Tussle over Gillard’s trip

NAOMI LEVIN

A PETITION is circulating through the pro-Palestinian community protesting Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s upcoming trip to Israel. Gillard is leading the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange (AICE) delegation to Israel for the first G’day Shalom Salaam showcase later this month.

The petition, which 150 academics and advocates are reported to have signed, is being circulated by Ned Curthoys, the Jewish head of the Committee for the Dismantling of Zionism. However, AICE founder and chairman Albert Dadon is nonplussed by the petition.“Criticism is the legitimate right of people living in a democracy,” Dadon said in response. “It is also the legitimate right of Julia Gillard, and others in our group, to visit Israel.” He rejected the claim that the petition had turned what is a cultural and leadership tour into a political football.

“Two complaints don’t make a political football,” he said. The petition reads: “We consider this trip a dreadful affront to the many Palestinians left maimed, wounded, traumatised and homeless by Israel’s devastating assault on the Gaza Strip … We remind all those contemplating such a trip, that Israeli (sic) is not a truly democratic society, even when it comes to the Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

Gillard is not the only politician travelling in the AICE delegation. Others, including former treasurer Peter Costello, shadow education minister Christopher Pyne and Jewish MP Mark Dreyfus, will join her.

The petition urges all parliamentarians to “think seriously about the moral implications of Australia normalising relations with a state that is still under investigation for war crimes”. The AICE trip sees Australian achievers from the music, arts and culinary world travel to Israel to promote ties between the two countries. It will also see a leadership forum, where Australian and Israeli politicians will have the opportunity to hold dialogue on shared challenges.