PJV AGM

Labor MP ‘conflicted’ by UN vote

Ananda-Rajah distinguished between "economic Islam" in the Gulf States and Jordan, which potentially offers "a road out" through economic reform and education.

Josh Burns and Michelle Ananda-Rajah on election night. Photo: Facebook
Josh Burns and Michelle Ananda-Rajah on election night. Photo: Facebook

A FEDERAL Labor MP felt “very conflicted” by the Albanese government’s UN vote in favour of elevating the Palestinian Authority.

Addressing a volley of questions at the Progressive Judaism Victoria (PJV) AGM at Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne on Sunday, Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, whose Higgins seat in Melbourne has a sizeable Jewish population – bordering Macnamara, where Jewish MP Josh Burns dissented from his government’s UN decision – said she “had a conversation” with Foreign Minister Penny Wong after the vote.

“I know that this was perceived by the community as an act of betrayal and abandonment … and I’ve also heard the term ‘supporting terrorism’. I don’t take that view. We need a permanent solution and a political pathway.”

Ananda-Rajah distinguished between “economic Islam” in the Gulf States and Jordan, which potentially offers “a road out” through economic reform and education, and the “radical Islam” of Iran and Hamas.

Grilled by PJV members about university mayhem and antisemitism, the MP said the government will conduct an inquiry into campus racism and has written to universities, but “has very limited jurisdiction”. Universities “have to discover their backbone” and curb the chaos, she said.

She was challenged by Helen Shardey, past president of the Australian Reform Zionist Association and a former state Liberal MP, who said the Commonwealth has extensive funding powers with universities.

From left, Maureen Barten, Vivienne Nguyen, Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Temple Beth Israel Senior Rabbi Allison Conyer.

Temple Beth Israel co-president David Arkles told Ananda-Rajah he doubts he can “vote Labor next time” with the government “morally absent” on campuses and a Foreign Minister believing, he said, “It’s more important to be re-elected than show moral leadership.”

Ananda-Rajah will examine widespread claims – also raised at the meeting – that Qatari funding is fuelling the violent occupation of Australian universities.

When King David School principal Marc Light emphasised that most Australian Jews identify as “Zionist”, and slurring one was slurring both, Ananda-Rajah agreed, adding that she saw herself as “a Christian Zionist”. Moreover, Zionism simply meant “the right of Israel to exist”, she said.

Visiting Israel’s south in December, she saw scenes in the October 7 aftermath she “can never unsee” and witnessed anguish, grief, massive displacement and “an existential crisis … something most Australians don’t understand”.

In her address, Victorian Multicultural Commission chair Vivienne Nguyen described “a difficult and emotional time”.

PJV president Maureen Barten recited Edmond Fleg’s declaratory poem I Am a Jew and its stirring line, “because the promise of Israel is the universal promise”.

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