It is time for us to use the words Occupation, Illegality and Apartheid. We are applying these words to an occupying power truculent and implacable in its determination its occupation will never end, committed to a creeping annexation to deliver it a permanent hold over Palestinian land and Palestinian people. … Twenty years ago it would have been unthinkable that Australia’s oldest and largest political party would endorse Palestinian recognition. That’s now taken for granted as the very least we can do in the face of a cruel and continuing catastrophe.
This big meeting in support of Palestine is being held in the Great Hall at Sydney University. Twenty years ago when Professor Stuart Rees, chairing this meeting tonight, invited Hanan Ashrawi to receive a peace prize at this university the Israel lobby reacted with its predictable and characteristic bullying. Kathryn Greiner, chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation and Lucy Turnbull, of the City of Sydney Council, both cancelled their attendance. Also under pressure from the Israel lobby, the university administration banned Hanan Ashrawi from being received or speaking in this hall. It was in today’s language, a spectacular example of Cancel Culture. This university banned a leading Palestinian because the Israel lobby insisted on it.
As Premier of New South Wales, having accepted the invitation to present the peace prize, I stood firm- despite the pressure, despite the attempts at intimidation. The lessons I learnt were valuable. The Israel lobby relies on bullying, using its strength to intimidate critics. The Israel lobby is also wedded to the view that Palestinians can be blocked from putting their case. They don’t deserve a voice. Underlying this is a very offensive principle: namely, that Palestinians will never be accorded equality. The Israeli leadership and Jewish supporters of Israel in the west have made clear time and time again they simply don’t believe that Palestinians have an equal claim to humanity.
Today three key words represent the essence of the Israel-Palestine relationship. You cannot discuss the relationship without invoking them.
Read the article by Bob Carr on Pearls and Irritations.