BDS blasted in parliament
FEDERAL member for Higgins Kelly O’Dwyer was set to slam the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in Parliament this week.
FEDERAL member for Higgins Kelly O’Dwyer was set to slam the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in Parliament this week.
As reported in last week’s AJN, over recent months a pro-BDS pamphlet has been distributed in the Liberal politician’s electorate as well as other Jewish neighbourhoods.
Entitled “Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine”, the leaflet urges readers to boycott Israeli products and contact O’Dwyer to address their concerns over Israel’s “ethnic cleansing and destruction of the two-state solution”.
Describing the leaflet as “deeply offensive and factually wrong”, O’Dwyer said, “This pamphlet is part of a worrying trend of increasing racism around the world directed towards one particular group of people, the Jewish people. It needs to be called out for what it is and repudiated unequivocally.
“For those vile people distributing this material, I say go to Israel. You will see no evidence of systematic extermination like we are currently seeing in Iraq. Instead, you will see Arab members of the Israeli Knesset; you will see Palestinians attending Israeli universities; and you will see the wounded from Syria being treated in Israeli hospitals.”
O’Dwyer added, “In fact, for the uneducated people distributing this propaganda, they should be aware that the only authorities in the region that have an official position of extermination are the terrorist organisations who call for the destruction of Israel. In its charter, Hamas states that “the Last hour would not come until the Muslims fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them”, it goes on to say that “there is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad”.
Stating that the leaflet is “part of a wider, insidious campaign to delegitimise the State of Israel and, in my view, spread anti-Semitism”, O’Dwyer continued, “Campaigns like these are orchestrated by the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
“The proponents of the BDS movement claim to be standing up for human rights. Yet they protest against the only country in the region that has freedom of religion, freedom of sexuality and equal rights for women. By criticising Israel, they are in fact, criticising all that they claim to believe in.
“Supporters of the BDS are deliberately delegitimising the only safe-haven for homosexuals in the region.”
She added, “It may surprise some people to discover the groups that support the BDS in Australia. They include the CFMEU and the AMWU, unions that financially support the Labor Party and preselect Labor candidates for Parliament. Members of the Australian Greens also support the BDS.
“I call on all the political leaders of this country to reject this hypocritical and hateful campaign and instead look for positive and productive ways to create peace in the Middle East.”
AJN STAFF
Kelly O’Dwyer has slammed the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
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