In the ALP, Might Melissa's Malignance Mirror Mounting Malice?

She was hoping to get back into the thick of Aussie federal politics, former UNRWA lawyer and unreformed Israel-hater Melissa Parke, who when representing (2007-16) the safe Labor seat of Fremantle, Western Australia, was a junior minister in the latter stages of Kevin Rudd's government, swept from power in 2013.

In selecting the glamorous blonde to run against conservative Celia Hammond in the normally safe Liberal WA seat of Curtin, relinquished by glamorous blonde Liberal former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Labor bigwigs evidently thought her high profile meant Ms Parke had a fighting chance of wresting the seat away from the less stellar Liberal hopeful.

But it's all gone awry for Parke and her backers, because she's now quit as a candidate in order to save her embarrassed party the "distraction" caused by her loathsome antisemitic slurs on Israel, scathingly compared in today's Melbourne Herald Sun by political commentator James Campbell as "actually manag[ing] to say something new" in the "long history of slanders" of the Jewish people.

A proponent of BDS in its economic and cultural guises, who in 2017 was one of about 60 prominent Australians (including APAN's president, ex-Bishop Browning) publicly opposed to Bibi Netanyahu's visit to Australia, Parke last month told the launch of WA Labor Friends of Palestine (to quote a report in WA Today) that

'Australia should recognise a Palestinian state and likened Israel's settlements to China's island building activity in the South China Sea.

She also took aim at Israel's influence in Australian politics and said there was no doubt Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, while illegal under international law, were "a reaction to and a consequence of decades of brutal occupation".

Ms Parke, a former lawyer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Gaza, said Australia had to break away from its "strategic dependence" on the United States and recognise Palestine as a state, which is contrary to Labor policy.

"There are already 137 nations that recognise the state of Palestine, that is more than 70 per cent of the world," she said.

"And, inshallah [Arabic for 'God willing'], Australia will join that consensus once we have a Federal Labor government.

An APAN illiterate has his say

"It's also time finally for Australia to support an end to the brutal occupation of Palestine and for the right of return of the Palestinian refugees."

In her speech to Palestinian supporters, which was held in the Perth offices of the United Voice union, Ms Parke said the discrimination experienced by Palestinians in Israel was because of a "fully fledged system of Apartheid"....

"A false narrative sold to the western world is that Israel is a beacon of western democracy and human rights."

Ms Parke said Israel "propagates the myth that it is a small country that just wants to live in peace".'

Moreover,

'WAtoday also revealed earlier this week WA Labor senator and Senate Deputy President Sue Lines told the same meeting of pro-Palestinian activists that a powerful "Israel lobby" had been influencing her party's policy on Palestine and peace in the Middle East.

Senator Lines said policy in the area had stalled because "the Israeli lobby is so powerful within the party and outside of the party".'

 The report quotes Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin as follows:

'He said Ms Parke had the "inglorious distinction" of being the first, and only, Labor MP to publicly endorse the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which seeks to force Israel to withdraw from occupied or contested territories and aims at "the complete and total isolation of the state of Israel and to dismantle the national home of the Jewish people".

"BDS was rightly condemned as a form of antisemitism by Julie Bishop, who Ms Parke is now seeking to replace as the federal member for Curtin," Mr Ryvchin said."BDS has also expressly been repudiated by the Australian Labor Party and rejected as national policy even by the Greens."It is regrettable that such an extreme and divisive figure should receive the endorsement of the Australian Labor Party, particularly at a time when it is vital to strengthen the political centre and diminish the appeal of low populism and false and polarising rhetoric."

 Parke also, as widely reported today, for instance the Sydney Morning Herald here, declared:

 "One case I remember vividly, a pregnant refugee woman was ordered at a checkpoint in Gaza to drink a bottle of bleach," she said.

"It burnt out all her throat and insides. Fortunately her baby was saved.

"Another refugee was forced to put her baby through the X-ray machine."

It is that vile canard in particular that disgusts the Herald-Sun's James Campbell, who pointedly observed that another Labor candidate, Josh Wilson, was at the meeting addressed by Parke and did not take issue with her remarks.

Campbell adds that while current federal Labor leader Bill Shorten is committed to friendship with Israel, the fears of pro-Israel Australians that, post-Shorten, the party (remember the lurking presence of Bob Carr and cobbers?) might fall into the hands of a Corbynista-type leadership remains a realistic prospect.

ScoMo for me, I think.

