Jo Dyer becomes latest Climate 200 independent embroiled in Israel controversy
Climate 200-backed candidate Jo Dyer has come under fire for allegedly promoting “dangerous” views on Israel that were “offensive” to the Jewish community.
SA News
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Independent Boothby candidate Jo Dyer has been accused of promoting “extreme views” that offended the Jewish community, becoming the latest Climate 200 member to be embroiled in controversy surrounding Israel.
In a nearly year-old tweet, Jo Dyer promoted an article that compared Israel to colonial Australia.
“The Israeli state depends on the dispossession of Palestinians, and so, by its nature, will constantly create and recreate violence, just as the Australian settler state did,” the May 2021 article asserts.
The article, written by Jeff Sparrow and published by the Overland literary journal, argues the solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is the “creation of single (sic), democratic state for all”.
On Twitter, Ms Dyer said the article was “lucid” and “persuasive”.
Victorian Senator James Paterson accused Ms Dyer of promoting “extreme views” and opposing Australia’s longstanding policy of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“Not only is this deeply offensive to Boothby residents, and indeed Australia’s Jewish community but the ideas she promotes would directly undermine efforts for peace in the Middle East,” Senator Paterson said.
“At a time of rising anti-Semitism, anyone aspiring to leadership must have zero tolerance for these dangerous views.”
Ms Dyer did not answer questions about whether she supported a two-state solution, instead hitting back at Senator Paterson.
“I am surprised that a junior Senator for Victoria claims to have inside knowledge about what the people of Boothby might find offensive,” Ms Dyer said.
“Senator Paterson needs to be upfront with voters about the amount of time he spends trawling through old Twitter feeds of random opponents when he is supposed to be representing the people of Victoria.
“Senator Paterson’s current obsession with the back catalogue of independent candidates’ tweets confirms the Government is running scared that many of us will be elected to the next parliament.”
Issues have continued to swirl around Climate 200-backed candidates and their views on Israel.
Wentworth independent candidate Allegra Spender came under fire for having anti-Israel advocate Blair Palese campaign for her.
Kooyong candidate Monique Ryan, also backed by Climate 200, apologised for a social media post that trivialised Nazism after a Holocaust survivor described it as “very upsetting”.
Independent Goldstein candidate Zoe Daniel, a former ABC journalist, signed an open letter accusing Israel of running an “apartheid regime against Palestinians”. Her campaign manager Sue Barrett also came under fire for using Twitter to compare Prime Minister Scott Morrison to Hitler.
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