Last month I went on a mission to Australia to develop and deepen the ongoing dialogue between the Israeli Labor Party and its sister Social Democratic Party, the Australian Labor Party. I travelled for a week between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and during the trip I met Labor and other lawmakers, party officials and trade unionists, with whom I held in-depth discussions about our shared values and common struggles. My visit to Australia concluded on a personal note, with a visit to the grave of my great-grandfather, Harry Kurzki, at the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.
The friendship between the two Labor parties is longstanding. Australian Labor expresses strong support for Israel and maintains close ties with it. However, as in other sister parties around the world, there are voices in the Australian Labor Party criticising Israeli policy and expressing support for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. I came, among other things, to present the position of the Israeli Labor Party, which views unilateral recognition as a serious mistake, and to argue for a negotiated two-state solution.
Read the full article by Michal Baran at the Sydney Morning Herald.