Aussie Labor Party Conference Calls on Next Labor Government to Recognise Palestinian Statehood

See here

Following Australian Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison's distinctly underwhelming recent pronouncement that West Jerusalem is Israel's capital but the Aussie Embassy will be remaining in Tel Aviv until a peace deal is effected between Israel and Palestine, which can then have East Jerusalem as its capital, Senator Penny Wong, the Labour opposition's Shadow Foreign Minister (who if the polls are anything to go by may fairly soon find herself the real thing in a government headed by Bill Shorten) has moved a motion on the question of Israel's capital at Labour's party conference in Adelaide.

The successful resolution:

Notes previous resolutions on Israel/Palestine carried at the 2015 ALP [Australian Labor Party] National Conference and the 2016 NSW Labor Annual Conference;

Supports the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders;

Calls on the next Labor Government to recognise Palestine as a state; and

 Expects that this issue will be an important priority for the next Labor Government.

Calls the recognition of a Palestinian state as “an important priority for the next Labor government” providing Israel and Palestine recognise that they will live in peace and security.

Declared the senator: 

“I want to acknowledge that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is an issue of great importance to many in our Party. It is of great importance because Labor is a friend of Israel. I am a friend of Israel.It is of great importance because Labor is a friend of the Palestinians. I am a friend of the Palestinians. It is of great importance because we, in Labor, not only deal with the world as it is, we seek to change it for the better.

And so all who have come to this debate do so in the hope of contributing to peace and to a just and lasting resolution of the conflict between these two peoples. I thank everyone for the manner in which they have engaged to propose this resolution – which I am confident reflects the collective view of this conference. This resolution makes clear the view of this conference is to continue to support the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders. And it recognises the desire of this conference to recognise Palestine as a state.

Labor has long supported, and continues to support, a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We support Israel’s right to exist within secure and recognised boundaries and the creation of a Palestinian state. We recognise that a just two-state resolution will require recognising the right of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to live in peace and security. The hallmark of Labor’s approach has been our even-handedness, and our acceptance of the legitimate claims by both parties. Labor has been consistent in its approach to working towards the resolution of conflict between Palestine and Israel. We have been consistent in our criticism of actions that undermine progress.

The resort to violence or the use of disproportionate response. The construction of new settlements in areas that will become part of a future Palestinian State and the retrospective legalisation of settlements. Labor will continue to call on both sides of the conflict to refrain from any actions that hamper peaceful outcomes for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. And we will continue to ensure that any decision we take contributes to peaceful resolution of the conflict and to progress towards a two-state solution.

It is an approach, which until recently, had been largely bipartisan. But, in a shameful act five days before the Wentworth [a constituency with a large numbr of Jewish voters] by-election, Scott Morrison put his own domestic political interest before the national interest. He made a decision to junk longstanding bipartisan foreign policy in a cynical attempt to win votes. It was a desperate political tactic. It was a decision made against the longstanding advice of agencies, without Cabinet consideration, and without properly consulting Australia’s partners and allies.

Astonishingly, it was a decision made without consulting either the Israelis or the Palestinians themselves, whose agreement must be the foundation of any lasting peace. The result of the chaos and confusion has been clear. Mr Morrison has caused offence to some of our nearest neighbours, harmed Australia’s international reputation, and our nation’s interests. Ever since, the Prime Minister has been trying to escape the problem of his own creation. 

It is a clear example of what happens when domestic politics is put before national interest. Unlike Scott Morrison and his Government, Labor in Government will take a responsible approach to our foreign policy. We will seek and consider the advice of our agencies. We will work with our partners and allies. We will always put the national interest first. This motion makes clear Labor’s commitment to progressing lasting peace and a two-state solution. It makes clear that it will be an important priority for the next Labor Government. As Labor’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, I commend the resolution to the conference."

(Read more here)

Reacting to the resolution, the leaders of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry state:

“Whilst the ALP National Conference resolution falls a long way short of the immediate and unconditional recognition of a Palestinian State which some sections of the ALP have been advocating for several years, and will not be binding on any future Labor government, the tenor of resolutions passed at recent ALP conferences has been in that direction.

Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State can only act as a disincentive, rather than an encouragement, to Israel and the Palestinians to resume negotiations, in effect pre-empting the outcome of one of the key issues to be negotiated.

