2015 ADC Gandel Oration with Rabbi Abraham CooperÂ

1. Message from Chairman
2. Photo Gallery
3. Media engagements
4. ADC News Items
5. Supporters & Patrons

We live in dangerous times.

With the frightening and unprecedented resurgence of global anti-Semitism, the escalation of anti-Israel activity on campus, violent and murderous assaults against Jewish communities, and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, we face levels of hatred we haven’t seen in 70 years.

The challenges ahead are daunting.

Today, the voice of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission is more important and critical than ever.

Never before has there been a greater need for the ADC to do everything in its power to stop the defamation and the delegitimization of the Jewish people and Israel.

The struggle against the evil of this modern day scourge is a fight that the ADC is committed to win, and one we cannot afford to lose.

Here, at home, there are disturbing trends and signs of an ever increasing radicalism, anti-Semitism and intolerance.

In its 36th year, the ADC continues to proactively stand up to the purveyors of hatred who are out in full force.

Each and every day, we roll up our sleeves, helping the victims, keeping a watchful eye on the bigots and the Holocaust deniers, and building new bridges of understanding and trust.

The work that we do has a tremendous impact on people’s lives, changing hearts and minds.

Through our ground-breaking educational and free program Click Against Hate, now running in more than 50 schools, we help students see Jews in a different way, cutting off the poisonous weed of hate at the root.

The ADC-Gandel oration, now in its 32^nd year, would not be possible without the transformative and incredible generosity of Gandel Philanthropy, and especially John and Pauline Gandel. I would like to record my enormous gratitude and profound admiration for their unwavering commitment to our cause, and look forward to celebrating many more years of this signature communal event.

We deeply cherish our friendship with John and Pauline, and with their help we are creating a lasting legacy for the coming generations and a better future for our children and grandchildren.

We are enormously proud and honoured to have Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre as the 2015 ADC-Gandel Orator. Rabbi Cooper, a close friend of famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, is a world-renowned leader and warrior in the never-ending fight against anti-Semitism. A respected voice of reason and knowledge, for more than 30 years Rabbi Cooper has shown remarkable courage in speaking up against all forms of racism and discrimination.

Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and appreciation to the ADC office staff, to our Projects and Development Manager Edna Lipson for all her hard work and dedication, as well as to Minette Machet, our Administration Officer for her terrific support. I would also like to thank Michele Slatem, Dannyella Levin and Annette Gladwin for all that they do.

There is still so much work to do. But, with your help, we will succeed.

Dr Dvir Abramovich

Dr Abramovich meets The Hon John Howard OM, AC

“In Remembrance lies the roots of Redemption;
In forgetfulness les the roots of Destruction”

From the birth of the Jewish people in Egypt to the depths of despair of the Shoah, Jews have always set their moral and historic compass to our collective memory.

Today, on the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II, we face the new/old threat of anti-Semitism; a newly empowered and emboldened Mullahocracy in Iran brazenly threatening Israel and her supporters around the world, mocking the victims of the Shoah and promoting Holocaust denial as state policy—and yet not one of the P5+1 leaders, not President Obama, not Prime Minister Cameron, not Chancellor Merkel, not President Hollande, uttered a single word of protest.

We live in a time when a European establishment is all to happy to bow their heads for a moment of silence for dead Jews slaughtered by the Nazis and local collaborators but have precious little time for live Jews beset by a resurgent anti-Semitism.

We live in a day when too many academics entrusted to teach our children and grandchildren at leading Universities betray their mandate and our trust by spouting the big lies of ‘Israel-Apartheid,’ by standing silently on the sidelines as Jewish students are intimidated by ‘activists’ whose anti-Israel invective bring tears of joy and hope to the genocidal anti-Semites of Hamas and Hezbollah.

We live in an era, where virtually every Synagogue, every Day School, every Jewish Community Center in Western democracies must be protected by police or security guards, lest well-trained Islamist terrorists target our precious children and families at prayer, study, or Simchah.

We live at a time, when Jews in Copenhagen, Paris, Tolousse, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, are urged not to wear their kippah or chai jewelry in public, lest they be attacked in public.

But this is also a wondrous time in Jewish history when Jews are fulfilling Biblical Prophecies and promises of a miraculous return to the Land of Israel from the four corners of the globe.

A time of rediscovery of the long-dormant wonders of the Holy Land; a time when more People are studying Torah in Jerusalem than any time in our history; a time when The Startup Nation’s Brain’s and chutzpah benefit all humankind through incredible innovations in technology and bio-tech.

We have lived to see the Star of David proudly wave above life-saving teams flown in from Israel to save lives after devastating earthquakes in Haiti and tragic Tsunamis in Japan;

We live then “in the worst of times and the in the best of times”
How then do we find our way forward to secure the future for our children and grandchildren?

I plan to share with you precious insights from Jewish heroes like Simon Wiesenthal, who I had the honor to know and work with for nearly three decades. And I will share with you some insights I have learned from meeting with friends and foes alike--from Indonesia to Sudan to Tokyo.

I was honored to be amongst you —a community that lives by the dictum: Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Eem Zeh—we are all our brothers’ keepers!

John Gandel AO, Dr Dvir Abramovich, Pauline Gandel, Rabbi Cooper, Nicole Brittain

John Gandel AO, Dr Dvir Abramovich, Rabbi Cooper

The ADC has labelled a resolution by the Queensland Labor Party that calls for a future Labor Government to immediately recognise a Palestinian state as misguided, irresponsible and unhelpful.....
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Message from the Chairman

Rabbi Abraham Cooper

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