Teals urged to cut ties with Climate 200
The staffer wrote, 'I urge you all to boycott all Israeli businesses and write to your local MP demanding action'
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said it is up to the “consciences” of teal MPs to decide whether or not they choose to distance themselves from Climate 200 after one of its staffers last year called for the boycott of Israeli businesses, in posts that have only recently come to light.
Sean Marsh, who appears in some of Climate 200’s most prominent social media posts, said on Instagram in October, “The horrors I’ve seen perpetrated on Palestinians, and now the Lebanese, will likely haunt me forever. I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau years ago. It changed me then, and this has changed me again.”
In the same post, Marsh wrote: “I urge you all to boycott all Israeli businesses and write to your local MP demanding action. If they’re complicit, promise to never vote for them again.”
A Climate 200 spokesman said Marsh’s views “do not reflect the views of Climate 200”, but Rubenstein said it was not surprising given some of founder Simon Holmes à Court’s “own previous activities” that Climate 200 is not further distancing itself from its staffer’s virulently anti-Israel activity.
“It is up to their own consciences, especially those in electorates with large Jewish communities, as to whether they choose to continue to accept funding from and work with Climate 200, or whether they should be seriously considering distancing themselves from it, and in particular no longer accept its funding, as apparently David Pocock and Zali Steggall have decided,” said Rubenstein.
Liberal candidate for Wentworth Ro Knox said the lack of response from her teal opponent and current member Allegra Spender regarding Marsh’s comments is “extremely disappointing”.
“You cannot claim to support the Jewish community while taking money from a group that platforms individuals spreading harmful rhetoric,” said Knox.
“Allegra Spender must cut ties with Simon Holmes à Court and Climate 200 and return the nearly $1 million she has received from them over the course of her campaigns if she wants to be taken seriously. Words are not enough – it’s time for action.”
Asked to respond to Knox, Spender reiterated her support for the Jewish community, telling The AJN that her “views on the conflict overseas, my support for the Jewish community and my opposition to BDS are very clear and on the record”.
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