At least 15 Australian Jews made the annual Australian Day honors list.
Saturday’s 473 Order of Australia awardees included publisher Louise Adler, who has promoted several authors accused by the Jewish establishment of being anti-Zionist.
Grahame Leonard, the immediate past president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, received an Order of Australia medal for his service to the Jewish community.
Honored for her service in the area of multicultural health care was Ilona Lee, the mother of singer/songwriter Ben Lee. She is president of Shalom College at the University of New South Wales and secretary of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.
Dr. Paul Gardner, the driving force behind the annual B’nai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission annual rights oration, also received an honor.
Adler, the CEO of Melbourne University Press, was cited for her service to Australian literature. She published “A Question of Zion” by British academic Jacqueline Rose, a controversial author who was accused of suggesting that “the Jews are responsible for their own destruction.”
Also on the list was Suzanne Rutland, a historian who has written books on Australian Jewish history, including “Edge of the Diaspora: Two Centuries of Jewish Settlement in Australia.”
Orders of Australia, established by the queen in 1975, are awarded twice a year – on Australia Day and the queen’s birthday.
