LABOR
frontbencher Tony Burke has pulled out at the last minute from giving an
address to the inaugural general meeting of the lobby group Labor for
Palestine, after learning that the organiser of the event supported boycotts
and armed conflict against Israel.
Hours after telling The Australian that Mr
Burke would give the speech at Lakemba in Sydney’s west tonight, a spokesman
for the member for Watson in Sydney’s southwest said there was uncertainty
about whether the event was going ahead. “Tony is not attending,” the spokesman
said.
The decision came after The Australian highlighted
the fact that the contact person for the event was Fahad Ali, a medical student
at Sydney University who has been known as a leader of the boycott, divestment
and sanctions campaign against Israel and lauded by prominent pro-BDS academic
Jake Lynch.
Mr Ali last night confirmed Mr Burke had cancelled his speech
after the revelations provided to his office by The Australian, but
said he would proceed with the event anyway.
He said he did not support an immediate campaign of violence
against Israel, and did not condone the rocket attacks by Hamas, but did
support what he said was the right of Palestinians to “self-defence” and “armed
resistance”.
Mr Burke’s spokesman said the frontbencher supported a two-state
outcome pursued through peaceful means.
Mr Ali recently appeared on his Facebook page under a flag of a
terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The PFLP is
not proscribed in Australia but is on the list of terrorist organisations
against which Australia imposes financial sanctions under a UN Security Council
resolution.
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