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Alex Ryvchin
Алекс Рывчин[1]
Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 2018-present
Personal details
Born (1983-07-18) July 18, 1983 (age 41)[2]
Kiev, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
NationalityAustralian

Alexander Ryvchin (Russian: Александр Рывчин; born 18 July 1983) is a Ukrainian-born Australian author, advocate, media commentator, and lawyer. As Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, he advocates on behalf of the Australian Jewish community. He is a frequent guest on US, Israeli and Australia media.

Early life and education

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He was born in Kiev, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Ukraine) in 1983 and his mother tongue is Russian.[3] His parents were both employed in the country as teachers, with his father teaching maths and physics and his mother teaching English.[4] The family attempted to leave for years and were refuseniks.[2] They were finally granted exit permits in 1987, spending 9 months in Ladispoli in Italy.[4][2] At the age of 4, Ryvchin migrated to Australia as a refugee, arriving on 10 January 1988 with his parents, brother and maternal grandparents.[5][6] When the family arrived in Australia they did not have a family or friend network in the country and were impoverished and did not speak English.[2] They were met at the airport by the Australian Jewish Welfare Society.[2] The family were embraced by Sydney's Jewish community and were offered advice and furniture for their home.[2] The family was also selected by The Sydney Morning Herald for a story on Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union arriving in Australia.[2] The family posed for photographs at Sydney Harbour and when a journalist called them a taxi home, they were unexpectedly reunited with a family friend from the Ukraine.[2] A photograph of Ryvchin's grandfather embracing the taxi driver appeared on the front page of the Morning Herald.[2] In their early days in the country, his father worked as a taxi driver and cleaner at Emanuel Synagogue and his mother was employed at a pie shop.[2] His grandfather, a mechanical engineer, became a volunteer bus driver for the Berger Centre and his doctor grandmother worked as a nanny.[4] They lived in Sydney's Eastern suburbs for its Jewish community, living in areas such as Rose Bay, Bondi and Randwick.[7][2] Ryvchin became an Australian citizen at the age of 7 and had his Bar Mitzvah at age 13.[3][7] He attended primary school at Rose Bay Public School in Rose Bay and Woollahra Public School, before attending Sydney Boys High School.[7][8] He graduated with a degree in law and politics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney.[9]

Career

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He practised law at Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Sydney and Herbert Smith in London before serving as a spokesman for the Zionist Federation UK and being awarded an Israel Research Fellowship.[10][11][12]

In May 2013, Ryvchin was appointed Director of Public Affairs at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. In 2016, he spoke at the Babi Yar memorial in Sydney.[13] In the same year, he wrote about the Babi Yar massacre for Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[14]He was promoted to co-chief executive officer in 2018, becoming one of the youngest professional leaders in the Jewish world.[15][16] As part of his position, he regularly represents Australian Jewry in the national and international media. In 2021, he appeared on SBS to mark 80 years since the murder of 33, 000 Jews at Babi Yar.[17] He appears regularly on Sky News Australia.[18][19][20] He has also appeared on news and current affairs programmes for the ABC.[21]

In 2023, he was honoured by The Jerusalem Post and the Jewish National Fund as one of its top 25 young visionaries.[22]

In November 2023, he cut ties with Australian Jewish Association and said the group "has no representative status and in no way speaks for or reflects the views of Australian Jews".[23]

Writing

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His writing on the Arab–Israeli conflict and Jewish history has been published in numerous international newspapers, including The Australian,[24] The Sydney Morning Herald,[25] The Guardian,[26] the National Post,[27] and The Jerusalem Post.[28] Ryvchin has also written on a number of occasions for The Spectator.[29]

Ryvchin is the author of two books on Israel. His debut book, The Anti-Israel Agenda – Inside the Political War on the Jewish State (Gefen Publishing House, 2017), is a collaborative work with other prominent thinkers on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict including Alan Dershowitz, Colonel Richard Kemp, Hillel Neuer and Professor Alan Johnson.[30] It was lauded by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as "the most important book on Israel since Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel".[31]

In 2019, Ryvchin published his second book, Zionism – The Concise History.[32]

He published the book The 7 Deadly Myths: Antisemitism from the Time of Christ to Kanye West in 2023.[33]

Views

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Ryvchin is an outspoken critic of the anti-Israel movement referring to its activists as "self-righteous westerners" with "pretensions to heroism" who seek "redemption" by "slaying the Zionist beast".[34]

He has been a staunch critic of Palestinian terrorism, corruption and rejection of a negotiated end to the conflict with Israel.[35]

In 2018, he welcomed the decision of Scott Morrison's government to recognise West Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[36]

He is against the Russo-Ukrainian War and supports the Ukraine. In 2024, the Russian government added his name to a list of Australian nationals sanctioned for “formulating the anti-Russia agenda”.[37]

He has spoken publicly of his love for Australia and his support for multiculturalism and integration which Ryvchin argues requires that "we accept the duty to uphold the freedoms granted to us and to protect the values underpinning our society – values such as democracy, tolerance, mutual respect."[38] He also participated in the 2024 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras with Dayenu, in solidarity with LGBT Jewry.[39]

In June 2024 he called on Senator Fatima Payman to resign after Payman accused Israel of genocide during Israel-Hams war and used phrase "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free".[40] He also said Payman and Australian Greens "must be held accountable" and accused them of bringing antisemitism into the mainstream and have legitimized violent protests [41] and "deceitful rhetoric on genocide" and endangering Jewish community.[42]

In the wake of the 2024 Melbourne synagogue attack, Ryvchin called for a "serious and profound" government response to increasing levels of antisemitism in Australia.[43] He added that a "national crisis" should be declared on antisemitism and that there should be a ban on protests outside places of worship and schools.[43]

Personal life

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He currently resides in Sydney with his wife and daughters.

