Greens leader Adam Bandt called to drop Julian Burnside over ‘anti-Semitic’ tweet

The Victorian Bar is also asked if Julian Burnside’s tweet or activity in the seat of Kooyong go against professional legal conduct.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt, Julian Burnside and former Greens leader Richard Di Natale. Picture: AAP

Greens leader Adam Bandt is being urged to distance his party from high-profile barrister Julian Burnside after the human rights advocate compared Israel to Nazi Germany.

Mr Burnside, who has since deleted the Twitter post, has been condemned by a number of Jewish community organisations since The Australian reported his comments on Thursday.

Jeremy Leibler, the Zionist Federation of Australia president, in a letter to Mr Bandt, wrote: “Given Mr Burnside’s tweet, failure to take action will be seen by the Australian Jewish community as a Greens willingness to tolerate anti-Semitism within your ranks.”

Mr Leibler also called for the Greens to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in adopting the working definition of anti-Semitism.

Julian Burnside's tweet. Picture: Twitter

Mr Burnside was a Greens candidate for the Victorian seat of Kooyong, and ran for preselection to take Richard Di Natale’s vacant Senate position last year.

Responding to the Mr Burnside’s post, Mr Bandt said his party was concerned with a recent rise in anti-Semitism online.

“The Australian Greens abhor racism in all its forms, and are particularly concerned by the resurgence of anti-Semitism seen across the world,” he said.

“The Holocaust is one of the darkest moments in human history and is without modern comparison. It has left an enduring and painful scar on the Jewish people, the impacts of which are still being felt today.

“The treatment of the Palestinian people can be condemned on its own facts.”

Mr Bandt’s response was criticised by Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abram­o­vich, who said “this occasion warranted a full-throated ­condemnation”.

“Mr Bandt should have registered his disgust at the manipulation and distortion of the deaths of millions by Mr Burnside,” Dr Abram­o­vich said.

“With his words, Mr Burnside not only dishonoured the undertaking he made to the late

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich.

Moshe Fiszman, but he has spit on the memory of the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis, and on the graves of those brave Diggers who fought to ­defeat the Nazis.

“While I appreciate Mr Bandt recognises the Holocaust is a unique tragedy in human history and that there is a surge in anti-Semitism, I am profoundly disappointed he failed to directly condemn the cynical exploitation of the Holocaust by Julian Burnside … to demonise Israelis and score a political point.”

Mr Burnside’s post has also been referred to the Victorian Bar by Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, who wrote to the organisation’s president, Christopher Blanden QC, on Thursday.

Senator Henderson said the post was “the most vile, contemptible and sickening statement ever uttered by a senior member of the Victorian Bar”.

Ms Henderson alleges Mr Burnside, in his post, may have broken section 8(c) of the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct by engaging in behaviour that is “likely to diminish public confidence in the legal profession or the administration of justice or otherwise bring the legal profession into disrepute”.

“I believe that Mr Burnside’s conduct may, at a minimum, contravene Section 8(c) of the Barristers Rules,” she wrote.

Labor MP Josh Burns, who represents a large Jewish population in the Melbourne electorate of Macnamara, also said Mr Burnside’s comments were “deeply offensive”

“Comparing the world’s only Jewish state to Nazi Germany is wrong and deeply offensive,” he said. “It’s a clear violation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.

“All major parties including the Greens should join Labor in adopting the IHRA definition to make it clear there is no room for antisemitism in Australian society.”