THE Executive Council of Australian Jewry has written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd asking him to change the date of his Australia 2020 summit, saying it clashes with the Passover and most practising Jews would not be able to attend.
But Mr Rudd said the dates could not be changed because there was already a significant event on almost every other weekend.
Mr Rudd's spokeswoman said the summit was timed for April 19 and 20 to ensure that ideas could be gathered quickly enough to influence the Government's first-term agenda.
She said delegates unable to attend could write a submission and the Government would ensure their views were heard.
The spokeswoman said Mr Rudd was a strong supporter of the Jewish community and noted the huge contribution the Jewish community had made to Australia.
The Opposition said the decision to hold the summit over Passover was insensitive and a grave mistake that discriminated against Australia's Jewish community.
Victorian senator Mitch Fifield said it was like holding the summit over Christmas and the dates must be changed. He said the Government could hardly plead ignorance, given Passover was listed on the calendar of cultural and religious dates on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's website.
In his letter to Mr Rudd, the council's president, Robert Goot, said he had "no doubt that the clash of dates is inadvertent but it nevertheless presents a significant problem to the Jewish community". But he asked that the dates be changed "if at all possible" to allow practising Jews people to contribute.
Mr Goot said if the dates could not be changed then he trusted that an alternative way would be found to enable Jewish people to contribute.
Another Jewish official, who requested anonymity, said he suspected a blunder, because the Passover normally falls on or close to Easter, whereas this year was a Jewish leap year with an extra month in it and the Christian and Jewish festivals fell a month apart.
Topic: Jewish help passed over in summit date clash (Read 649 times)