Greens increase numbers
"While the Greens will not be part of the government, their increased numbers in the parliament will enhance the political voices who are hostile to Israel and opposed to values and policies which are overwhelmingly supported by the Jewish community."
More Greens means a less friendly parliament for the Jewish community, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said this week.
At the time of going to press, the Greens had won three lower house seats and had increased their Senate representation from nine to 12.
“While the Greens will not be part of the government, their increased numbers in the parliament will enhance the political voices who are hostile to Israel and opposed to values and policies which are overwhelmingly supported by the Jewish community,” Wertheim said.
“Several newly-elected Greens candidates such as David Shoebridge and Max Chandler-Mather have a one-dimensional record of criticising Israel at every turn, joining like-minded ALP MPs like Senator Sue Lines, who is now likely to be president of the Australian Senate.”
Chandler-Mather, who won the Queensland seat of Griffith, has a “Free Palestine” frame on his personal Facebook profile photo and accused Israel of genocide during the Israel–Hamas conflict last May.
Shoebridge, a former NSW upper house member, is a long-time supporter of the BDS movement. Prior to the election however, he toured the Sydney Jewish Museum.
While the Greens have told the ECAJ that they are committed to “combating antisemitism and all forms of racism”, they are the only party in the parliament not to have endorsed the IHRA definition.
“Greens spokespeople have no difficulty condemning racial forms of antisemitism and Holocaust denial from neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, but seem to be emotionally and ideologically incapable of recognising more contemporary forms of antisemitism from the “progressive” side of politics, including the rejection of Jewish peoplehood and the Jewish people’s collective right of national self-determination,” Wertheim said.
The Greens are also the odd ones out on BDS, he noted, observing that in the ECAJ’s pre-election questionnaire they stated it “is not Australian Greens policy” while every other party expressed clear opposition to it.
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