NSW state parliamentarians visit Israel
STATE government MPs Jonathan O’Dea and Peter Phelps joined a group of their Victorian Liberal counterparts on an Israel study tour last month.
STATE government MPs Jonathan O’Dea and Peter Phelps joined a group of their Victorian Liberal counterparts on an Israel study tour last month.
Coordinated by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), the tour involved meetings with Israeli media, visits to the Knesset, Temple Mount and Western Wall, and briefings on the history of Israel and its current work in the areas of innovation and research.
Upon returning, Phelps, a member of the Legislative Council, said he was delighted to be asked to participate in the program.
“The remarkable achievement of Israel lies with its people,” he said.
“The spirit of entrepreneurship, the drive of Israelis who turn the deserts to productive land, the sheer courage of people in a place like Sderot, to the old lady who had never met me but still invited me to Shabbat dinner because she was worried I may be lonely on a Friday night – it was the people that really made the trip for me.
“AIJAC does a great job in spreading the message about Israel, and their program of events is exactly what I was looking for. Not propaganda, but with all views and perspectives included.”
O’Dea, the member for Davidson on Sydney’s North Shore, said there was “nothing like personally witnessing a difficult situation” in order to better appreciate its complexity and become confident that there are no easy solutions.
“When you see the bomb shelters for children in Sderot outside Gaza and the memorial to Israeli soldiers killed on patrol in the Golan Heights, you better understand the level of Israeli anxiety, especially of those living near neighbouring borders,” O’Dea said.
“While ‘right’ is rarely the exclusive domain of just one nation group, the merit of Israeli causes is enhanced through their pursuit within a framework of open and democratic institutions.”
AIJAC executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein said the MPs’ heightened appreciation for and understanding of Israel was “gratifying”.
“Besides meeting with an Israeli government minister and an Opposition MK, the MPs were also given the opportunity in Bethlehem to discuss local issues with Palestinian Authority officials and Arab journalists, encompassing a wide breadth of opinion on the contentious issues across the region,” he said.
O’Dea and Phelps were joined by Victorian Liberal MPs David Southwick, Neil Angus, Elizabeth Miller, Clem Newton-Brown, Bill Tilley and the Victorian Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, Nick Kotsiras.
GARETH NARUNSKY
State MPs Peter Phelps (left) and Jonathan O’Dea.
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