Kooyong MP Monique Ryan a ‘Zionist’ as Jewish leaders urge action

Kooyong MP Monique Ryan has declared her support for Zionism as Allegra Spender stands up for her Jewish constituents but amid more muted support from their teal colleagues.

Kooyong MP Monique Ryan at a Jewish community election forum on Thursday. Picture: Brendan Beckett

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Kooyong MP Monique Ryan has declared she’s a supporter of Zionism and conceded that she made “mistakes” after October 7, having previously backed an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and voiced support for the United Nations’ Hamas-linked aid agency.

Most of her fellow teals failed to back Dr Ryan’s vocal support for ­Zionism as she said she “utterly supported” Israel’s self-determination and supported calls for a ­judicial inquiry into rising anti-Semitism in Australia.

Wentworth incumbent Allegra Spender reiterated her steadfast support for Zionism and the large Jewish community in her electorate, and the teal independent has been one of parliament’s strongest voices against Australia’s anti-Semitism rise and supporters of Jewish Australians.

Jewish leaders have welcomed Dr Ryan’s new stance, but urged her rhetorical support to be accompanied by parliamentary action amid criticism of her voting being closely aligning with that of the Greens.

Dr Ryan’s support for Israel’s existence comes as she faces a challenge in her Melbourne seat from Liberal Amelia Hamer in what appears to be one of the ­Coalition’s last hopes of flipping one of the six seats it lost in 2022’s “teal wave”.

At a community forum in Kooyong on Thursday, Dr Ryan said she was supportive of Zionism, which she defined as “belief in the right of Jewish people to make a homeland in Israel and in the self-determination of Israel”. “I’m ­utterly supportive of that,” she said. Although Jewish leaders welcomed her stance, they warned that supporting Israel must go ­beyond “sound bites”.

“Monique’s voting record, including voting often with the Greens and continued backing of UNRWA funding, suggest otherwise … Support for Zionism can’t end at a sound bite,” Zionism Victoria president Elyse Schachna said. “Backing Zionism and the Jewish community means opposing those who deny Israel’s legitimacy or excuse terrorism, and we haven’t consistently seen that from Monique.

“The Jewish community is paying close attention and actions will always speak louder than words.”

Liberal Kooyong candidate Amelia Hamer, left, and Dr Ryan at Thursday’s event. Picture: Nadir Kinani

But Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said he was “pleased” to see Dr Ryan voice her support of Zionism.

“Dr Ryan acknowledged she had made mistakes since ­October 7 and would have done things differently,” he said.

“At a time of equivocation and even outright hostility from other members of the crossbench, such as the Greens, it is refreshing to see strong agreement between Dr Ryan and Ms Hamer on many key issues for the community.”

The Australian asked each of the other six teal incumbents if they would affirm their support of Zionism, with only Wentworth incumbent Ms Spender affirming that she was happy to call herself a Zionist.

Ms Spender’s Sydney electorate includes the largest Jewish community in NSW and at a recent forum hosted by the ECAJ backed stronger provisions to tackle hate speech, saying she would always be a “genuine friend” of the Jewish community.

“I know that some have questioned my friendship (to the Jewish community). I’ve been called an anti-Semite and worse, and I stand before you today to say firmly and respectfully that that is grossly unfair and untrue, but I am resilient like you, and I will continue to be a friend of the Jewish community,” Ms Spender said at that forum.

The rest of the teal incumbents either pointed towards previous appearances at candidate forums or didn’t receive a response.

It comes after Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel was met with grumblings from Jewish constituents last week after she avoided directly labelling herself a Zionist during a debate with Liberal candidate Tim Wilson – the division’s former MP – at a different forum.

She did not respond to questions on Friday.

The Liberals’ best chance to flip teal seats are in Victoria, where Dr Ryan is defending a 2.2 per cent margin. Ms Daniel is on a margin of about 3 per cent.

Dr Ryan also revealed she had raised concerns directly with university leaders about the rise of anti-Semitism on campuses, singling out Deakin, Monash and Melbourne as institutions that had responded inadequately after Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

“They hadn’t got on to things as well as they could have,” she said, adding it was important to balance free speech with student safety.

“What I think we need to do … is a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism – and one of the things it must look at is university campuses.”

The Kooyong MP also addressed her decision to co-sign a 2024 letter calling for the restoration of aid to Gaza via UNRWA, the UN humanitarian agency now banned by Israel for its alleged links to Hamas.

“Children are dying in Gaza … undergoing surgery without ­anaesthesia,” she said.

“I won’t apologise for wanting to provide aid to children who are dying.”

Dr Ryan added she only supported cutting funding to UNRWA if the government found alternative delivery methods, but conceded the organisation had “deeply problematic” elements.

Peter Dutton this week committed to redoing security checks for Palestinians granted visitor visas but Dr Ryan told the forum that she trusted Australia’s ­“extremely stringent” systems.

Although Dr Ryan was spotted ducking out from the floor of parliament when the Greens moved a motion in May that called for a Palestinian state to be recognised she reiterated her support on Thursday for a two-state solution.