Officials from across Australia’s Jewish community congratulated the country’s first female prime minister as she took office amidst a surprise intraparty power shift in Canberra.

Among those who issued congratulatory messages in the hours following the ascendancy of Julia Gillard – the former deputy prime minister who successfully challenged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for leadership of the Labor Party and, consequently, Australia’s top elected office – were rabbis at the Yeshiva Centre in Sydney.

“We wish her the traditional Jewish blessing of mazel tov and much success in making Australia a good place for all Australians,” said a statement released by the Yeshiva Centre, which serves as the Chabad-Lubavitch regional headquarters in the state of New South Wales.

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The statement noted that Gillard – who, like Rudd, is seen as a staunch supporter of Israel – had toured the Sydney facility as deputy prime minister, specifically spending time at Our Big Kitchen, a social welfare program directed by Rabbi Dovid Slavin.

Slavin, who had hosted Rudd on prior visits to Our Big Kitchen, also congratulated the new deputy prime minister, Wayne Swann.

Dr. Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, hailed Gillard’s positions on the Middle East and education.

“Unlike so many of Israel’s critics [during Israel’s 2008 invasion of the Gaza Strip], she understood and defended Israel’s right and need to defend its civilian population against repeated and indiscriminate attacks,” said Rubenstein. In addition, “her ability as education minister to honor the commitment of the new Labor government to resolve a serious funding problem for several Orthodox day schools, as well as her general commitment to a better education for all Australian children … is also widely admired across the Jewish community.”

Elected to Australia’s House of Representatives in 1998, Gillard served in Australia’s “Shadow Cabinet” after her Labor Party was defeated in 2001. After Labor’s 2007 victory, she followed Rudd into the government, becoming the country’s first female deputy prime minister and taking on the portfolios of education, employment and workplace relations, and social inclusion.

When Rudd’s standing in popular opinion polls began falling in recent months, Gillard, 48, capitalized off of Labor’s disillusionment with their prime minister. Following meetings between the two on June 23, Rudd, 52, stepped down, leaving Gillard to take office.

In a letter to the new prime minister, Robert Goot, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, called Gillard’s victory “a most fitting and wonderful achievement.”

“The fact that you are also Australia’s first female prime minister will be a source of inspiration to young Australian women in particular,” he continued, “as it confirms that there is no achievement that is beyond their reach.”