Bill Shorten has stared down increasingly vocal pro-Palestinian sentiment inside Labor, saying he is “relaxed” about spending just two hours in the Palestinian territories while on a three-day paid visit to Israel.
Despite calls from within Labor for MPs to spend “considerable” or even equal time in the Palestinian Territories when they accept paid trips to Israel, the Opposition Leader’s only meetings with the Palestinian Authority were talks with Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and National Economy Minister Abeer Odeh on Sunday.
Both were group discussions with other members of the Australian delegation, rather than one-on-one meetings, and lasted about an hour each, according to participants.
Mr Shorten’s meeting with, and praise for, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was criticised by NSW state parliamentarian Shaoquett Moselmane, who suggested on Facebook that Mr Netanyahu be tried for international human rights violations. Mr Moselmane was unavailable for comment yesterday, while NSW Labor declined to answer questions about the apparent split from the party’s long-held stand.
Read the full article by Kylar Loussikian at The Australian.