Expulsion threat over Labor’s alleged anti-Semitism
Labor members engaging in antisemitism faced expulsion after a deputy minister declared that hate would not be tolerated among the party’s base.
Citing an internal letter to ALP leaders in NSW calling for stronger action to combat antisemitism within the party’s ranks, Deputy Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said Labor “will not tolerate” such behaviour.
He encouraged Labor members to take action, as well as others within the party who espouse anti-Semitism, so that the allegations can be investigated as quickly as possible.
“Punishments for any form of anti-Semitism or racism in our party include expulsion, and we will not hesitate to take action to ensure that anyone expressing anti-Semitic views is expelled from our party,” Mr Thistlethwaite told reporters on Saturday.
Shadow attorney general Andrew Wallace described the letter, which warned of a “rising tide of anti-Semitism” within the party, as deeply worrying.
A letter from Labour’s Israel Action Committee, which allegedly used “extremely hateful language”, is frequently used at branch meetings but is removed from official records.
It also cited comments by former foreign secretary Bob Carr, who described the Australian Israel-Jewish lobby as a “foreign influence operation”, which Mr Wallace said was an anti-Semitic trope.
“This paints a disturbing picture: a government that has been slow to act against anti-Semitism, unwilling to confront it within its own ranks, and repeatedly ignoring the concerns of a community living in grief and fear,” he said.
Mr Thistlethwaite, who is also deputy minister for immigration, said the government would support the Jewish community following Bondi by acting on the advice of the Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism.
On December 14, 15 people celebrating Hanukkah on the Sydney beach lost their lives when two ISIS-inspired gunmen opened fire.
“We owe it to the Jewish community in Australia to act now, keep them safe and take measures that will enable them to safely practice their religion and belief freely in Australia,” he said.
Allegations of anti-Semitism came after Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was “deeply sorry for what is happening in our country and what the Jewish community is going through”.
“Sadness is not political; it is felt when we go to our places of worship, when we light a candle for the lost and the bereaved, when we hold our children close,” she told The Advertiser newspaper in her native Adelaide.
He was visiting Bondi “when appropriate” and had not attended any funerals for the victims because “funerals are deeply personal and often carried out by the family”.
Ten people injured in the attack remain in Sydney hospitals; Four of them are in critical condition and the rest are in stable condition.
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