If anything has been clear over the last months during the Marrickville BDS/Israel-Palestinian debate, it’s that every major, Australian mainstream politician and most journalists simply won’t allow any dissent on the Middle East. Insecurity, paranoia and bullying are the norm. The local Zionist community just wants to sing the Israeli national anthem. And now this insidious McCarthyism grows:
Greens MPs in the Victorian parliament will be forced to declare whether they support a boycott of goods and services from Israel in a potentially fiery reprise of the dispute that has dogged the party in NSW.
A senior Baillieu government minister is planning to draft a motion for debate in the upper house that would force the three Victorian Greens to say whether they back a ban on Israel.
Health Minister David Davis urged Greens MPs across the nation to state their position on the global boycott, divestments and sanctions campaign.
Mr Davis said that if the Greens in Victoria did not publicly state their opposition to the ban he would introduce a motion to force a vote on the issue.
“Given the damaging statements by the Greens in NSW and the unfortunate policy of targeting Israel, it’s important Greens all around the country declare their hand,” Mr Davis told The Australian.
“Do they support the boycott being proposed in NSW or are they opposed to it?”
Mr Davis said it was important for Greens MPs to be honest and open about where they stood on the issue.
Two of the three upper house Greens MPs yesterday refused to reveal their attitudes on the boycott, while the third did not return calls.
The Greens leader in Victoria, Greg Barber, said he had not seen any motion on the issue and that it was a matter of federal policy.
“It’s not my job to have a view because I am a state MP,” he said.
His colleague, Colleen Hartland, said she would not comment until she had seen the proposed motion, adding it was an “interesting” way for Mr Davis to operate in parliament.
The Greens parliamentary whip, Sue Pennicuik, did not respond to calls.
Mr Davis’s bid to force a public declaration from the Greens comes after the push for an Israel boycott sparked heated debate during the NSW election and at Sydney’s Marrickville Council.
Anybody want to talk about Israel’s ever-increasing colonisation? Of course not. The Middle East is changing, and Zionism wants to maintain a status-quo that allows it to occupy and brutalise Palestinians. Fat chance.