Voters must heed warning on ‘dangerous’ Bandt

The Australian’s editorial offers a warning to all and sundry of the dangers of Greens leader Adam Bandt and should have alarm bells ringing throughout Australia (“Greens’ mischief on Gaza a stern warning for election”, 26/12). It is not too clear what sort of an Australia Bandt wants, but all of the signs suggest it is not what the majority of Australians want. Bandt, the politician, is a very dangerous person.

My one hope is that all of those young impressionable voters that the Greens have conned over the years, with their so-called environmental concerns, which have now been lost in the ether of politics, will have now had enough life experience to realise that jumping on the Greens bandwagon is no longer the way to a better Australia. And it is about time that all those older, retired wealthy folk woke up to themselves and dumped the ineffective and hypocritical teals who seem to be Greens in disguise. These are extremely precarious times.

Peter Surkitt, Sandringham, Vic

Having experienced anti-Semitism as a young boy growing up in London, it was a wonderful feeling to come to Australia in my late 20s, to such an embracing and multicultural country, one that opened its arms to so many Holocaust survivors. I am so bitterly disappointed and saddened by the current Labor government’s inability to strongly stand against anti-Semitism and take so long to take any meaningful action to stamp out this evil that has beset my people for thousands of years. I was once a proud Australian Jew, now I am only a proud Jew.

Jonathan Wolfe, Brighton, Vic

The “Greening” of the Australian Labor Party worries me for two main reasons. As a Jew, I feel threatened and, as an Australian, I fear for the future of our country where the Greens tail wags the Labor dog. It appears the predominant concern is for Palestinians – this may change in the future – and its loyalty is to Muslim voters rather than to Australia. Can anyone forget the celebration of some imams to the barbaric sadism of October 7 and its defiance of our police? Greens leader Adam Bandt and Labor equate the rise in anti-Semitism with Islamophobia, pretending that mosques are threatened like synagogues. But they aren’t. Bandt decries racism while fanning it. He calls for Palestinian self-determination, while reifying Palestine, in defiance of the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority’s slogan, “From the river to the sea”, seeks Israel’s demise.

Most worrying, however, is the failure of the majority of Australian Muslims who fail to decry the aggressive reactionary minority in their community. That divides and threatens our society. Shamefully, the ALP dog is just chasing votes.

Paul Winter, Chatswood, NSW

Adam Bandt says the Albanese government’s Middle East policy is now gradually resembling that of the Greens. (“ALP ‘slowly’ going Green over Israeli”, 24/12) The best colour to reflect the government’s position would be yellow to denote its moral cowardice.

Dennis Walker, North Melbourne, Vic

Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, has historically been a close ally of Australia until the shameful betrayal of Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong. The informative article by Gedaliah Afterman and Anthony Bergin exposes the wider-ranging, strategic, long-term backlash Australia will suffer due to the support this Labor government has given to terrorists over our democratic Israeli allies (“Abandoning Israel comes with a high price in Indo-Pacific”, 26/12).

The only way Australia can reclaim our democratic strength in supporting Australian Jews is to celebrate their valuable contributions to our country since their arrival on the First Fleet.

Mary-Anne Higgins, Rose Park, SA

It’s clear to most that the Bandt-led Greens are a radical minor party determined to cause uncertainty and chaos, as they trumpet their unwarranted importance in the lead-up to the 2025 federal election. Should they end up holding the balance of power in a Labor minority government, the damage they can inflict on domestic matters will be immense. Of equal importance is their ability to influence foreign policy. We should hope that either major party wins majority government in its own right. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.

Tom Moylan, Dudley Park, WA