Penny Wong condemns QLD ALP over Israel ‘ethnic cleansing’ resolution

Shadow minister for Foreign Affairs said ‘viewing any conflict from only one perspective will not advance peace’, after resolution passed at Qld state conference

‘From the river to the sea’: Labor’s havoc over Palestine and Israel (SMH)

It was a little-seen social media post that sent a major wave of panic through federal Labor.

The Melbourne University ALP Club posted a photo of a handful of its members alongside Labor MP Ged Kearney, at a May 22 rally in solidarity for the people of Palestine. It was accompanied by the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

EDITORIAL State ALP delusional over Israel (Australian)

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong was right to round on Queensland Labor over the absurd anti-Israel resolution passed at last weekend’s state conference. The resolution’s claim of “ethnic cleansing” in the Jewish state was demonstrably ludicrous – it revealed alarming prejudice, or ignorance, or both, on the part of those who supported it. However, Labor’s problems over Israel go far deeper than Queensland’s blinkered and ill-informed Left faction.

The frequently repeated assertion within Labor ranks, notably by former foreign minister Bob Carr, that Israel is an “apartheid” state, is no less wrong. Anyone who experienced apartheid in South Africa knows the claim is false. The “apartheid’’ reference is especially silly at a time when a new coalition that includes a conservative Islamist religious party led by an Arab Israeli MP is preparing to take power in Israel.

SENATOR WONG'S RESPONSE TO MEDIA QUESTION
“Viewing any conflict from only one perspective will not advance the cause of peace. It will take leaders recognising their respective roles in the cycle of escalation and conflict, and returning to meaningful dialogue and negotiation, for a just and enduring peace to be achieved.”