Labor’s shame

Rowan Dean I 12 October 2024 Spectator Australia

As this magazine has pointed out, if you take any single political or cultural issue on its own merits in this country, you will likely find a clear majority of around 60 per cent in favour of the conservative viewpoint. This, of course, was true of the No case in the Voice referendum, where the national vote was 61 per cent to No, 39 per cent to Yes. Tellingly, ours was the only mainstream media outlet that dared to openly advocate for the winning No position in the long run up to the actual vote. What that says about the rest of the media, especially the so-called ‘centre-right’ media, we shall leave you to decide.

A poll this week by the left-leaning Nine newspapers shows that the same ‘mainstream conservative majority’ exists in favour of Israel, or rather, more specifically,?not?in favour of the anti-Israel demonstrations that have blighted our inner-cities for the past year. 59 per cent do not support those demonstrations, 41 per cent do. That the majority are against these obnoxious and intimidating street marches is hardly surprising. The ‘protests’ achieve the precise opposite of what their leaders presumably hope: sympathy for the Islamist cause.

Instead, the protests strip away all the nuances and red herrings that the left and the mainstream media talking heads rely on to prosecute their pro-Palestinian ‘anti-Zionism’ and instead merely display in all its ugliness the raw hatred of Jews that fuels not only many fanatical Muslims but also their idiotic comrades-in-arms in the modern ‘woke’ left. Marching in huge, aggressive mobs whilst waving foreign flags and chanting ancient tribal war cries shows the pro-Palestinian crowd up for what they really are: violent ideologically (or religiously) driven potential lynch mobs hellbent on intimidation and only a bollard or two away from inflicting genuine violence upon their fellow Australian citizens, especially those who happen to be Jewish.

Peter Dutton is to be applauded, vigorously, for his unwavering moral stance in support of Israel. His actions in refusing to support Labor’s morally perverted motion purportedly offering parliament’s condolences for the 7 October atrocities, but in reality pushing the pro-Palestinian cause, were brave and principled. The simple and dispiriting truth is that this Labor government is drawn largely from the intellectual dregs of late-20th-century Australian academia, infused with a post-hippy, neo-communist, Pilger-esque sludge of anti-colonialist ideology and that is incapable of viewing the dynamic, multi-cultural, capitalist powerhouse that is Israel in anything other than an unfavourable light.

Within what seemed like mere hours of the horrendous events of 7 October, as the smoke had yet to clear from the burned-out homes and the Sderot air was still ripe with the smell of burned and butchered bodies, our Foreign Minister was hectoring the Israelis about exercising ‘restraint’. At every single opportunity since, both Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese have coated their comments and actions regarding the conflict with an unmistakable veneer of undergraduate cynicism and petulant contempt for the people and government of Israel. Their October 7 motion was no different to all Labor’s other shameful pronouncements, dragging in a false moral equivalence with the ‘Palestinian’ two-state cause. Sensibly, Labor refrained from inserting the I-word (Islamophobia) into the motion, although no doubt they would have if they thought they could get away with it.

Australians have had five decades, and indeed longer, of warmly welcoming waves of migrants to these shores, once known as ‘New Australians’. The term is, of course, no longer fashionable but the unwritten agreement was that if we let you in then it is on the understanding that you embrace the Aussie way of life and you leave tribal hatreds and foreign politics behind. Although many of our migrant communities prefer to stick together geographically, creating suburbs and electorates with distinctive ethnic or cultural flavours, unfortunately too many Muslim communities have also allowed their prejudices and hatreds to spill out onto our antipodean streets. This is not acceptable.

A future Coalition government must not shy away from addressing this problem. Taxpayer funding must be withdrawn from all those groups whose sympathies lie with Islamist-inspired organisations and visa cancellations and even deportations must be on the table for those promoting terrorist-sympathising ideologies. Other countries manage this. Entry to Germany now apparently requires acknowledging the Star of David and the illegitimacy of anti-Semitic views.

Many nations, including many Muslim nations, simply refuse entry to Palestinians. We, on the other hand, are letting thousands of Gazans into our country without proper vetting. This is the height of irresponsibility and is reason enough to terminate this government at the next federal election.

Author: Rowan Dean