SYDNEY (JTA) — Sydney’s Waverley Council and the Jewish group Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe announce they will jointly advance plans for a new development application to build a synagogue in Bondi, and suggest that a proposed weekend protest would “be unproductive.”
The two parties hold a “without prejudice” meeting to discuss the proposed synagogue and apartments at 105 Wellington Street near the popular Bondi Beach, whose development was blocked by the Land and Environment Court on August 2, in a decision that upheld a Waverley Council ban on the construction of the synagogue in suburban Sydney on the grounds that it could become the target of a terrorist attack.
The refusal received worldwide media attention.
Both parties express their commitment to free speech and freedom of religion, and suggest the planned protest for August 13 would be unproductive.
Rally organizer Avi Yemini tells JTA: “I canceled the rally last night when I was informed by FREE that an agreement had been reached. Our objective was to ensure the shul was going to be built. It will be.”
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New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff told JTA: “It is a positive development that the parties are working together to find a solution, and hopefully they will achieve a mutually satisfactory outcome.”
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