Everybody said before the election that the Labour Party would struggle to control the rabid anti-Israel protestation of a number of leftist groups that retain factional or social inflence on the workings of the party.
The Government itself, with full deserved credit, has remained steadfast, and strongly supportive of its pre-election position. That position includes the right for Israel to exist as a Jewish State. Some Government Ministers have remained highly aware, politically neutral, and understanding of the distinction between democracy and terrorism when it comes to the mechanics of Government in the region. This, to the extent that foriegn Minister Stephen Smith expressed a personal message and gesture to the Jewish community last week by sending his sympathies and a small donation after the terrorist shooting at Mercaz Harav.
However there is an article that shows the other side of the Labour party in today’s Australian. The article speaks volumes for what we have to endure. To Julia Irwin, I can only say that I too have walked through the streets of the Palestinian Authority, and have been inside a “Refugee Camp” (called Dehaishe, in Bethlehem, that is built on land that the Jewish National Fund legally purchased over 100 years ago, which was then taken from them after 1948). The children did look worse off than their Israeli counterparts. But whose fault is that? Have the Palestinians not had many opportunities to create statehood, economic development, and peaceful coexistance? Have they not responded with a pledge to destroy Israel, backed this up through action, and in the process spend aid money on building war, not peace? Is it their own leadership that will not contemplate the existence of Israel. This is not a human rights abuse. This is a necessary security to protect Israel from destruction. The day the Palestinains choose to embrace peace is the day that they can start to build careers and create social capital instead of destroy it. Take for example Gaza, where several hundred million dollars worth of greenhouses and produce contracts were purchased and gifted to the Palestinains. A day later they were ravaged and destroyed. That is a human rights abuse, but not one of Israel’s making!
Email the Labour party to voice your support for the motion celebrating Israel’s 60th birthday. it can be done online
https://www.alp.org.au/action/feedback.php