Jewish family’s celebration blocked while Home Affairs questions two members over Israeli army service

A Jewish-Australian family’s plan to celebrate the hundredth birthday of the family matriarch has been wrecked by a government decision to hold up visas while it vets two family members’ service in the Israeli army.

The Berger family of Sydney was going to hold a party this week for 99-year-old Jolan Berger, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

But two of her Israeli great grandchildren, Omer Berger, 24, and Ella Berger, 22, were stuck in Thailand waiting for visas after being told they would have to provide a detailed statement on their military service, which is compulsory in Israel.

Family spokesman Aaron Berger said the decision appeared to be connected to the government’s increasingly tough stance against Israel over its war against terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

“Why are we vetting supposedly friendly allies of ours and treating them as war criminals?” he said. “I think that’s absolutely got to do with the government’s stance towards Israel.”

Six members of the family applied for Australian visas two months ago, according to Aaron Berger. All were granted immediately except for Omer and Ella, who were told to submit 13-page documents designed to vet combatants in foreign wars, and government officials.

The questions included: have you ever participated in any physical or psychological abuse against prisoners or civilians; have you ever been a guard/official at a detention centre, prison or transit camp; have you ever participated in the crime of genocide or a war crime?

Gave up

Ella Berger was given a week’s leave from her position in military intelligence to travel to Australia for the celebration. She gave up waiting for a visa and returned to Israel.

Omer Ella, a member of Israeli defence reserves, is still in Thailand hoping he will receive permission to come to Australia.

Aaron Berger said the family was devastated because their Israeli relatives might never see their great-grandmother again. “We just want to know if it will be yes or no,” he said.

The Home Affairs department said no special rules had been introduced for Israeli citizens during the war and 11,000 Israelis had been granted visas over the past year.

“In line with standard practice, where further information is required in respect of an individual application, the department often requests the applicant completes another form,” a spokesman said.

The government’s position towards Israel has angered the Jewish community. This week Foreign Minister Penny Wong listed Israel with China and Russia as countries that need to be held accountable under international law.

Last month the government voted in the United Nations to accept the legal control, or sovereignty, by Palestinians over land controlled by Israel.

Australia had refused to support similar motions for 20 years, according to pro-Israeli lobby groups, accepting arguments that armed Palestinian groups needed to end terror attacks first.

Under siege

In Australia, attacks on Jewish property and last week’s firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne have added to a sense among Jewish families they are under siege.

Prominent Jewish lawyer Leon Zwier on Sunday said the vast majority of Australians were not antisemitic but “they are not voicing their support for the Jewish community with sufficiently loud voices to be heard and felt by the community”.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was a “long-time” supporter of the creation of a Palestinian state, and supported Israel too. The government promised millions of dollars to improve security at Jewish sites after the synagogue attack.

Palestinian supporters have complained that violence against them hasn’t been given as much attention.

On Sunday a bus used by an Islamic school in Adelaide was set alight. A representative of the local Muslim community said it might have been an act of Islamophobia.