Labor pains

That’s not good enough. Not for me. I’m sick of the calumny heaped on Israel - most of which is a pack of lies. I’m sick of Labor leaders and foreign affairs spokesmen making all the right noises to Jewish audiences while an increasing number of backbenchers launch diatribes at Israel. When the likes of Tanya Plibersek rise in the House of Representatives and call Ariel Sharon “a war criminal” and Israel a “rogue state”, or chief opposition Whip Janice Crosio makes the absurd claim that Israeli forces had destroyed Bethlehem, Nablus and the Jenin refugee camp, I want to hear more than stony silence from those in the Labor Party who say they support Israel. Some do. Most don’t.

How long is it since any Labor leader gave the sort of passionate and accurate defence of Israel we used to hear from Hawke or Kim Beazley? I don’t want even-handedness when it ought to be obvious to all but the blind that there is no moral equivalence between a country that seeks to defend its citizens from thousands of terrorist attacks and the terrorists themselves.

I want to hear Labor MPs stand up and be counted for - not what will impress party preselectors or the faction that might get them a ministerial portfolio. I want to see an end to well- known Labor identities marching behind banners equating Israel with Nazism and far worse.

Silence on these issues isn’t good enough for me. If people want to criticise Israel, fine - plenty of Israelis do. But let it be reasoned criticism and if they want even-handedness let them also berate the Arab world for their denial of basic human rights for any of its citizens.

Let’s hear the Labor feminists take the Arab nations to task for their abominable treatment of women. Let’s hear those Labor supporters, who are so loud in their denunciation of homophobia, demand an end to the barbaric treatment of gays. Let’s also hear civil rights activists bemoan the total lack of basic freedoms available to most of the 300 million Arabs in the 22 Arab countries.

There will be some who will argue that I am exaggerating; that the evidence is sparse; that this typical Jewish paranoia.

Not at all. It came from the horses’ mouths and the head horses at that. Prior to the Iraq war one of the most senior NSW right-wing MPs told me, “I understand and support Israel’s position, but in my group, I’m the only one”.

Shortly afterwards I told a Labor legend, “Anti-Semitism is now rampant in the Labor Party”. I expected a vigorous denial. His response confirmed my worst fear: “I know,” he said.

For better or worse my character and life were shaped by the anti-Semitism I experienced as a boy and a young man. I was proud to belong to a party that fought all forms of prejudice. Not any longer.

The Australian Labor Party can choose any path it likes. So can I.