When Bob Carr, the political has-been who never was, continues to provoke Australian Jewry for the sake of sustaining his inflated ego, we can heave a sigh of relief that he will never again officially carry his obnoxious hatred of Israel (self-proclaimed as benevolent love for what he knows is best) into public office.  He bears no official status or representative role.  One wonders why his infatuation with the “powerful” Jews of Melbourne has struck such a raw nerve, given the absurdity of his much repeated claim.

However, the same level of disdain cannot be applied to the current leadership of the Australian Labor Party.  A spokesman for Bill Shorten was quoted in today’s West Australian as saying “The territory is occupied, and that’s why Labour describes it like that.  This is an almost universal position across the international community and it’s the position of Bill Shorten and the Labor Party.”  This statement was further endorsed by the remarks of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Tanya Plibersek.

So ends the myth of bipartisan political support for Israel from across the political divide.

Therein also resides the difference between a truthful and impartial political stand and an anti-Israel stand.  The Liberal Party is ultimately able to harmonise discord through the language of impartiality, asserting the very neutrality that is required for the sake of a genuine dispute resolution and peace negotiation.  The Labor Party stirs up dissonance, adopting the narrative of a pre-determined outcome, transforming opinion into fact and absconding to the bully tactics of the Arab Union.

Readers wishing to better understand why Israel’s recapture of East Jerusalem and other territories should not be referred to as illegal under international law can read Prof. Eugene Kontorovich’s recent article at Commentary Magazine, and analysis by David Singer.

From across the pan-Arab membership of the Arab League there are many places where inhumanity and moral depravation is clearly on display for those who choose to see it. By deeming Jerusalem as illegally occupied, they set the framework to ethnically purge its Jewish heritage and render the city Judenrein.  The Australian Labor Party, in the interest of preserving our trade receipts, cower to this agenda and cast morality aside.  They pre-suppose Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinian Arabs without giving regard to defensive war that Israel fought in 1967, or the legal status of East Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967 (was Jordan ever deemed to “occupy” East Jerusalem before it broke its armistice agreement with Israel?).

It is clear that the Australian Government has now declared East Jerusalem “disputed” territory.  Anyone who has a basic command of English should be able to interpret that the Australian Government therefore means that East Jersualem is not necessarily the sovereign territory of either the Palestinian Authority or the Israeli Government.  Whilst it could be well argued that Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem was lawful and appropriate, the Australian Government has not gone that far.  They have simply abstained.  The media, and the Arab nations, appear not to have the ability to recognise such objectivity and neutrality.  It is also worth noting that if Israel was a Christian country, or a nation of any other religious/ethnic persuasion other than Jewish, then the allegation of “occupation” would not be imposed and accepted without factual basis.

So long as the Labor Party publically espouse “Occupation” to be their position, no Jewish Australian should consider casting their ballot for this party.  The statement is a slap in the face for Jewish people who believe in the sovereign and eternal reunification of the Capital City of the world’s only Jewish State, inclusive of freedom of religious expression for all its residents.