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Mayor Will Nemesh presented the Waverley Council on Tuesday a summary of his recent participation in the 2025 European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Paris, France.
Nemesh was invited by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) to the Paris forum, attended by municipal leaders from more than 130 European cities, to present the Model Antisemitism Strategy that Waverley — an eastern suburb of Sydney — launched earlier this year. The Waverley mayor spoke on a panel titled “From National Strategies to Local Action.”
The Waverley strategy, the first-of-its-kind at the municipal level in Australia, offers a practical guide to support councils across the country to build their own-locally tailored initiatives to counter antisemitism.
Nemesh, joined by six other Waverley councilors, attended the inaugural Australian Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Gold Coast in September, where the strategy was unveiled.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Nemesh spoke about the global rise in antisemitism, noting that it undermined the safety and cohesion of societies as a whole, not just Jewish communities.
He also highlighted best practices in identifying and addressing antisemitism and noted areas where Waverley could further bolster its own framework.
In an interview this week with The Australian Jewish News, Nemesh said, “I think it’s really important for us here in Australia, and particularly Waverley, to be proud that we’ve been put on the international stage talking about what we have done in Australia to combat antisemitism.”
“There is definitely a way to go,” he added. “That unprecedented rise in antisemitism we see, particularly in the last two years, which is especially pernicious, has really made the Jewish community feel that they haven’t been welcome at times.”
In response to a query from a councilor, it was noted that no public funds were used for the mayor’s travel to the Paris summit.
CAM works hand-in-hand with municipal authorities on a daily basis to secure and nurture Jewish life in cities around the world. Mayoral summits led by CAM have been held in: Frankfurt, Germany; Athens, Greece; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Dortmund, Germany; Beverly Hills, California; Gold Coast, Australia; Paris, France; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Gold Coast summit was the target of a orchestrated campaign of malicious slander and outright lies by anti-Israel activists seeking to delegitmize the event and pressure mayors to cancel their participation. Nevertheless, more than 250 local leaders, representing nearly 100 municipal councils across Australia, convened at the forum to learn about antisemitism in all its modern-day forms, share best practices, develop practical and innovative strategies and policies, and bolster cooperation between councils to drive real change for residents.
The impact has already been seen through concrete follow-up action in municipalities such as Bayside, where the city council unanimously adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism just a few weeks after the summit.
