The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), Australia’s leading civil and human rights organisation fighting anti-Semitism and hatred in all its forms, has denounced an online petition that labels Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a war criminal and calls for him to be barred from entering Australia. This follows an invitation by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for the PM to visit Australia in 2017. The petition also labels Israel an apartheid state.
Dr. Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“This outrageous anti-Israel petition, employing disturbing inflammatory rhetoric and slurs, is part of a larger campaign to delegitimize, denigrate and demonize the Jewish state. It recycles the time-worn false accusations and blood-libels hurled against several Israeli prime ministers, aimed at singling the Jewish people out for censure and defamation. Such reprehensible efforts should be repudiated since they drive a wedge between communities in Australia, blowing on embers of hatred, and encourage and embolden extremists. To charge that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a racist war criminal is an odious form of incitement, and to accuse Israel of promoting the vile racial policies promulgated by the former apartheid government in South Africa has no basis in reality. As Richard Goldstone has observed, accusing Israel of apartheid “is an unfair and inaccurate slander…calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations. “ In the 2014 war against the genocidal Hamas who used human shields and launched rockets from residential areas deliberately aiming to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible, the IDF, in contrast, had shown tremendous restraint and made a determined effort to prevent and to limit Palestinian casualties during its operations. In a region of dictatorships, Prime Minister Netanyahu leads one of the most robust democracies in the world, safeguarding the rights of Jews, Muslims and Christians, and ensuring that its Arab citizens enjoy full and equal rights before the law. PM Netanyahu has long accepted a two-state solution and self-determination for the Palestinians— trying to achieve this outcome through negotiations and peace offers that have been continually rejected by the Palestinian leadership.”
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, founded in 1979, is Australia’s leading organization fighting racism through educational programs that combat bigotry, prejudice and all forms of hatred.
For further information please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on 0410 539 015