ABC ‘independent’ candidate Zoe Daniel backs Palestinian agenda

Zoe Daniel signed a letter accusing Israel of unleashing ‘brutal war against the besieged population of Gaza’.

The letter Zoe Daniel signed last year accused Israel of running an ‘apartheid regime against Palestinians’

Zoe Daniel, a former ABC journalist running as an independent, signed an open letter accusing the Israeli government of unleashing “a brutal war against the besieged population of Gaza”.

The candidate for the Victorian seat of Goldstein has also told The Australian the issue of whether Israel is guilty of war crimes is a “complex matter of international law” best left for ­“experts to determine”.

Revelations about Ms Daniel’s stance on Israel come amid a focus on the policies of independents running in seats targeting government MPs while being funded by centralised climate groups.

The Australian reported on Tuesday that a key figure behind independent candidate Allegra Spender’s tilt in the Sydney seat of Wentworth supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and has criticised Australia’s “shocking support” of Israel.

Ms Daniel is running against incumbent Liberal MP Tim Wilson in the seat of Goldstein, which has a significant Jewish population of 6.8 per cent, according to census data. The letter she signed in 2021 called for media coverage of “Palestine” to improve by ­respecting the rights of journalists “to publicly and openly express personal solidarity with the Palestinian cause”.

It also accused Israel of running an “apartheid regime against Palestinians” and incorrectly claimed the democratic nation had been “deliberately targeting the media” by bombing the Al-Jawhara tower in Gaza.

The Israeli government said the terrorist group Hamas was ­operating military intelligence ­assets from the tower and warned journalists based in the building there would be an attack ahead of time to limit casualties.

Liberal MP for Wentworth Dave Sharma, who is facing a challenge by Ms Spender, said there was a pattern on Israel emerging among the independent teams. “This seeming pattern of anti-Israel views amongst the Climate 200 so-called independents is concerning and demands an ­explanation,” said Mr Sharma, who was formerly the Australian ambassador to Israel.

“Are such views a formal part of their policy platform?”

Ms Daniel said she firmly ­believed in the right of the Jewish people to have a safe and secure homeland in the State of Israel and did not agree with every ­aspect of the letter. “My signing of the letter was narrowly framed to express my profound and abiding concern for the safety and welfare of journalists, regardless of the conflict,” she said.

She said it would be insincere to remove her name from the letter and said it was better she understood the issue from the perspective of the Jewish community.

“Many Jewish Goldstein residents have expressed their dismay to me regarding the media’s ­emphasis on Israel, while it fails to take into account the complexity of the situation,” she said.

“As a community-backed representative, I deeply empathise with these concerns, especially as we witness a rise in anti-Semitism across the world.”

Asked if she thought Israel had committed war crimes, Ms Daniel told The Australian: “Complex matters of international law are for experts to determine.”

Ms Daniel was one of more than 50 ABC and SBS figures who signed the public letter, along with comedian Tom Ballard, Radio National journalist Max Chalmers and reporter Dylan Welsh.

The letter, dated May 2021, said the media should avoid treating Israelis – described as instigators – like Palestinians, who were “victims of a military occupation”.

Australian Israel Jewish ­Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said it was “hard to see how anyone who supports Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state” could sign it.

“It completely misrepresents the cause of the May 2021 violence, blaming Israel when it was started by Hamas rocket barrages against Israeli civilians; it refers to Israel’s very founding as the Nakba – “catastrophe”; it echoes baseless and malicious accusations that Israel practises apartheid; and it basically urges that the media cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a one-sided and ­unbalanced way that gives priority to the Palestinian perspective,” he said.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the letter was a “piece of propaganda that effectively sought to tie the hands of journalists and bully them into adopting the narrative that Israel embodies evil while the Palestinians are passive victims.”

“At a time when Hamas was terrorising the people of Israel, the letter subverted every notion of media integrity and independence by calling on journalists to become activists for a violent and unjust cause,” he said.

Mr Ryvchin said given Ms Daniel said she supported a two-state solution and did not agree with the demonisation of Israel, “she should therefore disassociate herself from the letter”.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Daniel Aghion said he was disappointed Ms Daniel signed the letter. “Her current stated views on Israel are more nuanced and consistent with bipartisan policy,” he said. “Having said that, we think that Ms Daniel can do better.”