Bishop questioning of Labor’s support for Israel answered
J-Wire published a statement by Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop questioning Labor’s support for Israel following a Labor blocking of a Coalition motion condemning Marrickville Council. A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd responds…
FM Kevin Rudd rt meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The Australian Government’s support for the State of Israel and for its security is unequivocal and unwavering. Mr Rudd has visited Israel three times as Foreign Minister and has on each occasion underlined Australia’s full support for Israel.
Mr Rudd has said that the proposed Marrickville boycott was “just plain nuts”.
The Government could not support the part of Ms Bishop’s motion because it stated there was a “fraying of the traditionally bipartisan support amongst Australia’s political parties for the State of Israel”. This statement is false. Bipartisan support for the State of Israel is strong and undiminished. Israel is fully supported by the Government, and we are not aware of any fraying of support from the Opposition.
Government members today voted in favour of the following motion in Parliament today.
[The Parliament]
“(1) restates its support for the motion moved by the then Prime Minister and passed by this House on the sixtieth anniversary of the State of Israel, and in particular:
(a) acknowledges the unique relationship which exists between Australia and Israel, a bond highlighted by the commitment of both societies to the rights and liberty of our citizens and to cultural diversity;
(b) commends the State of Israel’s commitment to democracy, the rule of law and pluralism; and
(c) reiterates Australia’s commitment to Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, and our continued support for a peaceful two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. ”
Enoch is spot on; the Labour statement fails to condemn BDS supporters or the Jew hating Hizb ut-Tahrir’s meeting in Melbourne. The Labour statement is full of motherhood statements supporting and standing by Israel, but ignores Rudd’s earlier statement calling for Israel’sunconditional withdrawal from territories. While Rudd’s concern and regard for Israel is almost certainly genuine, one cannot ignore Labour’s crawling to the mohammedan constituency and Rudd’s obsession with a seat on the Security Council, which means that he puts sucking up to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference ahead of a principled stand such as exhibited by Harper of Canada.
Take note that the government motion completely fails to criticise the BDS movement – which was the original intent of the oppositions motion.