Isi Leibler has been a central player in the global Jewish arena for over six decades. The preeminent Australian Jewish leader, he was pivotal in driving the issue of Soviet Jewry onto the international agenda. And he played a crucial role in establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and China and India. As Australia emerged from Britains shadow after WWII to punch above its diplomatic weight, so too Leibler propelled the Australian Jewish community into wielding disproportionate influence in global Jewish affairs. A key figure in the World Jewish Congress, he had no hesitation exposing corruption in its leadership or at the Holocaust Claims Conference. Pugnacious, colourful, principled, he befriended prime ministers, refuseniks, billionaires, Cold War warriors, Marxists, and diplomats to further the Jewish agenda, free Soviet Jews, support Israel, and fight antisemitism.
Suzanne D. Rutland (OAM, PhD), Professor Emerita, Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Sydney, is a renowned Australian Jewish historian. She has published widely on Australian Jewish history, edits the Sydney edition of the Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, and writes prolifically about the Shoah, Israel, Soviet Jewry, Jewish education, and antisemitism. Her book The Jews in Australia was published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. Her 2015 book Let My People Go: The Untold Story of Australia and Soviet Jews, 1959-1989, co-written with journalist Sam Lipski was a joint winner of the 2016 Prime Ministers Literary Award for Australian history. In 2008, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia from the government for services to Jewish higher education and interfaith dialogue. A member of the Australian Expert Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, she serves on the Education Working Group and Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial.
