Former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr has spoken out against Israel’s “cruel” and “foul” occupation of Palestinian land, and its “ruinous path” in rejecting the creation of a state of Palestine.
Leading a push for the ALP to give Palestine immediate state recognition, Mr Carr has also backed the Israeli opposition’s condemnation of a new law allowing further property seizures as amounting to “war crimes” if families are forced off privately owned land.
The comments were delivered by Mr Carr, who served as Julia Gillard’s foreign minister, last week when he appeared as a “special guest” of Labor frontbenchers Anthony Albanese and Tony Burke, joint hosts of a NSW ALP federal electorate council meeting in Sydney. A recording of the event has been obtained by The Australian.
Now head of the Australia China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, Mr Carr has been accused by pro-Israel opponents in his party of acting behind the scenes to orchestrate passage of a resolution at this month’s NSW ALP conference that “urges the next Labor government to recognise Palestine”.
Read the article by Brad Norington in The Australian.