The community of Perth, which numbers some 7,000 Jews, was among those who turned out Sunday at a Pentecostal church in that Western Australia city to show its solidarity with the Jewish state.
Most who attended the launch of Friends of Israel Western Australia, however, were non-Jewish, including dozens of church leaders as well as local, state and federal politicians. Notable among the pols was Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who irked Jewish leaders in May when he said there was 'no doubt' Israel was behind the forgery of four Australian passports used in the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Dubai in January."
