Climate 200-backed candidate Jo Dyer has come under fire for allegedly promoting “dangerous” views on Israel that were “offensive” to the Jewish community.
Independent Boothby candidate Jo Dyer has been accused of promoting “extreme views” that offended the Jewish community, becoming the latest Climate 200 member to be embroiled in controversy surrounding Israel.
In a nearly year-old tweet, Jo Dyer promoted an article that compared Israel to colonial Australia.
“The Israeli state depends on the dispossession of Palestinians, and so, by its nature, will constantly create and recreate violence, just as the Australian settler state did,” the May 2021 article asserts.
The article, written by Jeff Sparrow and published by the Overland literary journal, argues the solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is the “creation of single (sic), democratic state for all”.
On Twitter, Ms Dyer said the article was “lucid” and “persuasive”.
Victorian Senator James Paterson accused Ms Dyer of promoting “extreme views” and opposing Australia’s longstanding policy of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“Not only is this deeply offensive to Boothby residents, and indeed Australia’s Jewish community but the ideas she promotes would directly undermine efforts for peace in the Middle East,” Senator Paterson said.
“At a time of rising anti-Semitism, anyone aspiring to leadership must have zero tolerance for these dangerous views.”
Ms Dyer did not answer questions about whether she supported a two-state solution, instead hitting back at Senator Paterson.
Read the article by Gabriel Polychronis, in The Advertiser and NT News.