Nemesh – support in Parliament

November 11, 2011 by J-Wire Staff
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Luke Foley, the LEader of the Opposition in the NSW Parliament has added his voice to the posters affair in which members of the Greens registered a complaint to the police that a printer’s name had been omitted from posters organised by Dr John Nemesh…a complaint which led to yesterday’s court appearance by Dr Nemesh and the dismissal of charges against him.

 

This is what Luke Foley said to Parliament:

Luke Foley

Earlier today Dr John Nemesh faced the Newtown Local Court charged with distributing electoral matters without particulars. His alleged crime was to distribute material during this year’s State election that was critical of the strident advocacy for the boycott campaign against Israel of The Greens candidate for Marrickville, Fiona Byrne.

His posters were duly authorised. However, they did not include the name of a printer—an omission Dr Nemesh states was an honest mistake, given that he had no motive to conceal the information. This is exactly the sort of minor electoral breach that is routinely dealt with by a simple letter from the electoral authorities.

How then did Dr Nemesh’s matter ever make it to court? This morning Magistrate Margaret Quinn dismissed the charges without proceeding to conviction. Magistrate Quinn described Dr Nemesh as “a person of very high achievement” and the charges as “a very low matter”. The police brief of evidence revealed that the two complainants were both Greens activists. One of them is Max Phillips, a Greens councillor on Marrickville Council. In other words, a public office holder from the then ruling political party in the Marrickville municipality went to Marrickville police station and sought criminal charges to be laid against Dr Nemesh. How were Marrickville police constables to act when confronted by the local governing political party heavying them to lay charges against Dr Nemesh?

The Greens regularly rail against our law and order system, always deeming it heavy-handed and always condemning tough laws. Yet they throw the book at Dr Nemesh, the son of a Holocaust survivor, for daring to object to their Israel boycott. Councillor Phillips’ witness statement describes the pursuit of Dr Nemesh by Greens activists during the election campaign. Phillips states:

    • There were three younger people and an older guy in the car. They appeared to be well dressed twenty somethings. It occurred to me that they might be Jewish university students.

Dr John Nemesh pic: Henry Benjamin

The Greens activists proceeded to photograph and then follow them—because they looked like Jews. This is the very racial profiling that New South Wales Greens politicians, such as Lee Rhiannon, have railed against. If one substitutes the word “Jewish” in Councillor Phillips’ statement with “Arabic”, imagine the howls of outrage that would come from Greens politicians. Yet here we have a Greens public office holder tendering a statement to the police volunteering that he and his colleagues pursued political opponents on the basis that they appeared to be Jews. The statement says that they were well dressed and then leaps to the conclusion that they must be Jews. The old stereotypes still fester among a few.

Boycotting Jewish commerce is, of course, Europe’s oldest political appeal. The international campaign to impose trade and cultural boycotts serves the purpose of delegitimising the State of Israel and in doing so feeds the eliminationist narrative of Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran and all those who want Israel wiped off the map, aligning itself with the putrid racism of those groups—their Holocaust denial, their promotion of antisemitic stereotypes and their raw sewage Nazi ideology. Boycott, divestment and sanctions activists regularly demonise Israel as an apartheid State, even though the analogy between Israel, where Arabs exercise full citizenship rights, and apartheid South Africa is specious.

I commend my parliamentary colleague Jeremy Buckingham for courageously speaking out against the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign promoted so heavily by Senator Rhiannon and her supporters inside the New South Wales Greens. Unfortunately, some within the New South Wales Greens harbour an obsessive hatred of the Jewish State of Israel. A virulent strain of antisemitism exists within some sections of the New South Wales Greens. I call the leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown, to intervene in his party’s New South Wales branch to purge this frantic extremism.

Comments

7 Responses to “Nemesh – support in Parliament”
  1. Terry says:

    Why would Bob Brown condemn Rhiannon et al? He himself refused to support a Liberal Senate motion condemning the Green version of Keystallnacht. He is as culpable as Rhiannon. And yes, I do believe the greens are an anti-semitic, ergo racist, party.

  2. anthony bell says:

    when the Greens change policy on BDS, THEN and ONLY THEN should fair minded Jews interact with them.

    The Greens are the ones who muddied the water—not Foley, not Nemesh.
    Its up to the Greens to set their own house in order.

    With the likes of Rhiannon and Hanson -Young though, the Greens-environmentalists are better off splitting away.

  3. Lets be fair says:

    Agree with Ben and Jenny. Just as grubby of Foley–and Nemesh–to haul up the Nazi allusions as it was for the Greens to pursue Nemesh. Find legitimate ways to criticise the Greens if you like, but don’t call them anti-semites unless you have better evidence than this. I don’t agree with BDS, and some of its advocates ARE anti-semites. But I’ve seen nothing to convince me that this is true of the Greens politicians. G-d knows there is enough real evil in the world, without the need to use exaggeration and distortion to give the illusion of evil where it does not exist! I understand there are many in the NSW Greens who are arguing that the BDS policy be scrapped in favour of a more even handed and effective way to support the just aspirations of the Palestinians. Fair-minded Jews should encourage moves in this direction.

  4. Rita says:

    …Boycotting Jewish commerce is, of course, Europe’s oldest political appeal. The international campaign to impose trade and cultural boycotts serves the purpose of delegitimising the State of Israel and in doing so feeds the eliminationist narrative of Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran and all those who want Israel wiped off the map, aligning itself with the putrid racism of those groups—their Holocaust denial, their promotion of anti-Semitic stereotypes and their raw sewage Nazi ideology…

    Well said, Luke Foley !! And the modus operandi by these Greens is soooooooooooo similar to the one of those who marched to the mantra “Kauft nicht bei Juden” not all that long ago…

  5. interested says:

    You both are idiots.
    Enough of the bullshit that the Greens are not anti-semitic.

  6. Jenny says:

    Luke Foley is the one who is engaging in vilification. The Greens are not anti-semitic at all. Foley’s false accusations of anti-semitism are a disgusting and shameful tactic. Peace to all Israelis, Palestinians and people of all faiths.

  7. ben says:

    The distortions are becoming evident here. The Greens advocated a boycott of Israeli companies not Jewish companies. The BDs campaigners include Jews. The Greens will hopefully respond to the rest of the allegation, so that the truth comes out.

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