New South Wales Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon is being accused of using her position in the Australian Greens Party to fund the printing of anti-Israel propaganda for Palestinian causes. Sign the petition to help remove her from office!
Jewish organizations are demanding that an Australian lawmaker who used taxpayers’ funds to finance anti-Israel activities resign her position.
The organizations are charging that over the years, NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has used her position in the Australian Greens Party to “spew her anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate,” and has now essentially broken the law doing so.
“This week the hateful senator has misused our tax dollars to fund the printing of anti-Israel propaganda posters on behalf of the Palestine Action Group” equating Israel with South Africa’s Apartheid regime and calling on the Australian government to officially break ties with Israel, a petition calling for Lee’s termination as minister.
She reportedly used her Senate printing allowance to print and authorize posters to promote a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney on Sunday.
“This is unacceptable and must not be tolerated, we demand that the Australian Greens Party remove Lee Rhiannon from their team today,” the petition states.
Dvir Abromovitch, Chairman of B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), denounced Rhiannon, saying she “is wrong on all counts and should know better than to repeat this offensive slur that bears no resemblance to the realities of contemporary Israel.”
“This loaded and inflammatory term been continuously employed by Israel’s detractors to delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state by arguing that it promotes the vile racial policies similar to those promulgated by the former apartheid government in South Africa. It is a shame that Senator Rhiannon has abandoned her objectivity and has become an unabashed spokesperson for the Palestinian cause,” he stated.
“By peddling this canard, Senator Rhiannon is not contributing in any meaningful way to the prospect of peace between Israelis and Palestinians and her anti-Israel propaganda will only empower those wishing to fan the flames of division,” Abromovitch charged.
He defended Israel by saying that “in a region of dictatorships and theocracies, Israel has established one of the most robust and free 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.”
He called on Rhiannon to apologize and to refrain from using “such hurtful and thoughtless statements” in the future.
When contacted by the Daily Telegraph on the incident, Rhiannon refused to apologize.
She said she has equated Israel with the Apartheid regime in the past. “I’ve used that sort of word in Parliament before … I have used that for a long time,” she said.
Under Department of Finance rules stipulates the taxpayer entitlements are to be used only to “support their role as members of the Australian Parliament.”
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel
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Source: United with Israel
