Background to Prof Israeli Melbourne visit

As a result of an Australian Jewish organisation's withdrawal of support for Professor Raphael Israeli, the task of organising his Melbourne tour has fortuitously fallen into the hands of ICJS.

The highlight event of his tour is a public lecture entitled "The Growth of Islam in Europe and it's effect on western democracies" which will take place tonight.

The event is booked to standing room at our local community centre.

What's really interesting to note is the mix of non-Jewish people who will be attending tonight.  All this has become possible because of our general connection to groups on the internet and the links ICJS has been forging over time with likeminded but not specifically Jewish groups.

We hope this will be the first of many such events. FYI none of the Jewish peak bodies are showing any interest in tonight's event, although to be fair, there was an earlier event this week which they may have attended.

From our perspective, this lack of interest by the peak bodies in the activities of the grass roots speaks volumes.