Zionist council for ACT

A CANBERRA-BASED ACT Zionist council is set to be established in order to formalise the local Jewish community’s ties with Israel.

The body, whose name is likely to be Zionism ACT (ZACT), will be the first of its kind in the nation’s capital.

The move has been spearheaded by a team of individual members of the ACT Jewish Community (ACTJC). Vice-president Robert Cussel told The AJN, “We’ve never had a separate Zionist council here in the ACT, although we’ve always identified with the Zionist cause.”

Once established, the council will be an affiliate of ACTJC, under which other Canberra-based Jewish community groups, programs and congregations already operate.

An interim council has been set up to develop a constitution in preparation for the formal establishment of ZACT.

Part of this process is ensuring that the new body is representative of all Zionist voices in the nation’s capital, according to its founders.

“We are also conscious that we need to be sensitive to the range of opinions within our community, the range of the approaches and attitudes, to ensure that we have an inclusive group that embraces a range of different opinions and attitudes,” Cussel said.

The AJN reported earlier this month that Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) president Danny Lamm and executive director Ginette Searle offered the ZFA’s support for the new Zionist organisation during a recent trip to Canberra.

“The ZFA warmly welcomes the official Zionist connection with the ACT community,” Lamm said.

“We believe that this relationship will benefit the local ACT community and also add to the strength and scope of the Zionist movement in this country.”

Welcoming the ZFA’s support and noting the opportunities it offers, Cussel said, “We will have a more direct line to the ZFA, and our members and all other Jewish people in Canberra will have an opportunity to benefit from the range of programs and offerings that come from the Jewish Agency and the ZFA.”

ELENORE LEVI

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