Attempts to shackle criticism of Israeli violations of Palestinian rights have rebuffed in recent months, as Palestinian activists and their supporters win endorsements for a Sydney Statement on anti-Palestinianism.
The Sydney Statement was drawn up in September 2021 by the Arab Australian Federation. It received backing last November from both houses of the South Australian parliament, which passed a resolution moved by Labor Party members and supported by the Greens. The Statement has also been adopted by two of Australia’s largest municipal councils — Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool in western Sydney.
Arab Australians decided to draft the Statement in the context of a worldwide attempt by supporters of the Israeli state to impose a Working Definition of Antisemitism, drawn up by a conference, in Romania in 2016, of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
IHRA’s Working Definition has since been endorsed by governments of at least 30 countries, including Australia, as well as by the European Union and the United States State Department.
Along with winning support from governments and other state bodies, advocates of IHRA’s Working Definition have also campaigned to have its terms inserted into the policies and regulations of universities.
What, one might ask, could be objectionable about an initiative to keep fresh the memory of the World War II massacre of most of Europe’s Jewish population — one of the most horrifying episodes in human history?
Read the article by Renfrey Clarke in Green Left.