Australian Jewish leadership calls on major parties to preference each other

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The Zionist Federation of Australia and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry have written to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition requesting that both major parties prefer each other above the Greens at the next Federal election and rule out negotiating with or forming a minority government with the Greens.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the abhorrent demonstrations at the Sydney Opera House following the October 7 Hamas massacre, triggering a wave of extremism and antisemitism, a breakdown in Australia’s social and multicultural cohesion, and the continued weaponisation of the conflict by elected Greens.

This outrageous demonstration preceded the military response to the Hamas attacks.

Against this backdrop, The ZFA and ECAJ have also sought pledges from each of the Teal Independents that they rule out negotiating, or agreeing to form a minority government, with the Greens who, under the leadership of Adam Bandt, have deliberately chosen to: spread disinformation about the war; publicly spout antisemitic rhetoric; refuse to condemn the terrorist organisations, Hamas and Hezbollah; refuse to acknowledge Israel has a right to exist; failed to address antisemitism in their ranks; and regularly intimidate Australians who do not subscribe to their viewpoint.

President of the ZFA, Jeremy Leibler, said: “For the sake of our social cohesion, we urge the Government, the Opposition, and the Teals to take a decisive stand and deny the Greens any role in a minority government. It’s critical they do not make any concessions to the Greens in return for a guarantee of confidence and supply.”

Daniel Aghion KC, President of ECAJ, stated: “By committing to preference each other ahead of the Greens, the Government and Opposition would send a clear message that hatred, extremism, antisemitism, and the politics of division will not be tolerated or rewarded.”

The Prime Minister has called the Greens’ behaviour “appalling,” and accused them of “consciously and deliberately spreading misinformation. Similarly, the Leader of the Opposition has condemned the Greens for “pouring fuel on the fire” of social division and antisemitism.

History has shown that when extremists and others who promote and encourage the politics of division are appeased, it only serves to lend them credibility and embolden them to make more demands. It is critical that the Government, the Opposition, and the Teal Independents deny the Greens the rewards they seek to reap at the upcoming Federal election.

The ZFA and the ECAJ have detailed recent actions and statements by the Greens highlighting their rampant antisemitism and reckless disregard for social cohesion.

At a Palestine Justice Movement forum in Bankstown on 13 December 2023, which was convened to discuss a boycott against Israel, NSW Greens MP, Jenny Leong, described Jewish groups as      having “tentacles” which they use to “influence power”. She told the forum: “The Jewish lobby and the Zionist lobby are infiltrating into every single aspect of what is ethnic community            groups. They rock up and offer support for things like the campaign against the 18C racial discrimination laws, they offer solidarity, they rock up to every community event because their tentacles reach into the areas that try and influence power.” She made the maliciously false claim that the consistent support of Jewish organisations for anti-vilification laws over more than three decades is, somehow, a mere ruse to garner support for Israel, rather than a matter of principle of vital domestic concern for the Australian Jewish community. These comments were rightly condemned by both of you for drawing on age-old antisemitic tropes.

Ms. Leong’s subsequent acknowledgement that she had used an “inappropriate descriptor” and her ‘non-apology apology’iii were so mendacious as to be worthless.

On 9 October 2023, Jenny Leong MP described as “disgraceful,” a statement by Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, in which he condemned the “unprovoked attacks from militant Hamas.” She thereby implied that the Hamas atrocities against men, women and children had been provoked, taking the side of the criminals rather than the victims.

Greens Senator, Mehreen Faruqi, posed smiling in a photo next to a sign which called to ‘keep the world clean” of Jews and/or Israelis by symbolically putting an image of the Star of David in a rubbish bin. She also refused to say whether the proscribed terror organisation, Hamas, should be dismantled.

Greens leader, Adam Bandt, refused to say whether in his opinion, Hamas is a terrorist organisation, and opposed a resolution of the Parliament in the days after the 7 October terrorist attack that condemned Hamas.

Greens MP, Gabrielle De Vietri, refused to answer whether the State of Israel has a right to exist, despite being asked ten times by Neil Mitchell.

In the recent local government elections in NSW, the Greens endorsed, Bashir Sawalha, the President of “The United Australian Palestinian Workers” (UAPW), as a candidate. The UAPW has posted statements online in support of terrorists Leila Khaled and Ismail Haniyeh.

The Greens endorsed a rally where the flags of listed terrorist organisation, Hezbollah, were displayed. Elected Greens MPs and Senators attended and spoke at these rallies in Sydney and Melbourne. Publicly displaying the symbols of a listed terrorist organisation is a crime.

Leader of the Victorian Greens and Candidate for Wills, Samantha Ratnam, hosting a “Women in Wills” event with Clementine Ford, who has publicly denied the sexual violence and rape committed by Hamas on October 7, has denied that Hamas murdered six Israeli hostages whose bodies were retrieved from a Hamas tunnel on 30 August, has said Israel “should not exist,” has spouted conspiracy theories suggesting Zionists/Jews were involved in September 11, and participated in the doxing of Australian Jews.