Works

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  • 2017: Anti-Israel Agenda: Inside the Political War on the Jewish State ISBN 9652299146
  • 2019: Zionism: the concise history ISBN 978-0-394-50736-1
  • 2020: A New Day ISBN 9780646817149[44]
  • 2023: The Seven Deadly Myths ISBN 9798887191553

References

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  1. ^ Австралийские антиизраильские активисты опубликовали «список евреев» lechaim.ru. 9 February 2024
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Alex Ryvchin Migration YouTube. 2021
  3. ^ a b Ryvchin, AlexanderI chose democracy, having lived the alternative. Those attracted to extremism chose, too The Guardian. 4 November 2015
  4. ^ a b c Saving others to save ourselves Executive Council of Australian Jewry. 5 November 2024
  5. ^ Alex Ryvchin Waverley Council. Retrieved on 1 December 2024
  6. ^ Dengate, Cayla (9 September 2015). "Syrian Refugees Spur Australian Migrants to Appeal for Compassion". HuffPost.
  7. ^ a b c ALEX RVYCHIN, Oral History Transcript Waverley Council. 21 May 2015
  8. ^ Rolfe, John (16 August 2024). "Sydney Power 100: Where the city's most powerful people went to school". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  9. ^ Global recognition for Alex Ryvchin The Australian Jewish News. 21 September 2023
  10. ^ "Alex Ryvchin". Alex Ryvchin.
  11. ^ Author - Alex Ryvchin Gefen Publishing. Retrieved on 1 December 2024
  12. ^ 25 ViZionaries: Alex Ryvchin - No. 6 The Jerusalem Post. 15 September 2023
  13. ^ Alex Ryvchin speech at Babi Yar Commemoration Ceremony in Sydney, 2016. YouTube. 23 ay 2017
  14. ^ Babi Yar: We Must Never Look Away, We Must Never Forget ABC. 23 November 2016
  15. ^ "Alex Ryvchin".
  16. ^ "Executive - ECAJ". ECAJ - Executive Council of Australian Jewry. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  17. ^ Did you know, over 33,000 Jews were murdered 80 yrs ago, within two days at Babi Yar, Ukraine? Alex Ryvchin (English) SBS. 7 October 2021
  18. ^ ‘Openly anti-Semitic’: Alex Ryvchin on social media discourse after October 7 Sky News Australia
  19. ^ ‘Things can slide very quickly’: Government’s ambiguous stance on Israel slammed Sky News Australia. 24 November 2024
  20. ^ Anti-Israel movement ‘more brazen’ amid Sydney vandalism Sky News Australia. 22 November 2024
  21. ^ Alex Ryvchin on ABC's The World program discussing Polish Holocaust law YouTube. 2018
  22. ^ [https://www.jpost.com/influencers/visionaries 25 Young Visionaries] The Jerusalem Post. 15 September 2023
  23. ^ Knott, Matthew (27 May 2024). "Sharma hosted far-right Israel group disavowed by other Jewish associations". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  24. ^ Ryvchin, Alexander (17 December 2014). "Greens ignore Israel's rights". The Australian. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  25. ^ Ryvchin, Alexander (24 January 2014). "Attacks on Bishop unwarranted". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  26. ^ Ryvchin, Alexander (28 November 2013). "Australia is right to challenge the UN's anti-Israel bias". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  27. ^ Alexander, Ryvchin (24 October 2012). "Ignoring the real bloodshed in Syria by focusing on Syria". National Post. Archived from the original on 10 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  28. ^ Ryvchin, Alexander (17 October 2011). "The right decision, 1027 times over". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  29. ^ Author - Alex Ryvchin The Spectator (Australia). Retrieved on 1 December 2024
  30. ^ "Ryvchin – The Anti-Israel Agenda". anti-israelagenda.com.
  31. ^ "About". anti-israelagenda.com.
  32. ^ Ryvchin, Alex (2019). Zionism – The Concise History. Connor Court. ISBN 9781925826586.
  33. ^ Ryvchin, Alex (2023). The 7 Deadly Myths: Antisemitism from the Time of Christ to Kanye West. Academic Studies Press. ISBN 9798887193328.
  34. ^ "Reference at www.spectator.co.uk".[dead link‍]
  35. ^ "Terror comes again to Israel". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney.[full citation needed](subscription required)
  36. ^ Alex Ryvchin, Co-CEO of ECAJ: "Historical Aust Gov about Recognizing W Jerusalem as Israel's Capital" SBS. 23 December 2018
  37. ^ Opinion: Sanctioned by Russia – A story of sorrow and pride Executive Council of Australian Jewry. 5 July 2024
  38. ^ "Australian Citizenship Ceremony Speech". Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). 2 November 2015.
  39. ^ Why I marched at the Mardi Gras The Australian Jewish News. 28 March 2024
  40. ^ Sky News Australia (17 May 2024). Alex Ryvchin calls on Senator Payman to 'resign' over use of pro-Palestine chant. Retrieved 1 July 2024 – via YouTube.
  41. ^ Canales, Sarah Basford; Hurst, Daniel (25 June 2024). "Labor senator Fatima Payman says each step 'felt like a mile' after crossing floor to back Palestine motion". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  42. ^ Massola, James (18 June 2024). "Labor senator Payman breaks ranks again on Palestine". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  43. ^ a b Jewish leaders call for greater anti-Semitism response after synagogue attack ABC. 9 December 2024
  44. ^ A New Day, A Children's Book to Foster Good Mental Health sydneychic.com.au. Retrieved on 1 December 2024
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