address of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivered at Moriah College on Thursday 23 February 2017

Thank you all and thank you, our great friend, Malcolm Turnbull and Lucy, who have exemplified the warmth that we feel between Israel and Australia.

When you come to Australia, you feel warmth. First of all, the sun is shining, like in Israel. Secondly, people are completely informal, like in Israel. And third, there is just this vibrant friendship, a feeling of kindred spirits, and it’s on this occasion that I come here with a great privilege, with my wife Sara. It’s not the first time we’ve been to Australia, but it’s the first time that I come in the capacity of prime minister of Israel to extend the hand of friendship. That friendship, as Malcolm Turnbull had just said, extends for a century. A hundred years of friendship, and we’re celebrating now the beginning of the next one hundred years of friendship between Israel and Australia.

Now, Prime Minister Turnbull has spoken of a great Jewish warrior, a great Jewish soldier, John Monash. But Monash was the exception. And it’s important to understand what happened to our people, what happened to our people throughout our history and the great transformation that took place in the rebirth of the State of Israel.

I was born one year after the establishment of the state. You all were born later. Probably your parents were born after the State of Israel and maybe some of your grandparents even. But it’s hard to imagine what the world was like for the Jewish people before the rebirth of the Jewish state.

We take things for granted today, but they’re not obvious. You see, the fact is in modern times there were very, very few Jewish soldiers – almost non-existent. This is a great change compared to our antiquity. You know the story of the Maccabees, yes? They were great warriors. You know the story of Joshua? Great warrior. King David? The other kings of Israel? You know that story. So in antiquity, our people, though we were small, were known for their fierce courage, their ability to fight. We didn’t succeed always, but we always resisted the attempts to oppress us and enslave us, and we produced some of the greatest heroes that mankind has known.

This is the story of the Jewish people in antiquity, but because we lost our independence against mighty powers, including the Roman empire, we were able to fight for our independence, able to muster our courage, able to show gallantry in the battlefield as long as we kept our land. But once we were driven away from that land, we were stripped of our powers. Century after century, the Jews were stripped of the power to resist the various attacks on our freedoms, on our very existence. And over the centuries in the Diaspora, the Jews who had been known as gallant fighters in antiquity were known essentially as a rootless people unable to fend for themselves, unable to demand the basic rights and respect that any human being and any human group deserves.

And so we were transformed from this fierce, fighting people in antiquity gradually to a people unable to defend themselves, and this progression of calamities took place over the centuries – first massacres and pogroms, and mass expulsions and then finally culminating in the greatest tragedy of all, in the Holocaust.

There is a book, a film actually, that was produced by Claude Lanzmann, a French Jew, called Shoah. Have you heard about it? Yes. Well, in Shoah, in the Warsaw Ghetto, the darkest days of the Warsaw Ghetto, one of the survivors, one of the last occupants of the ghetto escapes through a sewage tunnel and he goes to seek help in Warsaw. And he meets some Polish resistance people, non-Jews. And he said, ‘Please help us. Help us. Bring us some help.’ And the Polish resistance responded, ‘We cannot help you. We cannot help our Jewish brethren.’

And this person goes back through the sewage tunnel, exits in the heart of the Warsaw Ghetto, and he sees no life around him. Everything is silent. Everything is dark. And he says to himself, “I am the last Jew on Earth. The Jewish people are finished.”

But it is a fact that we weren’t finished. It is a fact that we mustered that ancient courage that characterized our people, that we reestablished our independence in our ancestral homeland, that we rebuilt a state and formed an army that brought the courage of the Maccabees back to life. You see it in the soldiers of Israel. You see it in their courage, young men and women, who time after time stand up and defend our state. And the world wonders and they say, “What is this Israeli army? Where did it come from?” It’s been there all along, but we had to come back to our state. We had to come back and rekindle that spirit.

So I was five years in the Israeli army. I had a lot of training, walking around the country, hiking through it. It’s not a hike, you know? You carry a fifty kilo pack on your back. It’s not the most pleasant of experiences. Yet I remember that as we were making these marches, I still would look at the country, and I said there is something magical about it. I remember one time we came to the foothills of Masada, after a very lengthy track, and you think… You’d go to sleep, rest your body, but I couldn’t sleep. I was looking at that fortress and I was thinking of our, the great defeat that we had here, which also seemed to be the end of Jewish history. And I looked up and I said, well, we’re here. The Romans are gone. The Jewish people and the Jewish state are resplendent, back to life, able to defend themselves, able to create a future for ourselves, able to contribute to mankind.

This is the rebirth of the Jewish state, and the amazing thing is the transformation that this created for Jews everywhere, because Jews everywhere drew power, strength, conviction, and pride from the rebirth of the State of Israel. Natan Sharansky told me that when he learned of the Entebbe rescue, it gave him enormous, enormous conviction and enormous confidence in resisting the mighty Soviet empire. Jews were transformed as the Jewish state transformed Jewish history and Jewish destiny. You are part of that destiny. You are part of the reborn Jewish people.

If there’s one thing that I could tell you here today: Be proud Jews. Stand up. Be proud. Stand with Israel. Stand with our people. Be proud Jews. Do this in Sydney and do it in Jerusalem and come this year to Jerusalem.”