In contrast, recognising that Israel’s seat of government is located in the western part of Jerusalem, which is incontestably sovereign Israeli territory, does not in any way impact upon or pre-empt the future status of the contested eastern and other parts of the city captured by Israel in 1967. The ALP’s announcement that, in government, it would reverse Australia’s recent recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was therefore hasty and ill-advised.

The ALP National Conference resolution calling for recognition of a Palestinian State overlooks the reality that no Palestinian entity presently exists which meets even the most minimal of the legal and practical criteria for statehood – a government capable of exercising control over its people and territor, and delivering on international agreements.

To the ALP’s credit, and thanks to the leadership of ALP leader Bill Shorten, Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and their colleagues Richard Marles, Mark Dreyfus, Mike Kelly and Michael Danby among others, the goal of a just and lasting two-state resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict remains embedded in the ALP policy platform, and this continues to represent the bipartisan consensus in Australia.

Nevertheless, it is a misguided approach by advocates of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state to place the onus exclusively on Israel for the impasse in achieving a two-State resolution of the conflict, and does nothing to encourage the Palestinian leadership to remedy their obvious shortcomings and to act as a responsible government. Instead, it rewards them for their failures.

Further, Palestinian organisations have appalling records on the rights of women, LGBTIQ people and workers. The Hamas attitude towards Israel and its Jewish citizens is openly genocidal, as its notorious Charter makes all too clear.

We look forward to continuing to work constructively with Bill Shorten and his parliamentary colleagues to find ways by which Australia can contribute meaningfully to a two-State outcome, based on an honest understanding of the realities of the conflict in all their tragic complexity.

We look forward to continuing to work constructively with Bill Shorten and his parliamentary colleagues to find ways by which Australia can contribute meaningfully to a two-State outcome, based on an honest understanding of the realities of the conflict in all their tragic complexity.”

 Read other communal leadership reactions here

David Singer: Australian Labor Party (ALP) Policy Change Boosts PLO Aim to Destroy Israel and Jordan

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The Resolution of the NSW Labor Party Conference urging the next Federal Labor Government to recognise “Palestine” (Resolution) has given a boost to the political objectives of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) whose Charter calls for the destruction of Israel and Jordan.

Prior to the Resolution being passed its prime mover and shaker – Bob Carr – former Australian Foreign Minister, NSW Premier, Chairman of Labor Friends of Israel turned Patron of Labor Friends of Palestine, tweeted:

Carr’s “no ifs or buts” echoed similar demands passed by the Arab Heads of State (including the PLO) at Khartoum on 1 September 1967 following the Six Day War:

“no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it, and insistence on the rights of the Palestinian people in their own country”

No “conditions” for Carr maybe – but a few headaches for the Federal Australian Labor Party if it is stupid enough to swallow Carr’s poison pill.

1. The Resolution does not identify the location of “Palestine”.

Negotiations between Israel and the PLO extending over the last 23 years have failed to come up with an answer.

Recognising a phantom State is an exercise in futility.

The fact that 136 other member States of the United Nations have gone down this same road has only encouraged the PLO to adopt increasingly more intransigent and rejectionist positions opposing the peaceful resolution of a conflict which has raged for 100 years.

Australia should not get sucked into this mindless vortex.

2. When the Khartoum Conference was held – Article 24 of the PLO Charter then declared:

“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.”

An independent Arab State had already been established in 78 per cent of former Palestine in 1946 and called “the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan” (renamed “Jordan” in 1950).

A second Arab State in former Palestine had been proposed in the 1947 UN Partition Plan and rejected by the Arabs. It could have been created at any time between 1948 and 1967 with the stroke of an Arab League pen.

 What possible justification is there for the Australian Labor Party unconditionally recognising such a second Arab State in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan - when the proponent of that State – the PLO – was not even claiming sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza in 1967?

3. According to Carr recognition is needed to save the two-state solution being buried in settlements.

There already is an existing two-state solution in 95 per cent of former Palestine – Jewish Israel and Arab Jordan – underpinned by their 1994 peace treaty.

A PLO-governed State located in the remaining 5 per cent between Israel and Jordan represents a threat to both Jordan and Israel - since the PLO considers Palestine with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate to be an indivisible territorial unit.

There are no Jewish settlements in Gaza following Israel’s disengagement in 2005.

Jewish settlements built on no more than 5 per cent of the territory of the West Bank are legally sanctioned by article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

“Buried in settlements” is vintage Carr-overkill.

Hopefully sanity will prevail in the Federal Labor Party.

Two peoples – Jews and Arabs – need two States – not three.

