Australia Labor Party passes resolution urging government to recognise state of Palestine

A group of Workers United Justice Equality and Peace Organization are gathered outside of the Israeli Consulate to protest Israel, as ”Free Palestine” slogan in San Francisco, California, United States on May 26, 2023 [Tayfun Coşkun – Anadolu Agency]

The Australian Labor Party passed a resolution yesterday, during the final day of the Victorian party conference, calling for the federal Australian government to recognise the state of Palestine.

“In re-affirming the resolution carried at the 2018 and 2021 national conferences, the Albanese government will join with 138 countries and the Vatican, which have already done so,” the motion read.

In 2018 and 2021, Labor’s national conference backed a resolution that “supports the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders” and “calls on the next Labor government to recognise Palestine as a state”.

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In response, the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) slammed the move as a “support for terrorism” and a “promotion of vicious anti-Semitism.”

Jeremy Leibler, ZFA president, said in an official statement, “It is a truism that if you reward bad behaviour, you’ll get more of it. From its support for terrorism, its rejection of negotiations and its promotion of vicious anti-Semitism, the Palestinian leadership actively undermines peace. By calling on the federal government to reward this behaviour with diplomatic recognition, the Victorian Labor resolution implicitly celebrates this.”

He added, “The resolution is entirely inconsistent with the stated position of the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, who has repeatedly rejected any unilateral actions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.”

The move comes after the Australian Labor Party’s decision to reverse the previous government to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2018, four years after its initial announcement that it would move its embassy to the city.

The initial decision to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was made by former Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, in 2018, a year after the United States and its former President, Donald Trump, first announced its own recognition and called on other countries to do so.

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