Greens push to sink hate laws
ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim condemned Faruqi's comments as “mendacious nonsense” in a statement to The AJN.
In calling for Australia’s new federal hate laws to be repealed, the Greens have “studiously chosen to ignore” the antisemitism behind the caravan hoax.
Greens Deputy Leader Mehreen Faruqi has demanded the laws be repealed, claiming the government proceeded despite having doubts about the caravan plot. Her comments came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he knew the incident was not terror-related “for some time”.
The laws, enacted after a rash of antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne, including shule attacks, car fires and anti-Jewish graffiti, upended ALP policy by introducing mandatory minimum prison terms.
Senator Faruqi told the ABC, “These unjust provisions must be revisited and repealed when Parliament sits again. If the AFP knew almost immediately that the caravan plot was a hoax, why did Labor whip up media hysteria and community fear? We need to know if they pushed these laws through under false pretences.”
Condemning her comments as “mendacious nonsense, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim told The AJN, “Whoever orchestrated the caravan incident and the attacks and threats against synagogues and other targets, and whatever personal gain they were seeking … the method used was unquestionably antisemitic, as the only targets were Jewish community targets.
“Striking fear into our community was an indispensable part of the whole scheme. Further, the principal suspect has a long record of posting overtly antisemitic comments online. Yet the Greens have studiously chosen to ignore all of this.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the Greens “have spent the past 18 months fuelling division and hatred to win votes, and this latest stunt is just another reminder that they are nothing but a party of extremists”.
Noting that there is “a trove of social media posts and comments from the alleged [caravan] mastermind that demonstrate antisemitism was almost certainly also a motive”, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein called the Greens’ comments “unsurprising” and part of “a pattern of relentless hostility towards the Jewish community”.
“The fact that the caravan hoax and some related attacks were allegedly in part a scheme to have a potential prison term reduced and divert police resources does not mean the changes to the legislation to better combat antisemitism were in any way unwarranted.”
Meanwhile, NSW independent state MP Rod Roberts has claimed NSW hate laws “wouldn’t have passed” if it had been known the caravan hoax “was a criminal enterprise and not complete antisemitic attacks”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns was emphatic that the laws would remain on the books.
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