“Of course Israel practices apartheid,” says former Australian FM

Canberra (QNN)- Former Australian foreign minister and Former Premier of New South Wales Bob Carr described again Israel’s laws, policies and practices against Palestinians as “Apartheid.”

In a Sunday tweet, the former Australian FM wrote, “Of course Israel practices apartheid.”

Of course Israel practises apartheid. And as Loewenstein says it now includes in its government someone even Jeremy Leibler said was a racist and thug. Yet “the lobby” will go on defending Israel even as it installs the cruelest and most right wing government in its history.

— Bob Carr (@bobjcarr) November 13, 2022

While attaching an opinion article entitled “Australian Jews are changing their views on Israel. And they need a new voice” and written by Antony Loewenstein in The Sunday Morning Herald, Carr added, “And as Loewenstein says it [Israel] now includes in its government someone [far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir] even Jeremy Leibler said was a racist and thug. Yet “the lobby” will go on defending Israel even as it installs the cruelest and most right wing government in its history.”

Recently, the Albanese government announced that it would no longer recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of ‘Israel’, returning Canberra to the global consensus after Scott Morrison’s 2018 decision to imitate Donald Trump.

In the above-mentioned opinion article, the writer referred to the outrage expressed by the Jewish community in Australia following the decision to not recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, including the Israeli occupation government’s reaction as it chastised the move and said it hoped that Australia managed “other matters more seriously and professionally”.

The writer noted that many of the Jewish organizations “who claim to speak for the community in Australia” “opine for themselves only, some are privately funded, and yet almost all talk with the same voice over Israel.”

The Israel lobby’s key goal is to be a “Praetorian Guard around the Jewish state. Any opposition is deemed as treacherous and must be demonized,” the writer said adding, “I’ve experienced this myself, with hate mail, death threats and attempts to pressure my publisher to pulp my first, bestselling book My Israel Question in 2006.”

The writer also pointed out to reports issued by human rights group in the world, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International along with Israel’s top rights bodies, detailing the apartheid nature of ‘Israel’.

Australian Jewish views are changing on these questions, and yet this is rarely reflected by their communal bodies or mainstream media, Loewenstein wrote, noting “many young Jews are voting for the Greens, despite an older generation viewing the party as too supportive of Palestinian rights.”

A 2021 study of the Australian public funded by Jewish media outlet Plus61J revealed that 62 per cent of the nearly 3500 respondents equally supported both Israelis and Palestinians, 11 per cent sided more with the Israelis and 19 per cent more with the Palestinians. Support for Palestinians was particularly pronounced among 18 to 24-year-olds.

These figures should “worry the local Jewish establishment” because they follow a “trend similar to that seen in the United States over the last decade, with growing numbers of young Jews there turning against Israel,” the writer said.

A 2021 survey of American Jews found that 22 per cent of respondents agreed that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians” and 25 per cent that “Israel is an apartheid state”.

This month’s Israeli election – with its surge in support for far-right, anti-liberal, anti-LGBT and anti-Palestinian parties – the writer said, has caused further headaches for Israel’s hardline backers in Australia and globally.

Before the election, Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said that the elevation of far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir’s “racism” was dangerous because he was a politician with an “ideology of hatred”.

Israel’s far right has been in de facto power for decades, with Benjamin Netanyahu, now well placed to return to the prime minister’s office, “having brokered a number of deals in recent years to bring politicians who openly back ethnic cleansing of Palestinians into the political mainstream and even the heart of government, Loewenstein said.

Loewenstein added that “the local Jewish establishment has failed to honestly advocate for the rights of all Jews and minorities for too long, instead prioritizing the most extreme forms of Zionism. It’s time for accountability and new, more enlightened voices to improve our multicultural society.”

“Many diaspora Jews feel their identity is tied to the fate of the Jewish state. But what happens when that nation proudly occupies another people for decades? The Jewish community must open its mind and organise coalitions beyond the narrow Zionist worldview,” Loewenstein wrote.