Backlash against Israel boycott at NSW polls
SUPPORTING boycotts and sanctions against the Jewish State has come at a hefty price for a political candidate at the ballot box.
SUPPORTING boycotts and sanctions against the Jewish State has come at a hefty price for a political candidate at the ballot box.
Voters deserted Marrickville Mayor and Greens candidate Fiona Byrne in the NSW election last Saturday, in the wake of her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
Incumbent Carmel Tebbutt stunned Byrne by defying a statewide 13.3 per cent primary swing against Labor to hold on to the seat with only a 5.3 per cent two-party preferred swing against her. Byrne had been widely tipped to take the seat from Tebbutt, who previously held the seat with a margin of 7.5 per cent.
Federal Greens leader Bob Brown admitted to The Australian that Marrickville Council’s support of the BDS campaign had hurt The Greens.
“I think it had an effect on it – that’s my feedback from the electorate and it’s no doubt something that the NSW Greens will be looking at,” he said.
“As I’ve maintained during the campaign, it [BDS] is not national Greens policy.”
The Daily Telegraph reported on Sunday that in the face of electoral defeat, Byrne stood by her decision to support the BDS campaign.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done in Marrickville Council in raising support of the human rights of the Palestinian people,” she said.
When contacted by The AJN, a spokesperson for Byrne said she had gone away for a few days and “had nothing more to add”.
Marrickville has more than 50,000 voters registered on the electoral roll.
The 2006 national census found there to be just 320 Jews living in the electorate.
“The electorate of Marrickville has spoken,” NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president Yair Miller said.
“It made its feelings very clear that attempting to involve the council in issues that are divisive and outside the council’s purview are unacceptable.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) executive director Peter Wertheim agreed. “The voters have unmistakably demonstrated their distaste for political extremism and are clearly against attempts to inject the rancour of overseas conflicts into local politics,” he said.
“It is encouraging that The Greens national leader, Bob Brown, has signalled that support for the boycott by the NSW branch of The Greens will be reviewed.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
Anti-BDS graffiti in Marrickville
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