An angry heckler at a pro-Palestinian rally has accused former Labor MP Melissa Parke of “caving-in to Zionist arseholes” for quitting as Labor’s candidate for Curtin.
A video of the event recorded the unidentified man then shouting “you have to f—ing wipe them out” at Ms Parke, prompting an angry reaction from Jewish community groups who reported the incident to police.
Ms Parke resigned as Labor’s high-profile pick for the safe Liberal seat after reports she told a group of pro-Palestinian activists in March that Australia should recognise a Palestinian state and that Israel’s settlements were akin to China’s island building activity in the South China Sea.
She also made a number of claims about incidents of cruelty she said had been perpetrated by Israelis at checkpoints.
Speaking to a crowd of pro-Palestinian activists the Saturday after the federal election, Ms Parke hit out at “powerful media interests” who she said were responsible for forcing her resignation.
“I resigned because of the media storm around previous statements I’ve made about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians,” she said.
“Let me say to you all today, I stand by every word in those statements.
“I withdrew from the election – and I don’t blame the ALP leadership for this – there was an ongoing campaign against me and against the party that would have gone on continuously during the federal election campaign had I not resigned.
“It was a stated intent from very powerful media interests in this country that they were going to – and they told the ALP this – they were going to continue that campaign until I was gone.”
Read the article by Nathan Hondros in WAToday.