Jews Down Under An online magazine for Australian Jews
Melissa Parke is an Australian politician. She has been the ALP member of the Australian House of Representatives, for Fremantle, Western Australia, since 2007 .
Two days ago, on October 27th, Max Chalmers of the good old ultra leftist rag “the new matilda” wrote:
Melissa Parke breaks Labor ranks to back BDS campaign against Israel
One of the growing stars of the Labor left has taken aim at critics of the ‘Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions Campaign’. Max Chalmers reports.
Labor MP Melissa Parke has defended the controversial Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in a speech to parliament, rejecting accusations the movement to force Israel into ending its occupation of Palestine is anti-Semitic and describing it as “a perfectly acceptable form of protest”.
In Federal Parliament before presenting a
‘Petition in support of peaceful Middle East protest‘
on behalf of Marcelo Svirsky she said….
Max Chalmers wrote:
“On Monday night Parke sought to distinguish between the BDS campaign and antisemitism, though declined to explicitly state her own support for the policy.
“I am not seeking to validate all of the actions that have occurred in the name of BDS, because it can mean different things to different people,” she said.
“However, I do wish to dispel some of the misunderstandings around the official BDS campaign, including that its supporters are anti-Semitic and intent on the destruction of Israel.
“That is not the case; it is not anti-Semitic to protest injustice.”
It’s a view unlikely to please fellow Labor MP Michael Danby, who has savaged Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon for her support of BDS in the past.”
Svirsky was an Israeli soldier and academic at the University of Wollongong. He walked from Sydney to Canberra to hand in the petition.
Earlier this month he told New Matilda .
“I’m an Israeli Jew who rejects Israel’s continuing subjugation of the Palestinians,”
“I am fully committed to the principles of the BDS movement and I encourage others to join this non-violent action.”
Ms Parke started her speech at 9:00pm—
- What I am to say today will likely not be popular in this place or indeed in the wider community.
- However, there comes a time when the injustices have so mounted up that plain speaking becomes a duty. This year is the UN International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. However, despite overwhelming support within the international community for a Palestinian state and for an end to the Israeli occupation and settlement building, as well as the blockade of Gaza, there has not been any positive change for Palestinians on the ground.
- Rather, recent events have left more than 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza dead and thousands more injured, while more than a million Palestinians—who are a proud, educated and enterprising people—are dependent on food aid and there is a massive damage bill to be picked up again by the international community. Meanwhile settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues apace, each build putting a further nail in the coffin of the two-state solution.
The petition signed by 710 people reads as follows—
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives
This petition of citizens and residents of Australia draws to the attention of the House the critical predicament of the Palestinian People in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza under Israeli occupation since 1967 and of the Palestinian citizens of Israel suffering racial discrimination since 1948.
Notwithstanding UN resolutions condemning Israel’s policies as illegal, Israel continues violating international law and human rights, expanding its colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, imposing a siege on Gaza, and persisting in apartheid and oppressive actions, policies and legislation towards the Palestinian people under its control.
As a response to the failure of all forms of diplomacy to change Israel’s policies, in 2005 the Palestinian Civil Society called upon the world to impose on Israel initiatives of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) until Israel meets its obligation to end all forms of occupation; dismantles the illegal ‘Separation Wall’ in the West Bank; ceases the siege on Gaza; implements full equality for its Palestinian citizens; and honours the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.
We therefore ask the House to instruct the Australian Government to fully and consistently honour its obligations under international law by excluding relations, through boycott, divestment and sanctions, with states, institutions and companies – Australian, Israeli or other – that are involved in the perpetuation of apartheid and discriminatory Israeli policies including the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
Her entire speech here on her electoral website or watch below.
Melissa Parke, for a person of only 48 years of age, has packed a lot into her life. Unfortunately I think she will go far in the ALP and somehow needs to be ‘tamed’.
She has quite a CV for someone so young.
Wikipedia says:
Parke was previously the Minister for International Development in the Second Rudd Ministry from July 2013.
She has previously expressed views on human rights, refugees, animal welfare, Public services integrity, and foreign policy.
Prior to entering politics, Parke worked as a lawyer for the United Nations. Between 1999 and 2007 she worked for the UN in Kosovo, Lebanon, Gaza, and New York. She also worked as a law lecturer at Murdoch University, the principal solicitor at the Bunbury Community Legal Centre, and in private legal practice in Sydney and Western Australia.
In September 2007, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke campaigned with Parke in Fremantle and said that she was..
“a lady of extreme talent and she’s got the experience of dealing with practical situations which will stand her in very good stead in the Parliament”.
In June 2011 Parke publicly raised concerns about the government’s proposal to send asylum-seeker children to Malaysia and in July 2011 Parke was one of nine backbenchers to raise concerns about the government’s decision to resume the live export of cattle to Indonesia after the ABC Four Corners programme exposed cruel and inhumane treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesian abattoirs.
In September this year 2014
Labor MP Melissa Parke said ‘open-ended war’ in Iraq will increase security threat
Disquiet over Australia’s military fight against Islamic State (IS) has emerged within the Opposition.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has fully backed the deployment of 600 Australian personnel and fighter jets to the Middle East, but West Australian Labor backbencher Melissa Parke says she holds concerns.
Ms Parke says like her leader, she is horrified by the recent execution of a British hostage by IS militants, but is concerned at Australia’s response.
She said
“However, I am very concerned that the Government has so quickly escalated Australia’s involvement in Iraq from strictly humanitarian protection to now committing Australia to what appears to be an open-ended war that will only increase the security threat to Australians.”
Listen to Melissa Parke’s comments on AM : HERE
Melissa Parke who spoke out against the escalation of Australia’s military involvement in Iraq says she was sent a death threat on Twitter and made the revelation in a speech to Parliament.
http://littlenotesfromparis.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/who-put-bs-in-bds.html
You wonder what motivates people like Melissa Parkes. She is obviously well educated, yet her total ignorance of the history of Israel and inability to examine the role of Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups in the suffering of the Palestinians is simply astounding. She says ” more than a million Palestinians—who are a proud, educated and enterprising people—are dependent on food aid and there is a massive damage bill to be picked up again by the international community. Meanwhile settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues apace….”
To suggest that Palestinain suffering is because of Israelis building houses is so ludicrous that it defies belief that an intelligent person should think that way. Nowhere does she question the brainwashig to hatred by Hamas and Fatah, which makes peace impossible. I would certainly agree with her though that many Gazans are quite enterprising, as many became millionaires from smuggling through the tunnels, which were built to exterminate all Jews.