Victorian Labor condemned over anti-Israel motions

Victorian Labor has been criticised after delegates at its state conference backed motions condemning Israel.

They also called for the release of jailed Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti, while declining to criticise Iran’s regime.

Delegates at the Melbourne conference voted for motions accusing Israel of apartheid and unlawful detention of Palestinians and calling for Barghouti’s release. They also opposed the war involving Iran but rejected an amendment that would have condemned the Iranian regime.

 

The decisions have exposed deep divisions inside Labor over Middle East policy and drawn criticism from Jewish groups and pro-Israel Labor members.

Before the conference, The Australian reported that Jewish Labor co-convener Adam Slonim had moved a motion warning that debate on Israel and Palestine “must not involve language or conduct that dehumanises, demonises, or delegitimises either people or nation”. The motion also called on party members not to “insult, deplatform, demean or treat with disrespect” members of either the Jewish or Palestinian communities.

Slonim has previously warned that anti-Israel motions inside Labor risk demonising Israel rather than contributing to a serious path to peace.

According to The Australian, Mr Slonim said he opposed the motion “opposing apartheid, unlawful detention and torture in Palestine” not because he supported every action of the Israeli government or was indifferent to Palestinian suffering.

“Many of us here oppose many aspects of what is going on in this war, and we oppose settlement expansion,” he said.

But he said the motion “presents one side of the conflict as uniquely criminal” while largely ignoring “the role of those who killed my cousin on October 7, the role of Hamas, Palestinian extremism, Hezbollah terrorism, and internal repression”.

Mr Slonim said the motion made no mention that Hamas and Hezbollah openly seek Israel’s destruction, rather than coexistence, or that Hamas governs through “a brutality that no one in this room would tolerate in any other society”.

“We cannot speak of human rights seriously when applying them selectively,” he said.

He also criticised the use of the word “apartheid”, saying “words matter”.

“Apartheid was not merely prejudice or the outcome of conflict,” he said. “It was a legally codified racial system in which people were denied rights, representation, citizenship, movement, employment protections and equal participation under law because of race.”

Mr Slonim said the comparison ignored the fact that Arab citizens of Israel vote in the Knesset and serve as judges, doctors, lawyers, journalists and diplomats.

Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure and former head of the Tanzim faction, is serving five life sentences plus 40 years after being convicted by an Israeli court in 2004 over attacks that killed five people during the second intifada. His convictions included involvement in the seafood market attack in Tel Aviv, a shooting near Giv’at Ze’ev and the murder of Greek Orthodox monk Georgios Tsibouktzakis. He was also convicted of attempted murder and membership of a terrorist organisation.

The Australian Jewish Association condemned the Barghouti motion and accused Victorian Labor of singling out Israel, a Western democracy, while refusing to criticise Iran despite its repression of its own citizens and support for terror groups.

AJA chief executive Robert Gregory said the motions sent a disturbing signal to the Jewish community.

“It is difficult to understand how any member of the Jewish community could feel comfortable remaining in a party where such motions are supported,” Mr Gregory said.

He called on senior Labor figures, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, to distance themselves from what he described as “extremist and ugly” motions.

Victorian Labor has a record of passing strongly antizionist resolutions at state conferences. In recent years, motions have urged recognition of Palestinian statehood, criticised Israeli settlements and called for an end to military ties with Israel.

The latest motions are not binding on the federal government, but they will add pressure on Labor’s national leadership at a time when Jewish community leaders are warning about rising antisemitism and deepening insecurity in Australia.