Their Israel Questions: In Australia, party time & pickles

 In Australia, there's to be a General Election on 2 July.

And as we see, the Israel-haters from the "Australia Palestine Advocacy Network"are on the campaign trail:

And first off the mark are:

AIJAC, meanwhile, has posed thirteen questions a-piece to current prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his main rival, ALP leader Bill Shorten, regarding their respective policies  regarding Israel.

As will be seen by clicking this link, both parties are broadly similar on most issues. There is nothing that can be considered over-the-top hostile or alarming from either of them. Nevertheless, there seems to be little doubt that the ALP is worse from a Jewish communal perspective, especially if we read between the lines.

For unlike the Coalition the ALP is increasingly dependent on the Muslim vote, especially in western Sydney and in north Melbourne. It also is dependent on the Greens, who are openly hostile to Israel. The ALP also has various left-wing anti-Israel activists. 

Reading the answers to the questions, there are several areas of concern:

- Counter-terrorism": The ALP emphasises "early intervention and community engagement" and quotes that "we can't arrest our way to success". These are cop-outs, and suggest that terrorists won't be monitored and stopped as effectively under an ALP government as under the Coalition.

- Schools: There is little between the two parties, but the ALP purely needs-based policy should be looked at closely for its possible impact on Jewish day school funding.

- The ABC (Australia's equivalent of the BBC): The Coalition hasn't been great, not with Turnbull as Communications Minister, but it seems clear that an ALP government would adopt a hands-off policy towards the ABC, even if (as it is) it is blatantly controlled by the Left and is hostile to Israel.

- 18C: This legislation can be used, and has been used, by leftists to silence conservative columnist Andrew Bolt and others, and should be repealed or modified. It is an open invitation, under an ALP government, to silence anti-Muslim blogs. It should have been repealed by Tony Abbott, who chickened out, but at least it is not being used as a left-wing weapon.

- UN Votes: An ALP government would obviously be more critical of Israel at the UN than a Coalition government.

So, leaving aside other policy issues, it seems clear that the ALP is at least marginally worse across the board.

Meanwhile, from the BDSers in Adelaide, who are a persistent bunch indeed, a singularly amateurish piece of work kicks of a new campaign of theirs:

You'd never know the Arabs, through their own bloody-minded rejectionism and aggression, brought defeat and "occupation"on themselves, would you?

Australia's Carr Fumes on Behalf of "Arabic" Voters

Look who's coming to Oz – the Electronic Intifada founder

A report by journalist John Lyons in The Australian newspaper claimed this week that Mary Easson, one of five members of the New South Wales branch of the Australia Israel Labor Dialogue group (AILD) (which since its formation in 2010 has sent over 30 Aussie trades union and Labor Party (ALP) officials on fact-finding trips to to Israel), "is also a lobbyist for the Australian subsidiary of one of Israel’s ­largest arms manufacturers [Elbit]" and "has also played an active role in the emotive ­debate within the Labor Party over its policy towards Israel".

Lyons wrote:

"The fact that Ms Easson’s company, Probity International Pty Ltd, is lobbying for Elbit is ­almost certain to lead to anger within the ALP from those who have taken trips organised by the AILD.

Ms Easson has been locked in a brutal fight inside the Labor Party with former foreign minister Bob Carr over policy towards Israel. Ms Easson wants the ALP to retain its bipartisan support for Israel while Mr Carr wants a deadline for Israel to cease its expansion of settlements in the West Bank and to return to negotiations with the Palestinians.

Elbit is one of Israel’s largest manufacturers of bombs, mortars, cyber warfare systems and drones and much of its ordnance was used in the 2014 war with Gaza. On its website, Elbit says one of its products — the Soltam Spear — has “unprecedented lethality."

Sure enough, again according to Lyons in a follow-up report, former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr is on the trail, fuming that'

"It would be common sense for party leaders to say the dialogue­ must present an independ­ently audited account of its fundraising. The party’s credibility with literally hundreds of thousands of ­voters with Arabic backgrounds is at stake."

Lyons further reported:

'Ms Easson denies Elbit has ever made a donation to AILD. But Mr Carr said any connection to Elbit was “a shameful look — arms dealers, civilian deaths, the electronic fence”.'

And Israel bashing ALP member of the federal Parliament is reported as saying:

“Given the significant numbers of ALP members who are apparently being taken on these trips to Israel, it is a concern not to know who is providing the funds, particularly where there is a person associated with an Israeli weapons manufacturer on the AILD committee."

