Is a US-Based Group Shaping Australia's Fight Against Antisemitism? What Australians Need to Know.

As antisemitism regrettably surges across Australia, a powerful global player, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), is making significant inroads into our national conversation and policy landscape. Founded in 2019 by Kansas oil magnate Adam Beren, CAM presents itself as a global coalition fighting antisemitism. While its stated mission is to unite people of all backgrounds to eradicate hatred, a closer look reveals a sophisticated operation with deep Australian connections, and some critical questions for us to consider.

CAM's Strong Foothold in Australia

CAM has quickly established a formidable presence in Australia, particularly through key personnel and strategic partnerships:

• The Australian Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism 2025: This flagship event, scheduled for September 3-5, 2025, on the Gold Coast, aims to gather over 200 local government leaders from across Australia. It's chaired by Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and co-chaired by prominent Australian figures David Gonski AC, Stanley Roth AM, Dr. Orna Triguboff, and Dr. Ron Weiser AM, who also serve on CAM's international Advisory Board.

• Key Personnel with Australian Expertise: CAM's Chief Operating Officer, Yigal Nisell, spent seven years living in Sydney as the Jewish National Fund (JNF) representative from 2016-2022, building extensive connections within the Australian Jewish community. He was instrumental in organizing the 2025 Australian Mayors Summit.

• Close Government Ties: Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal AO, appointed in July 2024, maintains close ties to CAM's Australian operations and is a keynote speaker at the Mayors Summit. Her "Special Envoy's Plan to Combat Antisemitism" aligns closely with CAM's primary policy objective of recommending the adoption of the IHRA definition.

• Australian Partnerships: CAM collaborates with influential Australian organizations, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), Australia's peak Jewish representative body, and Never Again Is Now (NAIN), a Christian-founded grassroots movement.

Unpacking the Controversies: What Australians Should Consider

While CAM's stated goal of combating antisemitism is widely supported, its methods, funding, and ideological stance have raised significant concerns that Australians should be aware of:

• The IHRA Definition: A "Gold Standard" or a "Blunt Instrument"?

◦ CAM vigorously promotes the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism as the definitive global "gold standard". This definition includes eleven illustrative examples, with seven directly related to criticism of Israel.

◦ Critics, including Amnesty International Australia and over 100 other civil society groups, argue that this definition conflates legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies with antisemitism. They contend it's used as a "blunt instrument" to suppress free speech, academic freedom, and activism critical of Israel and supportive of Palestinian rights, particularly on university campuses. Even one of the definition's original drafters, Kenneth S. Stern, has warned against its institutional adoption, arguing it was a data-collection tool, not a speech code.

◦ CAM's in-house Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) has also been criticized for framing the "political left as the primary source of contemporary antisemitism" and portraying university campuses as "incubators of antisemitic extremism".

• Political Allegiances and Funding Transparency:

◦ CAM was founded by Adam Beren, a significant Republican donor who contributed over $1.1 million to the Republican National Committee and $312,500 to a pro-Trump PAC before the 2016 election. His foundational role was kept private until 2023, raising questions about CAM's public branding as a non-partisan movement.

◦ The Beren family foundations have provided nearly 70% of CAM's total income between 2020-2022.

◦ Controversy in Australia: Jillian Segal AO, Australia's Special Envoy, faced scrutiny over her husband's trust donating $50,000 to the right-wing political organization Advance Australia. This has led to concerns about CAM's political neutrality and connections to right-wing groups.

◦ Israeli Government Links: Research indicates connections between CAM and Israeli government agencies, particularly the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. Several CAM advisory board members have backgrounds in Israeli strategic affairs and intelligence services.

• The "Paid Junket" Debate and Influence Tactics:

◦ For the 2025 Australian Mayors Summit, CAM, a US-based organization, offered to cover all costs for travel and accommodation for hundreds of Australian mayors and councillors.

◦ This offer was condemned by critics as a "paid junket", including the Australian Services Union, Transparency International Australia, Democracy in Colour, and progressive Jewish groups like the Jewish Council of Australia. Transparency International Australia's CEO warned that such offers to elected officials seeking to influence policy can "raise questions about impartiality and public trust".

◦ The controversy has exposed a "significant fracture in the public and communal consensus" around CAM's methods and ideological positions in Australia.

Why This Matters to Australians

CAM's expansion into Australia is a "significant expansion into the Asia-Pacific region," leveraging existing Jewish community networks and establishing new political relationships at federal, state, and local government levels. Its "top-down engagement model" seeks to influence national and international policy by first securing endorsements at the municipal level, effectively creating a "de facto national standard" for combating antisemitism aligned with CAM's framework.

As Australians, we should be critically engaged with these developments. The fight against antisemitism is vital, but we must ensure that the methods and definitions used genuinely foster social cohesion and combat hatred without inadvertently chilling free speech or becoming entangled in partisan agendas or foreign influence.

What do you think, Australia? Is CAM's approach the right one for our country, or should we be more discerning about who is shaping our national response to antisemitism? Let's keep the conversation going.