Key Points
- Senator Fatima Payman has been indefinitely suspended after declaring her intention to cross floor again.
- She said she believes she upheld the party’s views with a conscience vote on the issue of Palestinian statehood.
- It is unclear if Payman will remain at the ALP.
Labor’s position on Palestine is a bit complex. They are actually Pro-Palestine, Australia just voted at the UN in support of a motion to make the PA a member. They’re trying to play the risky game of appeasing both parts of the community, as they have seats in both Islamic and Jewish dense regions. They might lose both sides playing this game though. For whatever reason the Pro-Israel voice seems to have more influence while the Pro-Palestine voice gets tossed to the side. This is weird in the context of the 2021 census:
Which marks the Jewish section of the community as near negligible, but what really matters is what the rest of the community thinks. Murdoch has chosen Israel, and thus have the LNP. The Greens have chosen Palestine. Personally if you don’t support the coexistence of Israel and Palestine, I’d vote for either of those parties.
We should also note that Australia has very little power to influence international events and the LNP are clearly using this as a distraction to win votes due to their woeful domestic policies. But it is morally reprehensible to not try for a resolution. Israel do nothing for us and we should recognise Netanyahu as a terrorist alongside HAMAS
Better summary there than most media outlets.
Unlike most media outlets I don’t read political press releases
Not every Jew is a Zionist either. A lot of Jews are horrified by what Israel is doing in their name.
Exactly and that is something a lot of Pro-Israel people try to obscure
Imagine not being able to speak, or act on your own principles. Labor can go stuff it. Regardless if this is about youth crime, indigenous issues, poverty, whatever. If you’re not allowed to be your own human because you’re in labour, and you have to betray yourself, then why would anyone even want to be part of their strict little party.
Would there be any reason for the Greens to not extend an invitation to her?
Maybe. The potential for an invitation to go across to be seen as a craven political point scoring exercise over an issue as catastrophic as this could damage perceptions of the party’s sincerity in their actions.
For instance,
The Greens purport to want higher Palestinian autonomy, ending with Statehood, but they don’t have the numbers themselves to affect Australia’s policy. Ergo, they need to negotiate with other parties to push towards their desired outcome, their best partner in this is currently Labor; so should they royally piss off their best partner in this matter by poaching a few members of Labor who are most in line with the Greens on this one issue.
Also,
Senator Payman is also pushing in the same direction as the Greens on this matter, but inside the Labor tent, that also has some value.
There’s no place in the Labor caucus for someone who acts in accordance with their principles!
