Labor loses the plot on Israel

Never mind the rugby, Labor has its own Israel problem. Bill Shorten has been forced to defend the party’s balanced approach to a two-state solution after a series of pro-Palestinian gestures by ALP foot soldiers. This reflects growing restiveness within Labor. Some, especially in the NSW branch, would like to embrace unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. It’s not simply that Arab and Muslim voters are a growing constituency in Sydney Labor seats. There is frustration with lack of progress towards the carving out of separate states for Israel and Palestine. Worse, there is a self-righteous political moralism in which the Israeli government is rebuked while the Palestinian leadership is not held to any serious standard of conduct or competence. This is what you’d expect of student politics, not mainstream policy debate.

Former Labor MP Melissa Parke withdrew as the candidate for Curtin last week after it was revealed she had said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was “worse than apartheid”. In Israel, there are Arab citizens who have the right to vote. South Africa had to wait until 1994 for its first all-race elections. South African anti-apartheid activists would have turbocharged change had they enjoyed the freedom of dissent that exists in Israel. Ms Parke appears to have been the first Labor MP to publicly endorse the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. This counter-productive initiative is even promoted on our university campuses, where it is at odds with the principle of open dialogue — a dialogue in which there is plenty of room for disagreement about the Middle East. And there is room within Labor for its leaders to shrug off sloganeering for moderation; witness Tanya Plibersek’s disavowal of her 2002 remark that Israel was a “rogue state”.

Ms Parke also said “a false narrative (had been) sold to the Western world … that Israel is a beacon of Western democracy and human rights”. Israel is far from perfect but if it is to be denied its true status as the most vigorous democracy of the region, what can be said about the calibre of Palestinian leadership? The preference for angry postures over compromise is deeply ingrained. The Palestinian Authority continues to promote terror. As for Hamas, it sacrifices the young in attacks that bring no strategic advantage. Last month, it turned its violence on Palestinian demonstrators who dared to complain about the shortcomings of anyone other than Israel — in this case, Hamas itself, which has increased taxes on basic goods. We hear little about this, but now Labor’s Josh Wilson is in the news for saying Israeli checkpoints are “places you (Palestinians) go to and you die”. And his party colleague, senator Sue Lines, implied that only the “Israeli lobby” had prevented the ALP formally recognising a Palestinian state. This is convenient; it requires no reflection by activists on how effective and persuasive their advocacy is.

Like Ms Parkes, Senator Lines and Mr Wilson were preaching to the converted in pro-Palestinian forums. They took the easy route. They missed a chance to discuss and learn from the repeated failure of Palestinian leaders to seize opportunities for dialogue and to negotiate in good faith and with political realism.