Labor has never been “good on Palestine”, and this is a fallacy that they project to win over Palestinian, Arab and Muslim voters
Penny Wong, the Labor Foreign Affairs minister, has been outwardly and vocally pro-Israel. In February this year, she tweeted on behalf of the Australian government that “we respect Israel’s right to defend itself,” as though an occupying force raiding and terrorising anti-colonial resistance, currently justified under international law, is somehow defensible. Her “both-sidedness” approach to a colonising military super-power backed by the US, and the resisting indigenous population, is a reflection of her and her party’s politics. Labor has never been “good on Palestine”, and this is a fallacy that they project to win over Palestinian, Arab and Muslim voters. But this facade has fallen; the illusion disillusioned.
In the wake of 75 years since the catastrophic invasion of Palestine, Penny Wong, Chris Minns and other Labor figures celebrated the settler-colonial project that is “Israel” for “75 years since its foundation”. As Palestinians prepare to commemorate, share their family Nakba stories and mourn in truth-telling healing circles, Penny Wong decides to take a clear stance on behalf of the federal Labor Party, and thus on behalf of all of Australia, claiming that “Australia reaffirms our close and enduring friendship with the Israeli people.” This tweet, which came completely unprovoked, is a hard stance in support of the Israeli state, its apartheid regime and ongoing projects of settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing. As such, it completely erases the oppression and continued anti-colonial resistance of Palestinians over the past 75 years.
Read the anonymous article in Honi Soit.