Swan apologises after Jewish groups demand resignation

Labor Party president Wayne Swan has apologised for “offence caused” after sharing a controversial social media post about Jewish people who booed prime minister Anthony Albanese at a vigil marking a week since the Bondi Beach massacre.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry called on Swan to resign and for Albanese to disavow him following the post on Monday.

Swan, also the chair of industry superannuation fund Cbus and a former treasurer, initially doubled down on his choice to share the social media post but on Tuesday apologised and removed the post.

“I understand the deep trauma the Jewish community is experiencing following the terrible terrorist attack,” Swan said, according to The Australian.

“I understand that over recent years the Jewish community has experienced increased anxiety and insecurity and that rising antisemitism has had a real impact on their everyday lives. I’ve had a long association with the Australian Jewish community and I look forward to continuing to support the community and engage with their leaders. I’ve reflected on the retweet and have taken it down and I apologise for any offence caused.”

The controversy began after Swan reposted a message by Per Capita research fellow Everald Compton that criticised Jewish mourners who booed Albanese at Sunday’s vigil.

“Jewish people boo @AlboMP on arrival at #Bondi vigil but they support #Netanyahu who allowed 1200 Israelis to be slaughtered by Hamas then murdered 70000 innocent people in Gaza,” Compton wrote. “It is beyond belief that such hypocrisy can become respectable.”

Swan told News.com.au he was “not happy” about the booing and thought the Bondi attack should not be “politicised”.

“Well, my thoughts about it are that it’s a serious event, and you know, we shouldn’t be politicising it like that,” Swan said. “People who are mourning have strong views. But the point is, it shouldn’t be politicised the way it has been. By some of the speakers last night.”

Swan also reposted criticism of the Australian Jewish Association by social media user Noely Neate.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said Swan should resign as president of the ALP and the prime minister should disavow him.

“At a time of intense trauma for the Jewish community in Australia, a small section of the crowd at Sunday’s vigil booed the Prime Minister over the government’s manifestly inadequate responses to the orchestrated surge in antisemitism over the previous two years,” ECAJ said.

“The criticisms of the government are legitimate; the booing was not the right way to express them, and should not have happened. Yet in the midst of our community’s grief and anguish, we are appalled that a national figure like Wayne Swan chose to re-tweet another person’s post which seized on the booing episode to try to diminish and delegitimise the outpouring of sympathy our community has received from the Australian public.”

ECAJ said the tweet and implied endorsement was “a subtle form of dehumanisation which exemplifies the sewer of antisemitic hatred that has blighted Australian society for the last two years and which helped spawn the murder of 15 innocent people at Bondi Beach”.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said Swan’s position as president of the ALP was “completely untenable”.

“If the Prime Minister is serious about standing up to antisemitism, then he must call out Swan and demand that he be sacked,” Ossip said.

“For too long, high profile individuals have been able to cast a dangerous pall over the Jewish community without consequence.”

Ossip said Swan’s remarks suggesting Jewish Australians who booed the prime minister somehow support the killing of civilians was “completely disgraceful”.

“To smear an entire community with such an accusation is beyond the pale. Antisemitism has no place in Australia, and neither does this rhetoric that vilifies a grieving community,” Ossip said.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said Swan’s denigration of the mourners at Bondi was “very disappointing, and demonstrably untrue”.

“The response from the crowd towards the Prime Minister was not partisan illustrated by the cheers received by his ALP colleague Premier Minns. While the appropriateness of booing any dignitary who has come to be with the community can be questioned, Mr Swan should understand it was an emotional reaction from some in a shattered community at the Government’s inaction and indifference for the last two years,” Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said Swan’s sharing of a post accusing Israel of murdering 70,000 people in Gaza was “reprehensible”.

“Israel didn’t murder people. It fought a war in incredibly difficult urban conditions, made harder by the Hamas human sacrifice tactics. Military experts have praised Israel’s efforts to minimise civilian casualties. Even Hamas admits many of those killed were its fighters,” Rubenstein said.

“That is exactly the type of inflammatory misinformation that has fed the antisemitism epidemic over the last two years, and it’s worse coming from someone of Mr Swan’s status.”

The Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14 killed 15 people during a Chanukah celebration.