River to sea slogan ‘not anti-Semitic’: claim by NSW Labor MP Anthony D’Adam

Premier Chris Minns has declared the views of Upper House Labor MP Anthony D’Adam — that the “River to the Sea” one-state solution is not anti-Semitic — to be inflammatory and in some cases wrong.

NSW government frontbencher Anthony D'Adam and Greens MP Jenny Leong leading a pro-Palestinian protest march in Sydney on Sunday.

A NSW Labor MP has controversially described the Israeli conflict in Gaza as “genocide” and says it’s not anti-Semitic to argue for a one-state “river to the sea” solution for the conflict – putting him at odds with official Australian Government policy and PM Anthony Albanese’s condemnation of the slogan as “violent”.

Australian Jewish groups slammed his comments as “grossly offensive” and say the river to sea phrase means “ethnic cleansing”.

Upper House parliamentary secretary Anthony D’Adam, from the left of the ALP, made the comments in the NSW parliament late on Wednesday in response to a motion to condemn anti-Semitic encampments at NSW universities.

The motion called for parliamentarians to condemn the call for an “intifada” and the existence of the Palestine “from the river to the sea” as that was “inconsistent with a two-state solution and akin to the annihilation of the Jewish state”.

Arguing against the motion, Mr D’Adam claimed that “those people who are supporting the genocide in Palestine should be feeling uncomfortable”.

Pro-Palestinian rally and tent city at Sydney university, including tents with graffiti saying free Gaza and from the river to the sea. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“It cannot be said to be anti-Semitic to argue that the Jews, Christians and Muslims who have lived historically in Palestine for generations cannot one day live in one state from the river to the sea,” he said.

Official Australian Government policy is committed to a two-state solution “in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist … within internationally recognised borders”.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said Mr D’Adam was undermining the work of his own government to maintain harmony by pointedly using the river to the sea phrase and “calling for the effective dissolution of Israel”.

“At a time in which social cohesion has never been more important, D’Adam’s comments were wilfully ignorant, divisive and grossly offensive,” he said.

Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler said “anyone with a basic knowledge of history understands that when people chant ‘from the river to the sea’, they mean the ethnic cleansing of Jews”.

“The Hamas atrocities on 7 October gave us a hint of what ‘from the river to the sea’ means in practice. No one of good conscience should be uttering that hateful slogan.”

Australian Jewish Association president David Adler said given the demographics of the region calls for a “one-state solution” mean “the elimination of Jewish self-determination in the only place where it is available”.

Earlier this week Mr Albanese said the chant “from the river to the sea” was a violent statement that had no place on Australian streets, while former spy boss Dennis Richardson warned the phrase was “very violent”.

A spokeswoman for Premier Chris Minns said the government supported a two-state solution.

“In relation to Mr D’Adam, the Premier has previously made the point that a lot of what Mr D’Adam said has been inflammatory and, in some cases, wrong,” she said.

“The Premier has ensured that the people of NSW know that that’s not the view of the executive government or the NSW cabinet.”

Mr D’Adam later voted in support of a motion by Treasurer Daniel Mookhey supporting a two-state solution.

The controversial phrase is used in the charter of the terrorist group Hamas, which states: “Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]