‘Worse than Hamas or ISIS’: Local Greens candidates hope to inspire local ‘revolution’
Ahead of the local elections, Greens candidates are ditching typical council responsibilities, in favour of inspiring a “revolution”.
NSW
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An sensational claim that the Israeli Defence Force is “worse” than ISIS, a push for the militant Kurdish terror group the PKK to be delisted as a terror organisation, and the belief cars “exacerbate the gendered domination” of social life are among the extreme views held by Greens candidates trying to turn local councils into a platform for “revolution”.
Ahead of Saturday’s local government elections, the Greens Party has boasted that its councillors “are leading the way on the community and climate revolution,” instead of focusing on traditional council responsibilities.
The party even held a “Roads, Rates, and Revolution” online trivia night to raise money for local candidates.
“Is local government really just roads, rates and rubbish? Not if we Greens have anything to say about it!” the event website boasted.
Extreme views held by “radical” Greens candidates on international politics has led to one campaign group urging voters to put the party last on the ballot paper.
Greens candidates running for election include Peter Strong, who made the incendiary claim over the weekend that Israel’s army is “worse” than ISIS.
“Israel have dodged any ceasefire initiative all they want to do is commit genocide and take more Palestinian land,” said Mr Strong, the lead Greens candidate for a Bayside council ward.
“IDF are total terrorists, it’s proven, lots of evidence out there about it, I reckon they are worse than Hamas or ISIS,” he said.
The comments were decried as “inept, dishonest and fanatical … gibberish” Executive Council of Australia Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin.
“Electors around the country should know that a vote for the Greens is a vote for racism, ignorance and authoritarianism,” he said.
Mr Strong was contacted for comment but did not respond.
His incendiary Facebook comments follow a spate of Greens activists using council to grandstand about the war in Gaza.
Last week, The Daily Telegraph revealed Randwick council, under Greens Mayor Philipa Veitch, spent $13,000 to debate the conflict. An Inner West council meeting last month descended into chaos when a Greens councillor moved a motion relating to Israel.
A number of Greens candidates with radical views on foreign are running in the Inner West, which takes in suburbs like Ashfield, Marrickville, and Stanmore.
One candidate, Ismet Tastan, has lobbied the federal government to remove the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from the list of designated terror groups.
Last year, candidate Mr Tastan said the PKK’s designation as a terror group was “unjust”.
Asked about his views, Mr Tastan said his position was in line with federal Greens policy.
Another Inner West candidate, Olivia Barlow, declared she wanted to “unf*** our future,” when announcing her campaign.
Candidate Izabella Antoniou, in what she described as her first act as a Greens candidate, travelled to Europe to protest against the German Greens not being radical enough.
The actions of Ms Barlow and Ms Antoniou have become the target of the Better Council campaign organisation, which aims to unmask “radicals” running for local government elections.
Better Council organiser Sophie Calland questioned how “revolution” leads to better services for residents.
“We need to all be concerned with our local environment, improving services and not creating community division,” she said.
“The Greens claim to be a party of ‘community cohesion and kindness,’ yet this is another example of hateful rhetoric that divides communities,” she said.
The Greens also drew the ire of Labor Minister Rose Jackson, who said the party “talk a big game on their posters but actively block progress on local councils”.
“They are well known to be anti-housing and anti-fun. Instead of doing the important work of getting new affordable homes approved and built, they are grandstanding on issues that have nothing to do with local government,” she said.
Other Greens candidates running for election this Saturday include Conroy Danis Blood, in Canterbury-Bankstown, who wants people to be able to share toys and household appliances.
“I’d like to introduce more sharing initiatives for unused household items, like toys or appliances,” he told the Telegraph for a profile of local council candidates.
In the Blue Mountains, a sitting Greens councillor has argued that cars are a vehicle for the patriarchy.
In a gender studies publication last year, Greens councillor Sarah Redshaw declared that cars “exacerbate the gendered domination of economic and social life”.
“There is some evidence to suggest that as passengers, women suffer from men’s use of cars,” she argued.
On her council candidate page she boasts that during her time as council she moved a motion “demanding a ceasefire in Gaza”.
Lane Cove and the Blue Mountains are areas where Greens may find it easier to get elected due to the Liberal Party failing to run candidates.
NSW Greens Local Government spokeswoman Amanda Cohn defended the views of her party’s local government candidates, saying they are campaigning “across a broad spectrum of issues, from housing affordability and cost of living to climate action and many more that matter to the communities they represent”.
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