Labor’s UN posturing ‘rewards’ anti-Semitism, former minister Mike Kelly says
Former Labor minister Mike Kelly has linked Anthony Albanese’s support for pro-Palestine motions in the UN with the torching of a Melbourne Synagogue on Friday, urging him to ‘join the dots’.
Former Labor minister Mike Kelly has linked Anthony Albanese’s support for pro-Palestine motions in the UN with the torching of a Melbourne Synagogue, urging him to “join the dots” between its hard line stance against Israel and surging anti-Semitism.
The Labor Friends of Israel co-convener said some party members were now tearing up their membership cards in protest at the government’s hostility towards the Jewish state, believing the government was “betraying” the legacy of ALP giants Ben Chifley and HV “Doc” Evatt.
Amid national outrage over the arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue on Friday morning, Mr Kelly said anti-Semitic extremists saw the government’s support for anti-Israel motions in the UN as a “reward for their lawlessness and their violence”.
“The government has been making a series of decisions like this and very clearly, this only encourages the extremists to go further,” he told The Australian.
“This is obviously not intentional by the government, but it’s really disturbing that they’re not joining the dots and making the connection here, and it’s hurting our national security posture and our social cohesion situation.
“And then, unsurprisingly, we see the events in Melbourne overnight. Obviously, we have to respect the investigation process, but it seems very clearly there’s a potential here for this to have been another heinous act by one of these extremists.”
Mr Kelly said the looming retirement of pro-Israel Labor minister Bill Shorten marked the loss of another “voice of reason” from the party, as “Communists and Greens” used the situation in the Middle East to divide the ALP and the trade union movement.
“The sensation is that feeling of death by a thousand cuts – where is this movement going?”
“I have a number of friends who have torn up their membership cards and it’s this feeling of ‘I haven’t left the party, the party has left me’.
“It’s really betraying the position of Chifley and Evatt by going down a path that rewards terrorism.”
His comments came as the Prime Minister dismissed unprecedented criticism of his government by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which warned Australia’s “flip-flop” voting in the UN would encourage terrorism and anti-Semitism.
Mr Netanyahu’s office told The Australian that the Albanese government’s move in the UN this week to support Palestinian statehood and demand Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories “will invite more terrorism and more anti-Semitic riots at campuses and city centres, including in Australia”. It contrasted Australia’s stance with that of Israel’s “key allies”.
Responding to the statement on Friday, Mr Albanese said: “Well, 157 countries voted for that resolution, including the Five Eyes partners, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand as well as Australia, as well as people we work closely with – Germany, Italy, other countries in our region.
“And it’s exactly the same way that the Howard Government voted for a long period of time.”
He said he had no plans to call Mr Netanyahu to discuss Israel’s concerns.
Peter Dutton said Israel was an “essential ally” which had provided intelligence that had averted terrorist attacks on Australians.
He called on the Prime Minister to explain why he had walked away from his pre-election pledge to the Jewish community to maintain bipartisan support for Israel.
“It’s impossible to imagine that Bob Hawke or Paul Keating or even Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard would have taken the path that Prime Minister Albanese has,” the Opposition Leader said.
“I think it’s left our country less safe. I think it’s created an air of uncertainty and, frankly, a lot of people in the Jewish community don’t only feel uncertain, they feel unsafe.”
Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, sought to de-escalate tensions between the countries, saying he didn’t blame the Albanese government for the “outrageous” attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue, or the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia.
But he called on the government “to take all necessary actions and steps in order to uproot this ugly phenomena and to make sure that Jewish people … will feel safe and secure”.
Mr Maimon, who said he had received a call from NSW Premier Chris Minns following the arson attack but not Mr Albanese or Senator Wong, said Australians needed to ask themselves “what are the values that we believe in?”
Mr Maimon said he was “disappointed” at Australia’s hardening position against Israel in the UN. But he said the strength of the Australia-Israel relationship could not be measured “based on one or two votes” in the UN.
Former Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked, who was denied a visa by the Albanese government, has blamed Labor’s policies for the Adass Israel Synagogue arson attack.
“The horrifying attack on the Melbourne synagogue overnight exposes yet again the Albanese government’s reckless policies—both domestically and at the UN—literally sacrificing Australia’s Jewish community in a desperate attempt to win votes,” she said on X.
The horrifying attack on the Melbourne synagogue overnight exposes yet again the Albanese Government’s reckless policies—both domestically and at the UN—literally sacrificing Australia’s Jewish community in a desperate attempt to win votes.
— ×יילת שקד Ayelet Shaked (@Ayelet__Shaked) December 6, 2024
Senator Wong said Australia remained a supporter of Israel, but argued Palestinian civilians should not be punished for the actions of Hamas terrorists on October 7.
She said the government saw recognition of a Palestinian state “as a potential contributor to a process of peace”.
“We have been clear that we want to see the cycle of violence that we are all witnessing end,” Senator Wong said.
“We want to contribute in the ways we can with partners, to peace and to towards a two state solution. We’ve been clear that Palestinian civilians cannot continue to pay the price of defeating Hamas.”
She urged critics of the government to reflect on the tens of thousands of Palestinians who had been killed, including some 14,000 children, since Australia called for a Gaza ceasefire in the UN last year.
Australia joined 156 other countries on Wednesday morning AEDT to back a seven-page resolution urging “the realisation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination and the right to their independent state”.
It also called for a high-level conference in June to “urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution”.
Israel and the US were among eight nations to vote against the motion, together with Australia’s Pacific partners Papua New Guinea, Palau, Nauru and Micronesia.
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