Jews Against the Occupation released this statement on February 21, as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Sydney for a four-day visit.
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Jews against the Occupation are strongly opposed to the red carpet welcome being given by the Australian Government and Opposition to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
We join with the 60 prominent Australians and over 600 Jewish Australians and supporters who have spoken out against this visit.
Netanyahu is Prime Minister of a state which has consistently defied international law by seizing land under occupation, driving out and dispossessing the Palestinian inhabitants, demolishing their homes and farmlands, to enable them to be taken over by Jewish Israelis.
The daily restrictions on freedom of movement of the Palestinians make economic life, effective health care and education near to impossible.
The ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza, with periodic invasions and massacres by the Israeli Defence Forces, amount to war crimes.
The refusal to address even minimal legitimate expectations of the Palestinians, while accelerating colonial dispossession and construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem, has sabotaged any possibility of a peace process.
Israel's annexation of a large part of the West Bank, if not all of it, looks likely.
Netanyahu's closeness to the newly-elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, is a cause for serious concern.
His apparent indifference to the anti-semitism and Islamophobia promoted by the US government, casts serious doubt on Netanyahu's support for Jews world-wide.
Australia should not give comfort to a man responsible for such lawlessness and inhumanity.
[There will be a protest against Netanyahu's visit on Thursday February 23 at 6.30 at Sydney Town Hall.]
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