Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a couple of weeks, at sundown, on 20 September, the Jewish community in my electorate, and across the world, will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It commences in the period of Yamim Noraim, or Days of Awe, in the lead up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is due this year at sundown, on 29 September. So I'm getting in early this year to wish Perth's Jewish community: shanah tovah, happy new year. I also take this opportunity to wish them very well for Yom Kippur: gmar hatima tova, and I wish you an easy fast.

On the border between my electorate and that of the honourable member for Stirling is Carmel School; Perth Hebrew Congregation; Maurice Zeffert aged care home; Kosher Meals on Wheels; the Dianella Shule; Temple David congregation; The Maccabean newspaper; and a host of other organisations and facilities that demonstrate the strength of spirit of the Jewish community in Perth.

I've only been the member for Perth for just over a year, but I have always been welcomed, unconditionally, with warm hearts wherever and whenever I have visited any of these Jewish community organisations. I'm sure the member for Stirling will forgive me when he sees me straying into his electorate for Jewish community events. I've even seen the member for Canning there every now and again, and certainly he'd forgive him. I saw him, quite a distance from his electorate, at the Yom Ha'atzmaut, the Israeli Independence Day, hosted by the State Zionist Council of Western Australia at the Jewish Centre in Yokine.

That holiday commemorates the declaration by Ben-Gurion of the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, a mere eight hours before the expiry of the British Mandate of Palestine. Like so many declarations of independence before it and since, conflict erupted almost immediately. Those first years of modern Israeli statehood were complicated. They were bloody, and for many across the world—particularly in the region—they remain controversial and contested. But the story doesn't start in 1948, nor does it start with the persecution and murder of European Jews in the 1930s or the Russian pogroms of the 19th century or even 1860, when Jews were allowed to live in Palestine, outside of Jerusalem's Old City walls.

The story begins with the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. And thence commences the millennia-long cycle of exile and restoration—the Philistines; Babylon; Persia; the Greeks; the Romans; Solomon's construction of the Temple, and its destruction, reconstruction and destruction again; Egypt (again); the Crusaders; the Saracens; Napoleon; and the British. Exiled, dispersed and fragmented, the Jews survived persecution, genocide, the Inquisition, pogroms, blood libel, the Holocaust.

It seems to me that, after all these thousands of years, the perseverance and tenacity of the people of Israel is what has kept them pulling together toward their goal, even when scattered across the globe. Israel today is the world's only Jewish state, surrounded by nations, some of whom fundamentally disagree with its right to exist. Amongst all of that, Israel remains a beacon of democracy and plurality in the Middle East. I had the pleasure of visiting Israel some time ago. What I heard there and what I saw there in the Holy Land was balanced and nuanced, but most of all it was incredibly complex. It is a nation, it seems to me, which remains acutely aware of the existential threats it faces on a day-to-day basis. But its citizens get on with their lives, with hope, optimism and perseverance.

The fact that the state of Israel exists is something that Perth's local Jewish community—really close to my home—can point to and say: 'Look! We now have what God promised to our forefathers long, long ago. After millennia of pain and persecution and suffering and exile, look at what we have now.' My message to my local Jewish community in Perth is this: there are many in this place who seek to understand what Israel means to you, who seek to acknowledge the longest story and the existential imperatives around these issues. Not only is my door always open but I will continue to come to you to support the strong community you have built. I know that I can say the same for your local state MLA, Simon Millman, and your local WA Labor senator, Glenn Sterle. I will end how I began: Shanah Tovah! I thank the House.