Latest news with #LaborFriendsofPalestine
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Immense frustration': Labor base demands sanctions against Israel
Anger is rising among Labor's base over the war in Gaza, with nearly 80 local branches passing motions over recent weeks calling for Australia to impose sanctions on the Netanyahu government and sever military ties with Israel. Australia joined 27 nations to demand an immediate end to the war and condemn Israel's 'drip feeding' of aid to Gaza on Tuesday, but pro-Palestine campaigners within Labor are calling for the government to go further and take concrete actions against the Israeli government. Seventy-eight Labor branches have passed motions calling for far-reaching sanctions against Israeli entities and individuals involved in the war and a two-way arms embargo on Israel, including the supply of military parts and components. The branches include one in Foreign Minister Penny Wong's home city of Adelaide and three in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Sydney electorate of Grayndler. 'Strong words are not enough,' the conveners of the Labor Friends of Palestine group said in a letter sent to Wong on Wednesday and seen by this masthead. 'Expressions of concern and repeated calls for restraint have achieved little in the last 21 months; indeed Israel's violence and clear disdain for international humanitarian law have only intensified.' Local branch meetings are the primary way for members to influence party policy, outside its national conference that is held every three years, but they have no formal power to change how MPs or ministers act. Noting that the 28-nation statement said the countries were 'prepared to take 'further action' to support a ceasefire', the campaigners said: 'We urge Australia to take the lead by proposing comprehensive sanctions and an arms embargo as practical measures towards ending the violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Age
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
‘Immense frustration': Labor base demands sanctions against Israel
Anger is rising among Labor's base over the war in Gaza, with nearly 80 local branches passing motions over recent weeks calling for Australia to impose sanctions on the Netanyahu government and sever military ties with Israel. Australia joined 27 nations to demand an immediate end to the war and condemn Israel's 'drip feeding' of aid to Gaza on Tuesday, but pro-Palestine campaigners within Labor are calling for the government to go further and take concrete actions against the Israeli government. Seventy-eight Labor branches have passed motions calling for far-reaching sanctions against Israeli entities and individuals involved in the war and a two-way arms embargo on Israel, including the supply of military parts and components. The branches include one in Foreign Minister Penny Wong's home city of Adelaide and three in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Sydney electorate of Grayndler. 'Strong words are not enough,' the conveners of the Labor Friends of Palestine group said in a letter sent to Wong on Wednesday and seen by this masthead. 'Expressions of concern and repeated calls for restraint have achieved little in the last 21 months; indeed Israel's violence and clear disdain for international humanitarian law have only intensified.' Local branch meetings are the primary way for members to influence party policy, outside its national conference that is held every three years, but they have no formal power to change how MPs or ministers act. Noting that the 28-nation statement said the countries were 'prepared to take 'further action' to support a ceasefire', the campaigners said: 'We urge Australia to take the lead by proposing comprehensive sanctions and an arms embargo as practical measures towards ending the violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Guardian
08-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Gaza and Aukus nuclear sub deal divide Labor and grassroots groups
Grassroots Labor members are ramping up internal pressure on the government over its positions on the Middle East and Aukus, urging Anthony Albanese to make two major foreign policy shifts if he wins a second term. Labor Friends of Palestine is making a fresh call for a re-elected Albanese government to impose sanctions on Israel, while the Labor Against War group wants it to 'sink' the agreement to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. But the government is standing firm on both fronts, exposing a divide between sections of the Labor membership and the federal parliamentary wing. As the Gaza war has raged, Labor's pro-Palestine lobby has been pressuring the federal government to take a tougher stance on Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli government and to recognise Palestinian statehood – in line with the party's own national platform. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter In a statement to be released on Wednesday, the group acknowledged the steps the government has already taken, including supporting a UN resolution for an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza' and backing aid agency Unrwa. But it said the actions 'fell far short' of what Labor branches and state conferences have called for. It made three requests of a second-term Albanese government, including that it condemns Israel's 'genocidal war' in Gaza and the occupation in the West Bank; imposes sanctions on Israel until it ends the occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and ends military cooperation with Israel. 'The many rank-and-file and branch supporters of Labor Friends of Palestine are working hard to stop [Peter] Dutton and re-elect the Labor government,' the statement read. 'We do so with the legitimate expectation that Labor can and must do better.' The question of Palestinian statehood ignited tensions inside the Albanese government in the last parliament, culminating in Senator Fatima Payman quitting the party. The prime minister last week reiterated the government's support for a two-state solution but suggested Hamas's ongoing presence in Gaza meant it wasn't the right time to recognise Palestine. 'Who do you recognise at the moment? Quite clearly, we need to acknowledge that Hamas can have no role in a Palestinian state. That is my position,' he said. In a lengthy statement responding to Labor Friends of Palestine's requests, a spokesperson for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said Australia has worked with partners to 'press Israel to abide by its obligations'. 'We've been clear with Israel that Palestinian civilians cannot pay the price of defeating Hamas,' the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the government had been firm that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories were illegal and a barrier to peace. They said Australia had not supplied weapons to Israel for at least the past five years. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Payman, who is now leading her own party, Australia's Voice, said Labor would be sending a message to members that 'you do not matter' if it didn't recognise Palestine in a second term. Aukus has also divided the Labor movement, with party elders including Paul Keating joining grassroots members in railing against a security pact that deepens Australia's military ties with the US. Calls for Labor to re-think or abandon Aukus have grown louder since Donald Trump's US election win in November. Last month, Labor Against War wrote to Labor MPs and candidates with a series of questions about Aukus, including whether they would lobby internally for the government to withdraw from the deal. In a letter to the group, the defence minister, Richard Marles, noted a position in support of Aukus was agreed at Labor's 2023 national conference. 'Aukus presents an important opportunity to meet global security challenges and contribute to stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,' Marles wrote in a letter seen by Guardian Australia. Responding to some of the other questions raised in the group's letter, Marles rejected suggestions of any 'secret political commitments' in a revised Aukus treaty and confirmed no decision had been made about a future east coast submarine base. In a statement to Guardian Australia, Labor Against War convener Marcus Strom said internal resistance to Aukus was mounting 'day by day'. 'ALP members – including LAW supporters – are out wearing down shoe leather to ensure Dutton is defeated and Albanese is returned for a second term,' he said. 'But with Aukus falling apart and Trump trashing trade globally, we will insist that a returned ALP government sink Aukus and put it on the pile of bad Scott Morrison ideas, which we should have done in 2022.'
