Rejecting the Truth: Australia Government Recognizes ‘Permanent Sovereignty’ of Palestinians

After Britain lost its American colonies in 1783, it also lost its method of dealing with those who committed minor crimes. You see, Britain used to transport convicts to distant lands rather than keep them on British soil. They preferred to export the “criminal class” rather than allow them to create social problems at home, particularly in the poor and overcrowded cities. So, with America no longer an option, an alternative would need to be found. Australia, which had been claimed for the British Crown by Lieutenant James Cook, would become the preferred location. The First Fleet, consisting of eleven ships and commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, set up a convict settlement at Sydney Cove (now Circular Quay) on 26 January 1788.

Unbeknownst to many people, at least eight Jewish convicts arrived on the First Fleet. Over a thousand more people of Jewish descent were sent to Australia as convicts during the next 60 years. In addition, Jewish free settlers were arriving in Australia as early as the 1820’s. By 1901 (the time of Australia’s federation when the Commonwealth of Australia was declared) it is estimated there were over 15,000 Jews in Australia. Today, that number is approximately 100,000. Australia was long considered friendly to the Jewish people, but a closer examination of our history demonstrates an antisemitic underbelly which is again plaguing our nation.

Australia’s refugee quota of German Jews during the World War II period was 5,000 per year over a three-year period. Given that the Australian government received 50,000 applications from Jews wanting to escape from Europe in 1938, there was only a one in ten chance of success. Despite the horror of the Holocaust becoming public, to our great national shame, anti-Jewish hysteria exploded in the media and halls of parliament just at the time when Jews were desperate to escape certain death. In 1946, Australian politician Henry Gullett stated in federal parliament: “We are not compelled to accept the unwanted of the world at the dictate of the United Nations or anyone else. Neither should Australia be a dumping ground for people whom Europe itself, in the course of 2,000 years, has not been able to absorb.”

After the 1967 Six-Day War, far-left activists again targeted the Jewish people. Influenced by anti-Zionist propaganda from the Soviet Union, Australian university campuses began indulging antisemitic behaviour. The Australian Union of Students, for example, which had come under Trotskyist and Maoist influences in the early 1970s, proposed anti-Israel resolutions. Members of the Jewish Students movement who campaigned against these resolutions were physically attacked. The 1990’s would prove even deadlier for Australian Jews. In 1990, three synagogues were set on fire in Melbourne and in 1991, four synagogues in Sydney were firebombed.

In the early 2000’s, Australian politicians proved that they were still under the illusion that handing out peace prizes would actually bring about peace in the Middle East. On 6 November 2003, then Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, handed the Sydney Peace Prize to Palestinian activist, Hanan Ashrawi. The act was met with fierce opposition from the Jewish community. The citation was supposedly because of Ashrawi’s “commitment to human rights, to the peace process in the Middle East and for her courage in speaking against oppression, against corruption and for justice.” In response, the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said, “Every decent person, including Palestinians, wants a peaceful and just resolution and there are people we look to for change and reconciliation. Hanan Ashrawi is nowhere on that list. She is an old-style propagandist.” […]

— Read More: harbingersdaily.com