It’s happened again! Hate fueled violence has murdered and wounded people for who they are. This time it was an attack on Jews in Sydney, Australia, where they gathered to collectively enjoy Chanukah, their Festival of Light. It turned celebration into tragedy and extinguished the lives of fifteen, destroyed the dreams of their families, and shattered the already tenuous sense of security and safety for Jews everywhere.
Here in Salt Lake City, the Jewish Federation’s Community Partners Against Hate abhors and condemns this horrific act and all acts of targeted hatred. Our coalition of community leaders and government and law enforcement officials work together to prevent them and, when they do occur, to respond immediately and effectively. That means intervention, investigation, and identification and accountability for the offender.
It also means support for victims, their families and their communities. Our partnership reaches out to leaders of communities affected by hate incidents to express our concern and support. We want them to know they are not alone. What threatens them, threatens all of us. Our Community Partners began when faith leaders, minority community leaders, government and law enforcement officials and many friends and neighbors joined Jews at congregational vigils to grieve and respond collectively to the killing of Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. Now, the painfully familiar and frightening attack in Australia is again a time when our Jewish community needs the shared condemnation, reassurance and compassion that comes from true friends and true partners. It is the time to reach out across what divides us, to ask for and extend support, and, perhaps, to cry together.
Jay Jacobson, Community Partners Against Hate chair; Consul General Eduardo Baca, Mexican Consulate to Utah; Jen Dailey-Provost, Utah House of Representatives (District 22); Patrice Arent, former Utah state senator; Sim Gill, Salt Lake County district attorney; Jennifer Newell, Mayor Mendenhall’s senior advisor for education; Jack Newell, emeritus professor, University of Utah; Pastor Curtis Price, First Baptist Church, Salt Lake City; Shawn Newell, Salt Lake City NAACP; David Leta, chair of Salt Lake City’s Human Rights Commission; Jan and Shabab Saeed, Bahai Community; Captain Jason Hinojosa, University of Utah police; Lisa Bernath, Beit Chaverim Jewish Community of Greater Zion, St. George; Liz Paige, United Jewish Federation of Utah
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