But former Queensland premier Peter Beattie, patron of the New South Wales branch of AILD is quoted thus:

“I am not interested in a petty side argument between the warring factions in the ALP over ­Israel and Palestine”

(These reports are behind a paywall.)

Meanwhile, AILD, in response to what Lyons reports, states:

"The AILD is not now, or has ever sought to be funded by Elbit or any other defence company, whether Israeli or Australian.

The Mission of the AILD is to build bridges between the Australian and Israeli Labor Parties across the spectrum of shared values such as workers rights, women’s status, gay rights, multiculturalism and shared understanding of a two state solution to the Israel Palestine conflict.

As part of our activities we arrange tours to Israel and Palestine and provide subsidies to those who cannot afford to travel to the region. Our funding comes from private donations sought from the Australian Jewish and pro-Israel Non-Jewish community.

To insinuate that because 1 of our supporters and activists is a consultant to a company that has a contract with Elbit, so AILD must be involved is both absurd and extremely poor journalism. It smacks of an opinion in search of a story in order to smear AILD and it’s democratic right to actively and openly champion a peaceful resolution of two nations for two peoples within the ALP.

There are those who seek to impose their own one-sided view on Israel Palestine within the ALP, and ban subsidised trips to Israel and Palestine. The AILD will never subscribe to impose totalitarian controls on what any individual wishes to see or do in their quest for understanding in this and any place in the world."

.And Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), which sends journalists on fact-finding trips to Israel, declares:

“As noted by AILD, their program of sending union officials to the Middle East is not and has never been funded by Elbit or any other arms manufacturer, regardless of the indirect connection of one AILD director, Mary Easson, to that company, and no matter what John Lyons chose to imply ...

The only real news story here is that there is an organised campaign, as we have seen in the NSW ALP recently, to try and stop Australian political and opinion leaders going to the Middle East, meeting leaders and experts from both sides and learning the truth about the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. This campaign is determined to seize on anything, however tenuous, to try and discredit such trips, despite how much they have enriched the debate in this country. Unfortunately, Australian journalist John Lyons seems all too willing to lend his pen to this campaign.”

Gleanings From Gatoff (video)

A friend, having just seen an episode of Newt's News on the Aussie Jewish program "The Shtick," is full of praise, reminding me that it's time to show some of Mr Gatoff's gleanings again.

Left-wing obsession with Israel... Israeli inventions...  BDS... Jerusalem... "Occupation"...

Some excellent segments here.

"The NSW Branch of the ALP Has Launched a Full-scale Attack on Israel... And we should ask: Why?"

This coming weekend the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in New South Wales (power base of Israel-demonising ex-state premier and ex-foreign minister Bob Carr) is holding its state conference.

Of 45 proposed resolutions relating to foreign policy a whopping 28 concern Israel/Palestine, and you can guess their flavour.

As Australian Jewish News publisher Robert Magid writes in the course of a long and penetrating op-ed in the current issue of that newspaper:

 '.... One can ask why are there no resolutions about the extermination of the Yazidis and the Nazerenes; the rape of Tibet by our major trading partner; concern for the spread of Islamic extremism in our closest neighbour and largest Muslim country; the spread of mayhem at the hands of Islamist terrorists in much of Africa, the slaughter in Syria and Iraq, Russia's rape of Ukraine, the dangerous path Europe has taken, to name only a few pressing issues which can't be converted to condemnation of Israel....

 .... [A] worthy resolution would include an understanding of Israel's concern for its people's safety, condemnation of terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and of the war crimes of missile attacks from Gaza intent on the mass killing of Israeli civilians.

Before one calls for the creation of a Palestinian state [as 13 proposed resolutions do] one has to resolve the issue of borders, end the fantasy of "right of return" into Israel and require a guarantee that all aggression ceases.

The NSW branch of the ALP has launched a full-scale attack on Israel, an ally of Australia and a country which on a global scale, is involved in a tiny distant conflict of little impact strategically to Australia.  And we should ask: Why?'

Here's a rather interesting recent conversation between two ALP heavyweight old-timers, ex-Senator Graham Richardson and ex-federal minister Peter Baldwin, concerning the present iniquity.

 Meanwhile, for anyone who missed it, here's what the editor of Melbourne's The Age newspaper, one of the Israel-critical Fairfax stable of newspapers, has had to say about his paper's woeful attitude towards Israel.