The Australian Government continues to endorse Israel and fund in-country projects, while it reduces funding to the UNRWA and ignores the plight of Palestinians, writes Ali Kazak.
JOSH FRYDENBERG announced a $2.5 million grant for the further development of the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and a $3.5 million grant to build a Holocaust museum in Brisbane.
On the other hand, he reduced Australia’s contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from $20 million to $10 million, as reported in the Australian Jewish News.
This is in addition to the $10 million Frydenberg gave last year to Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre and the millions of dollars federal and state governments have given throughout the years to Holocaust museums in Melbourne and Sydney.
On top of this, Queensland’s former Liberal National Party Leader Deb Frecklington had pledged to match the $3.5 million grant if she won Queensland’s October 31 Election.
The Jewish community is one of the wealthiest communities in Australia, sending tens of millions of tax-exempt dollars to Israel every year.
Frydenberg stated the museum would:
‘Allow every South Australian child to learn about this tragic period … about the importance of tolerance and humanity.’
Evidently, Frydenberg’s tolerance and humanity does not extend to the over six million Palestinian refugees who are tragically ethnically cleansed from their homeland and denied their right to return just because they are not “Jews”.
Read the article by Ali Kazak in Independent Australia.