Combating antisemitism on the far right: an examination of the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism and its anti-defamation activities

Journal article

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In Journal Issue

Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 26, 1 (2022)

Author(s) Philip Mendes AbstractThe controversial Melbourne Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and anti-Semitism (JCCFAS) is one of Australian Jewry's most researched organisations. To date, the Council has been the subject of at least four academic theses, and more than a dozen scholarly journal articles and book chapters. Yet apart from two minor exceptions there has to date been no significant examination of the Council's core agenda, which was to combat manifestations of domestic antisemitism at the individual and group level. This article provides an historical overview of the anti-defamation activities led by the Council's Vigilance Committee, and argues that the Council's broader alliances - with trade unions, the Australian Labor Party, civil liberty groups, journalists and the churches - underpinned the effectiveness of its community advocacy and education campaigns. Notwithstanding the limitations caused by the Council's pro-Soviet political alignments and specific denial of Soviet antisemitism, the Council remained in domestic affairs a strong defender of Jewish interests.
Year2022
Pages54-78
Keyword(s)Antisemitism; Far right organisations; Australian League of Rights; Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies; Political alliances