Dave Sharma: Greens have blind spot on anti-Semitism
The Greens have a blind spot on anti-Semitism and are “demonising the state of Israel” during its conflict with Hamas, Dave Sharma says.
A delighted Dave Sharma
Dave Sharma, a former Liberal MP who was picked to represent his party in the Senate, criticised the Greens for “demonising the state of Israel” and “holding it to a different standard of account”.
“If you are calling for the destruction of a member state of the United Nations, and denying the Jewish people a right to their homeland and a state that is accepted by the United Nations, yes, I consider that to be anti-Semitism,” Mr Sharma told ABC’s RN on Monday.
The former ambassador to Israel pointed to Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who shared a photo on social media with student protesters with a poster depicting the Israeli state being thrown into a rubbish bin.
She went on to remove the post.
“People can and should be allowed to advocate for Palestinian self-determination and Palestinian national rights”, Mr Sharma said.
“But it should not be a zero-sum proposition.
“Too often we see these protests think that to be pro-Palestinian, you need to be anti-Israel, or more critically anti-Jewish people in Australia, and I think that’s where we’ve seen lines crossed many times.”
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said the offensive poster depicted in the photo was not seen before it was uploaded online.
“There was an apology made, and the apology was made promptly and clearly and unreservedly and I think that was the right thing to do,” he said.
Mr Bandt rejected there was anti-Semitism within his party.
“Since the attacks on October 7, which we condemned … condemning anti-Semitism, as well as Islamophobia,” he said.
“But we’ve taken a principled position to this invasion and we do not believe that the people of Gaza should be collectively punished and we’re seeing a humanitarian catastrophe unfold in front of our eyes.”
Mr Bandt said it was unfair to accuse his party of ignoring alleged war crimes being committed by Hamas within the Gaza strip.
“From day one, we’ve condemned the taking of the hostages,” he said.
“That’s a war crime, attacks on civilians are a war crime and we’ve called for the unconditional release of the hostages.”
AAP
So good to have Dave Sharma back in politics, taking Marise Payne’s vacated Senate seat.
He’ll be a strong voice in answer to the likes of Mehreen Faruqi and Adam Bandt and is much needed.